Farrow Lends Voice to an Irresistible ‘Beauty’

Disney’s acclaimed “Beauty and the Beast” blockbuster was labeled an instant classic, but save a spot in your heart for another irresistible--and very different--”Beauty”: Lightyear Entertainment’s animated “Beauty & the Beast” on home video, narrated by Mia Farrow.

Faithful to the spirit of the original French classic, this award-winning film, part of Light-year’s “Stories to Remember” broadcast series and originally seen on the PBS series “Long Ago & Far Away,” is a stylish and literate telling of virtue rewarded, love and redemption.

Each carefully considered element complements the other, from Farrow’s silky, well-spoken narrative to Ernest Troost’s haunting orchestral score, to the fine-line, delicate color drawings by Mordicai Gerstein, who directed this animated adaptation of his book.

Beauty’s pure heart is put to the test by a Beast that is neither cuddly ugly nor nobly leonine, but fanged and tusked, with a serpentine tail and the face of a wart-hog. Her sisters are as unpleasant inside as out and their dark fate is as satisfying as Beauty’s reward.

With deceptive simplicity, Gerstein sets the mood with overhead angles, close-ups of trembling hands and expressive eyes, exquisite dream sequences with flowing colors and shapes against stark black.

This lovely, compassionate romance is indeed, as Farrow tells us, a story that will live “as long as there is someone to tell it and someone to listen.” Make it a family occasion.

“Beauty & the Beast.” Lightyear Entertainment/BMG Distribution. 27 minutes. $14.98; available at Target stores. Information: (800) 229-STORY.

Anti-Drug Program: Teens from Down Under are rock ‘n’ rollin’ in an unusual anti-drug program that begins touring the United States this month. It’s Australia’s Drug Offensive “Rock Challenge Tour of America,” a theatrical spectacular--production numbers staged to contemporary rock music by Aussie teens--intended to promote a “drug-free lifestyle.”

Created in Sydney 12 years ago as a local theatrical competition between high school students, the event, sponsored by the Australian government, quickly spread nationwide, pitting school against school in hot, MTV-like stagings of social, political or nonsense themes, set to rock music. The groups are judged on creativity, skill, choreography, stage presentation, music selection and interpretation and teamwork.

“This is the most successful anti-drug program in Australia for this age group,” said Chris Hart, co-producer of the American tour. “It’s anti-drug, anti-smoking and anti-alcohol. All the kids--7th grade through 12th--promise they won’t be involved in those things. Camaraderie is a big part of it,” he said. “The kids help each other and police each other. About 50,000 people competed in the event last year.”

Each year, the winner is chosen during a two-hour television special. In 1991, an estimated “35% of kids ages 12 to 20 watched the show,” Hart said.

“It’s hot stuff. We’re proud that we don’t have a message we’re selling. We don’t tell the kids what their programs are about. They choose the issues and they choose the music; we just help facilitate it.”

The Australians hope that when American teens and anti-substance abuse groups get an eyeful of the U.S. tour, it will spark enough interest to make it an international competition.

“We’re showing American kids, educators, politicians and media people exactly what this is all about,” Hart said. “And, hopefully, we’ll get them to come and put up teams themselves. We’ll be back in April with our film crews and whatever the Americans can muster” will appear on Australia’s 1992 television special.

The 200-member company will perform their “live rock videos” at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Jan. 14, on Disneyland’s Videopolis Stage Jan. 16 and at Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego on Jan. 17, before East Coast performances in Washington and New York. The shows are free, although Videopolis patrons must pay Disneyland’s regular admission fee. Information: (213) 871-8416.