It’s amazing that Disney allows people to take videos and pictures on the inside of their attractions, but this isn’t the disturbing part of the video since the animatronics take a while to be shown. While the rendition of “Be Our Guest” isn’t all that bad, the animatronic Belle simply nodding and turning one way and the other isn’t horrifying, but it might be seen as a little disturbing to some folks. Otherwise, it’s a nice show until one gets to the ballroom, as they have to move past the scene of Belle and Beast in the snow as the cheerful music plays on. Once the ride hits the ballroom for the final dance the actual movements aren’t too bad, though somehow animatronics are still a bit creepy when really considered. But the fact that Mrs. Potts appears to have turned back into a human with a teapot for a head is WAY creepy, especially since everyone else has turned back to their original selves. When you look closer though it’s evident that everyone has been given the cartoonish proportions, apart from Adam and Belle, who were both allowed to look quite human throughout the entire movie. If not for this it wouldn’t be too bad, or at least not quite as bad. It would certainly be worse if actual Disney performers were being made to do this over and over, since one can only imagine just how tired a group of actors would be performing these same actions over and over every single day. It’s more likely that there would be hourly shows at that point and that there might be more than one shift that could take over since the fatigue from such a performance would be tremendous after a while.
But there’s something inherently creepy about animatronics since they’re not a bad thing when it comes to technology, but the fact that they’re being made more lifelike every day is sometimes hard to grasp since they’re becoming more and more real to many people. To kids it’s wonderful since they’re not the herky-jerky things that a lot of us can remember from back in the day. Does anyone recall the old rattletrap characters that used to entertain us decades ago, and how a lot of us thought it was great since we didn’t know any better? Just imagine what might come along in the next twenty to thirty years from if technology keeps moving forward the way it is. For all we know there will be true AI that can run, jump, and dance all on their own. Think of full-sized androids being used for attractions in Disneyland, and now realize just how creepy that might actually be. It’s the idea of robots that are being programmed to do simple things that’s not quite so creepy, but is still unnerving at times since their expressions are being made more and more realistic. Some people would say it’s ridiculous to be afraid of something that has to follow its programming and can’t do anything else, but it’s the prospect of moving forward since one can imagine that Disney will continue to want bigger, better, and even more lifelike animatronics at one point.
It’s understandable why other characters would be given their overly-sized heads and other features since it keeps with the animated version, but it’s still slightly unnerving since we’ve had a live-action Beauty and the Beast now and one would think that it might be okay to refit the animatronics. But then, of course, that might not fit with the whole idea of the ride since Disney tends to enjoy using the more animated side of its movies in order to appeal to the kids who watch the movies, so that kind of explains the whole idea of making their heads and features freakishly large. It’s all a part of the experience after all, and so long as the guests enjoy it, then Disney has done their job and made the experience worth it. But yes, animatronics still don’t inspire a lot of wonder in people when they can get up and move on their own. But one has to wonder if the platform that Adam and Belle are on is rigged somehow to keep them upright and moving along a track of some sort that they can’t topple off of. It kind of defeats the whole magic and wonder of it, but is still interesting to think about since if the characters really are dancing without being hooked to anything and are completely separate, then it is a technical marvel.
Disney is obviously getting better with its animatronics, and it’ll be intriguing to see just how far they continue to go since one can only imagine the exhibits and rides that will be available in the years to come.
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