Belle

Belle is the protagonist of the Disney animated film, Beauty and the Beast and its two direct-to-video sequels, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and its several spin-offs, including Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World. She is also an official Disney Princess.

Belle also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character and in various shows and parades. She also makes a cameo appearance in Disney's 1996 animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Belle also appears in many episodes of the Disney's House of Mouse television series and in the direct-to-video releases Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains. She also appears in the Kingdom Hearts series of video games as one of the most important Disney characters.

Personality
Belle is a young woman living in France and a lovely free-thinker who likes to read and go on adventures within her own imagination. She is not shy and is not afraid to speak her mind, especially in tight situations. She is very compassionate and takes care of those in need. Belle can also be stubborn, but she tries to protect people she truly loves.

Belle is a shrewd nonconformist for her time in many ways. The most pronounced is her love of books and knowledge, which the townspeople find odd for a woman, due to all the women having low intelligence and have to work by being selfish and uncreative. Gaston says to her at one point, "It's not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas and...thinking...". Belle also does not care about appearances, whether they pertain to herself or anyone else. This is highly ironic, considering she is seen as the most beautiful woman in her village. In the song Belle, a woman sings, "It's no wonder than her name means beauty. Her looks have got no parallel." Belle is the first and only Disney Princess to be a brunette and the only one to marry someone who wasn't human for most of his life. She is also one of the four Disney Princesses who were not born princesses (the other three being Cinderella, Fa Mulan, and Tiana).

Wardrobe
Belle's most common outfit is a blue and white peasant dress with a white apron which she wears throughout most of the movie. She wears a blue bow in her hair and black shoes. Many people state that this outfit is based upon Dorothy Gale's dress in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.

When she is on an adventure, she wears a dark blue cloak.

When she is in the castle, she also wears a pink and green dress. Arguably, her most beautiful dress is her yellow ball gown which she wears when she is dancing with The Beast.

Differences Between Fairytale Belle and Disney Belle

 * The fairytale Belle was more often called Beauty. In fact, Belle's name is French for "beauty"..
 * The original Belle was the daughter of a rich merchant and not a peasant inventor.
 * In the original version she had five sisters and six brothers and in the modernized Beaumont version, Belle had two sisters and three brothers, but the Disney Belle is an only child.
 * The original Belle asked her father to bring her a rose, setting off the chain of events which led to her sacrificing herself to the Beast to save her father's life. The Disney Belle did no such thing; Maurice's actions were voluntary.
 * The original Belle was not portrayed as a book lover (although she did read when she finished her work) but the Disney Belle is, adding the idea that true beauty is more than skin deep.
 * The original Belle was not viewed as peculiar by the townspeople, only by her siblings.
 * The original Belle didn't have a vain lover but Disney Belle does in the form of Gaston. His handsome looks but brutish habits help to further the story's moral.

Beauty and the Beast
Belle is a young woman living in a small French town. Her father, Maurice, on his way to a fair, goes missing while she was reading books not wanting Gaston to marry her. Belle rides to a mysterious castle in possibility of finding him. She finds her father locked away in a dungeon, and begs the dungeon master to free him, offering her own freedom in exchange for her father's. On the condition that she stay with him forever, the dungeon master, a hideous beast, frees Maurice from the dungeon, however he is deeply moved by her beauty and affection towards her father, and can't help but feel attracted to her boldness and bravery. Belle is originally hesitant to interact with the Beast, but after he develops a more civil manner, aided by enchanted furnishings, a bond is formed. The Beast falls deeply in love with her, but is in denial that she will ever love him in return. Belle is soon granted right to leave on behalf of her sickly father, who tries to rescue her. But after denying Gaston (a conceited hunter) her hand in marriage for a third time, a mob of villagers, led by Gaston, plots against the Beast. After a grueling tussle between Gaston and Beast, the Beast is stabbed. Gaston falls to his death when he loses balance. Belle is able to lay the Beast on a balcony, and he dies in her arms. Belle confesses her love for the beast just as the last petal falls from the enchanted rose. Belle's love for the Beast revives him and releases him from the curse, and he along with his furnishings return to human beings.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
A midquel taking place during the winter segment of Beauty and the Beast, this is the story of Belle's attempt to bring back to the castle the one ceremony Beast hates most: Christmas. It has not been well recieved because it ignores the movie's continuity, and that at the point the movie is supposed to take place, Belle still considered herself a prisoner in the castle, and was not truly friends with the Beast at that point, though she had begun to accept him.

A pipe organ called Forte is determined to do anything necessary to keep the spell from breaking, because he thinks that if the curse is broken then the Beast won't need his depressing music anymore. Thus, he proves to be a real obstacle for Belle's plan.

After several attempts to get Beast to agree, Beast finally approves of the idea and allows Belle to prepare for Christmas, though he still bears a grudge for the day the Enchantress cast the spell on him.

With advice from Forte, Belle goes out into the woods to get a suitable tree for Christmas, but she falls into thin ice and almost drowns. Fortunately, she is rescued by Beast, who is enraged at her because Forte told him that she was trying to desert him again.

Belle is then thrown into the dungeon to rot, but Beast then finds a book that Belle had written for him earlier in the West Wing, and decides to set Belle free and they both continue to prepare for Christmas.

But Forte doesn't give up there, even going as far as to attempt to bring the whole castle down with Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in order to prevent the spell from ending, as it can't if everyone is dead. Fortunately, Beast stops him in time by crashing his keyboard to pieces.

Christmas finally comes, and Belle is presented with a gift from the Beast: a rose.



Belle's Magical World
In this movie, Belle is the only human. She meets her new three enchanted object friends Webster, Crane and LePlume and is about to solve problems in all four segments.

Disney Princess Enchanted Tales
Originally, when the first installment of Disney Princess Enchanted Tales was to be released, it was to feature a new Belle story and a brand new Aurora story. The First chapter was entitled "A Kingdom Of Kindness". The plot of Belle's story featured Chip getting in trouble with the Beast after breaking some of his things. Terrified, Chip runs away. Belle finds him and convinces him to come back to the castle, and teaches Beast what it means to be kind. She also teaches Chip that even when people are mad with you, it still means they love you. All of the original Beauty and the Beast cast returned for "A Kingdom Of Kindness", with the exception to Jerry Orbach.

Only one known song has been written for Belle, this song is called "You'll Never Lose This Love", and is available to watch on the Enchanted Tales Website.

Kingdom Hearts
Belle's first appearance is a stained-glass likeness of her depicted on top of a yellow-colored pillar in the Awakening world. She was asleep in the artwork, suggesting that she has already been captured by Maleficent at that time.

Belle has been living somewhat happily at the Beast's Castle, becoming closer to the Beast everyday, despite his hideous form and uneven temperament. One day, however, Belle is kidnapped by Maleficent as part of the plot to obtain Kingdom Hearts. The Heartless consume her world, causing all of its enchanted inhabitants to disappear into darkness. But the Beast manage to survive the destruction of his world, and pursue Belle, using corridors of darkness to reach her at Hollow Bastion.

Maleficent puts Belle into an enchanted sleep and places her in an upstanding glass case alongside the other Princesses of Heart. She then uses all of the Princesses' hearts to open the Final Keyhole. At the same time, the Beast witnesses a vision of Belle transforming into a Heartless (although this is not what actually occurred, as the princesses lack darkness in their hearts, and cannot become Heartless).

Belle's heart is later restored by the bravery of Sora, and she is released from her enchantment. She separates from her fellow princesses and, due to her passion for books, goes to Hollow Bastion's library in search of ways to stop the darkness. Happily reunited with the Beast at last, she explains as best she could to Sora what has occurred in Hollow Bastion during his brief departure, and then gives him the Divine Rose Keychain. When Sora finally sealed Kingdom Hearts, Belle and the Beast return home together.

Disney Parks
Belle appears as a meetable character in the Disney Parks, wearing either her commoner costume (such as in "Storytime with Belle" at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World) or her gold princess outfit and appears in many shows such as Fantasmic! and every Disney Parks parade.

Beauty and the Beast: Live
In the live show at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World Resort Belle appears in the stage adaption of the film.

Fantasmic!
Belle appears in the nightime spectacular Fantasmic! Belle appears in the Princess Melody dancing with Beast and later on top of either the Mark Twain Riverboat or Steamboat Willie.

Beauty and the Beast: The Musical
On Broadway, a musical version of the film debuted on April 18, 1994 at the Palace Theatre and closed on July 29, 2007 at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre, both in New York City. Sugan Egan, who would later voice Meg in Hercules, was the original Belle, and was succeeded by among others, Andrea McArdle (the original "Annie"), Jamie Lynn Siegler, former teen pop star Deborah Gibson, soul singer Toni Braxton (who was the first African American to portray Belle), Disney Channel star Christy Carlson Romano and the last Belle when the curtain rang down, Annaliese van der Pol. Sarah Litzinger portrayed Belle the longest of the 5,464 performances.

Sing Me a Story With Belle
From 1995 through 1999 on both Disney Channel and in syndication, a series titled Sing Me a Story with Belle aired from the Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Actress Lynsey McLeod portrayed Belle, who was the owner of a book and music shop in France in her commoner costume.

Trivia

 * Belle is wearing a yellow ball gown during a dance with the Beast in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.
 * She was wearing her commoner dress in Kingdom Hearts II.