Beauty And The Beast: 21 Easter Eggs & References You Must See

8. The Esther Williams Reference

In "Be Our Guest" there's a dance sequence that sees Mrs Potts swimming in a synchronised formation to the music.

That very much feels like a nod to the glorious cinematic work of Esther Williams, who the film-makers admitted was a major reference, along with masters Bob Fosse and Busby Berkeley, as visual effects producer Steve Gaub confessed:

“They approached it as though they were going to put on a stage number on a Broadway stage. If you couldn’t imagine it [like that], then we weren’t doing it quite right, you know?”