The 1991 animated Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film ever nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and it lost to The Silence of the Lambs. I’ve watched entire tables go silent when I drop that pairing. A fairy tale about learning to love and a film about a man who eats people, head to head in the same year. That’s the kind of thing that makes beauty and the beast trivia so satisfying. The movie lives in this warm, nostalgic corner of everyone’s brain, but the details are stranger and more interesting than most people remember.
The person searching for these questions probably grew up with the animated film, probably saw the 2017 live-action version, and probably thinks they know this story cold. They’re right about the broad strokes. But the specifics? That’s where the fun is. I’ve run these questions at events where grown adults argued about Chip’s siblings for three minutes straight. Let’s get into it.
The ones that feel like warm-ups but aren’t
1. What is Belle’s father’s name?
This one sorts the room immediately. People who watched the movie once say “Maurice” with total confidence, and they’re right. People who watched it fifty times sometimes second-guess themselves because the name is said surprisingly few times in the actual film.
2. What does Belle’s name mean in French?
I include this early because it’s the kind of question that makes someone who doesn’t speak French feel clever and someone who does feel like the question was too easy. Both reactions are useful for pacing.
Show Answer
Beautiful. The movie is literally called “Beautiful and the Beast,” which is the kind of on-the-nose naming Disney has never been shy about.
3. What is the name of Gaston’s sidekick?
Tables split on this more than you’d expect. The name is right there in the movie, repeated constantly, but something about sidekick names makes people’s brains glitch.
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LeFou. The most common wrong answer is “LaFou” with a capital A, which doesn’t change the pronunciation but tells you a lot about how people process French they learned from cartoons.
4. What kind of flower is kept under a glass dome in the Beast’s castle?
If anyone gets this wrong, they wandered into the wrong trivia night.
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A rose. An enchanted rose, specifically, but I’ll take rose.
5. What object does the Enchantress disguise herself as when she first approaches the Prince’s castle?
Not an object. A person. But I phrase it this way on purpose because it trips people into overthinking. She doesn’t disguise herself as an object.
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An old beggar woman. She offers a rose in exchange for shelter. The question’s phrasing is the trap here, and I’m not sorry about it.
6. In the 1991 film, what does Belle borrow from the bookshop that she’s already read twice?
The bookseller practically gives it to her. This is one of those details people swear they remember but can’t quite pin down.
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She doesn’t name a specific title in dialogue, but she describes it: “Far-off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise.” The bookshop owner says it’s her favorite, and she says she’s read it twice. Many fans believe the book is meant to be Jack and the Beanstalk or a fairy tale, but it’s never explicitly named in the film.
7. What household object is Lumiere?
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A candelabra. Not a candlestick, though I accept it. A candelabra has multiple branches. Lumiere has two arms that are candle holders, which makes him technically a candelabra.
8. And Cogsworth?
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A mantel clock. His name is a pun on “cog,” which is satisfying in a way that only Disney wordplay can be.
Where the confident start getting quiet
9. How old was the Prince when the Enchantress cursed him, according to the narrator’s math in the 1991 film?
This is one of the great plot holes in Disney history. The narrator says the rose will bloom until his 21st year, and that the castle has been enchanted for ten years. Do that math. He was eleven. An old woman cursed an eleven-year-old for not letting a stranger into his house. I’ve seen this question start genuine moral debates.
Show Answer
11 years old, based on the “ten years” line and the “21st year” deadline. Disney has never officially addressed this, though the live-action film quietly sidesteps the timeline.
10. What is the name of Belle’s village in the 1991 animated film?
Here’s the thing: it’s never named. But people will fight you on this.
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The village is never given a name in the 1991 film. In the 2017 live-action version, it’s called Villeneuve, a nod to Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, who wrote the original fairy tale. Common wrong answer: “a small provincial town,” which is a lyric, not a name.
11. Who wrote the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale?
Most people say the Brothers Grimm. It’s not the Brothers Grimm. It’s almost never the Brothers Grimm when people think it’s the Brothers Grimm.
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Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in 1740. The version most people know was an abridged retelling by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont from 1756. The Grimms had nothing to do with it.
12. In the animated film, how many eggs does Gaston claim to eat every morning to help him get large?
People always lowball this. The real number is absurd, which is the point.
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Five dozen. That’s 60 eggs. Every morning. When he was a lad, he ate four dozen. The man claims to have added a dozen eggs to his daily intake and credits it for his size. Nobody in that village questions this.
13. What award-winning duo wrote the songs for the 1991 animated film?
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Howard Ashman (lyrics) and Alan Menken (music). Ashman died of AIDS-related complications before the film was released. He never saw the standing ovation it got at the New York Film Festival.
14. What is the name of Gaston’s horse in the animated film?
This is a question I throw in to humble people who think they’ve memorized every detail. Almost nobody gets it.
Show Answer
Gaston’s horse is never named in the 1991 film. If someone confidently gives you a name, they’re pulling it from the TV series or a storybook adaptation. In the original movie, it’s just a horse.
15. What does the Beast give Belle that changes the dynamic of their relationship?
There are two correct answers here depending on how you read the question, and I’ve learned to accept both.
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The library. He gives her the entire castle library. Some people say “her freedom,” which is also a turning point, but the library is the moment the relationship shifts from captor-captive to something else. That scene is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
16. Who provides the singing voice for the Beast in the 1991 film? Not the speaking voice.
This trips up even hardcore fans because it’s not Robby Benson.
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Robby Benson provides both the speaking and singing voice for the Beast. The trick here is that people assume Disney used a separate singer, because they often did for other characters. But Benson sang his own parts. The question is designed to make you doubt what you know.
The live-action layer
17. Who plays Belle in the 2017 live-action remake?
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Emma Watson. This is the gimme before the harder ones hit.
18. Who plays the Beast?
This one’s harder than it should be. Watson’s casting was everywhere. His was quieter.
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Dan Stevens, who most people know from Downton Abbey or Legion. He performed the role in a motion-capture suit on stilts, which is a mental image I enjoy very much.
19. The 2017 film gave Belle a backstory about her mother. What happened to her?
Show Answer
She died of plague in Paris. Belle and Maurice fled the city when Belle was a baby. It’s a detail that adds genuine weight to the story and explains why Maurice is so protective.
20. What new original song did the 2017 live-action film introduce, performed by the Beast?
This was written specifically to give Dan Stevens a solo, and it’s actually quite good.
Show Answer
“Evermore.” It plays after the Beast releases Belle, and it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.
21. In the 2017 version, what is LeFou’s notable distinction in Disney film history?
This generated enormous controversy for something that lasts about two seconds on screen.
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LeFou is considered Disney’s first openly gay character in a theatrical film. The “exclusively gay moment” director Bill Condon described turned out to be a brief dance with another man at the end of the movie. The discourse around it was roughly ten thousand times larger than the moment itself.
22. Who plays Gaston in the 2017 film?
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Luke Evans. He brought a slightly more menacing edge to the character, which works because the animated Gaston is basically a cartoon. Which, fair enough, he literally is.
23. In the live-action film, what invention does Belle create that the villagers destroy?
Show Answer
A washing machine, essentially. She rigs a barrel to a donkey so it does the laundry while she teaches a girl to read. The villagers dump her laundry in the street. Small-town energy at its worst.
Songs that live in your bones
24. Complete this lyric from “Be Our Guest”: “Try the grey stuff, it’s _____.”
Show Answer
“Delicious.” Don’t believe me? Ask the dishes. You can actually order “the grey stuff” at Be Our Guest restaurant in Walt Disney World. It tastes like cookies and cream pudding.
25. Who sings the title song “Beauty and the Beast” in the animated film?
Two answers here: in the movie, and on the pop single.
Show Answer
In the film, it’s Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts. The pop version that played over the credits and became a massive hit was performed by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson.
26. Angela Lansbury reportedly recorded her version of the title song in how many takes?
This is one of my favorite pieces of behind-the-scenes trivia in all of Disney.
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One take. She did it in a single take. She wasn’t even confident about it and wanted to try again, but the filmmakers knew immediately it was perfect.
27. In “Gaston,” what specific skill does LeFou say nobody else can do like Gaston?
There are about fifteen correct answers to this question, which is what makes it fun to ask. People start listing and can’t stop.
Show Answer
Among many: spitting, biting, shooting, expectorating, hunting, decorating with antlers. The song is essentially a three-minute list of Gaston’s talents, and the joke is that most of them are disgusting. I accept any of them.
28. What song does Belle sing in the opening sequence of the 1991 film?
Show Answer
“Belle” (sometimes called “Little Town” or “Bonjour”). It establishes everything you need to know about Belle and the village in under four minutes. It’s one of the best “I want” songs in Disney history.
29. Which song from the film was added during production after Howard Ashman felt the second act needed more energy?
Show Answer
“Human Again.” It was actually cut from the 1991 theatrical release but later animated and included in the 2002 special edition. The song that stayed and served a similar function was “Something There.”
The details that separate fans from obsessives
30. What is the name of the wardrobe character in the animated film?
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Madame de la Grande Bouche in some supplementary materials, though she’s mostly referred to simply as “the Wardrobe” in the film. In the 2017 version, she’s named Madame de Garderobe, played by Audra McDonald.
31. How many brothers and sisters does Chip have, based on what we see in the animated film?
Count the cups in the cupboard. I’ve watched people argue about this at length, and honestly, the animators weren’t consistent.
Show Answer
The cupboard shows varying numbers of cups in different scenes, but when they all transform back into children at the end, there appear to be at least five or six siblings. Mrs. Potts has a lot of children and the film never addresses this.
32. What is the Beast’s real name?
This is the beauty and the beast trivia question that generates the most debate, every single time.
Show Answer
In the 1991 film, he’s never given a name. He’s only ever called “the Beast” or “the Prince.” The name “Adam” comes from a 1998 CD-ROM game and has been semi-adopted by fans, but Disney has never confirmed it as official canon. People will fight you on this. Let them.
33. What is Philippe?
Show Answer
Belle’s horse. He’s a Belgian draft horse, and he’s the one who leads Belle to the Beast’s castle after Maurice goes missing. Philippe gets almost no credit for being the inciting incident of the entire story.
34. In the animated film, what does the Beast use to watch Belle after he releases her?
Show Answer
The magic mirror. It shows him whatever he asks to see. He asks to see Belle, and watching her leave through the mirror is one of the most emotionally effective moments in the film.
35. What are the three objects the Enchantress gives the Beast along with the curse?
Most people get two out of three.
Show Answer
The enchanted rose and the magic mirror. That’s two. There is no third object. I ask for three because people will invent one rather than challenge the premise of the question. I’ve heard “the book,” “the cloak,” and once, memorably, “the door knocker.”
36. What was Beauty and the Beast’s total worldwide box office gross in 1991, roughly?
Show Answer
Approximately $425 million worldwide. For an animated film in 1991, that was staggering. The 2017 live-action remake made over $1.26 billion, making it one of the highest-grossing films of that year.
37. Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film nominated for Best Picture. How many other animated films have been nominated since?
Show Answer
Two: Up (2010) and Toy Story 3 (2011), both after the Academy expanded the Best Picture category to allow more nominees. Some count Toy Story 3 and Up as beneficiaries of the expanded field, which makes Beauty and the Beast’s nomination in a year with only five slots even more impressive.
38. What fairy tale trope does the original 1740 story include that Disney completely removed?
Show Answer
Belle has jealous sisters who try to sabotage her relationship with the Beast, hoping he’ll devour her when she returns late. It’s a much darker story. Disney replaced the sisters with a village full of people who think she’s odd, which honestly might be worse in its own way.
The ones that make people stare at the ceiling
39. Who directed the 1991 animated Beauty and the Beast?
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Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. They were relatively young and inexperienced at the time. The film was essentially their audition, and it became one of the most acclaimed animated films ever made.
40. The ballroom scene in the 1991 film used a groundbreaking technique for Disney animation. What was it?
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CGI-rendered backgrounds with hand-drawn characters animated on top. The ballroom itself was created using computer-generated imagery, while Belle and the Beast remained traditionally animated. It was one of the first uses of this technique in a Disney feature and it still looks gorgeous.
41. In what country is the story of Beauty and the Beast set?
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France. This seems obvious, but I’ve had people say England because of Angela Lansbury’s accent, and Germany because they’re confusing it with another fairy tale. The French names, the French village, the entire French everything. It’s France.
42. What happens to the enchanted rose’s petals as the curse’s deadline approaches?
Show Answer
They fall off one by one. When the last petal falls, the curse becomes permanent. It’s a visual countdown and one of the simplest, most effective ticking-clock devices in any film.
43. In the 1991 film, what weapon does Gaston use in his final confrontation with the Beast?
People remember the fight. They don’t always remember the specifics.
Show Answer
A knife (or dagger). He stabs the Beast in the back on the castle roof. Some people say a bow and arrow because Gaston is associated with hunting, or a sword, but it’s a knife. The intimacy of the weapon makes the moment more violent than a lot of people remember.
44. Who voices Belle in the 1991 animated film?
Show Answer
Paige O’Hara. She also provided the singing voice, which not every Disney lead got to do. O’Hara has said she still gets emotional talking about the role.
45. What is the name of the feather duster character?
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Fifi in most supplementary materials, though she’s credited simply as “the Feather Duster” in the 1991 film. In the 2017 live-action version, she’s named Plumette, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
46. Before the 1991 Disney version, there was a celebrated French film adaptation. What year was it released?
Film buffs perk up on this one. Everyone else guesses wildly.
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1946. Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête is a surreal, gorgeous black-and-white film that influenced the Disney version significantly. The design of the Beast’s castle, with arms holding candelabras emerging from walls, was directly inspired by Cocteau’s imagery.
47. In the 2017 film, what real-world historical device does Maurice make for a living?
Show Answer
He’s a music box maker and artist. The 1991 film made him a wacky inventor. The 2017 version grounded him considerably, making him a craftsman. It’s a small change that shifts his entire character.
48. What does the stained glass window at the very beginning of the animated film depict?
Show Answer
The Prince being cursed by the Enchantress. The prologue is told entirely through stained glass imagery before transitioning to the main animation style. It’s a framing device borrowed from medieval storytelling, which fits the fairy tale setting perfectly.
49. How does Gaston die in the 1991 animated film?
People remember him falling. They don’t always remember the detail that makes it stick.
Show Answer
He falls from the castle rooftop after stabbing the Beast. If you look closely during the fall, you can briefly see skulls in his eyes, a detail the animators added to confirm he’s truly dead and not coming back. It’s blink-and-you-miss-it, and it’s darker than almost anything else in the film.
The last one you save
50. Howard Ashman, who wrote the lyrics to the film’s songs, was dying of AIDS during production. He worked from his hospital bed on the final recordings. What was the last song he completed for the film?
I always close with this one. Not because it’s the hardest question, but because of what it does to a room. Everyone goes quiet. The answer reframes the entire movie.
Show Answer
“The Mob Song” (“Kill the Beast”) is often cited as one of his final contributions, though the exact order of completion is debated. What’s not debated is that Ashman saw the film as a metaphor for the AIDS crisis: a prince cursed through no real fault of his own, feared and hated by the outside world, hoping to be loved before time runs out. Once you hear that reading, you can’t unhear it. He died on March 14, 1991, eight months before the film premiered. The dedication at the end reads: “To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful.” Every time I read that line at the end of a trivia night, the room is different than it was at the start.
Music and film rounds are where trivia nights either come alive or fall flat. I've been writing them in Minneapolis, MN for 9 years, and I believe a good music question should make everyone at the table feel something, even when they get it wrong. I've written for JetPunk trivia, and I take the same care with every set I write.
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