Critical response "Be Our Guest" has been universally lauded, receiving widespread critical acclaim and garnering nearly unanimously positive reviews from both film and music critics. Hailing it as a "crowd-pleasing production number,"
TV Guide drew similarities between "Be Our Guest" and songs from the Broadway musicals
Hello, Dolly! and
Mame.
The Globe and Mail Jennie Punter called the song "show-stopping." Similarly, Drew Taylor of
Indiewire echoed Punter's statement, writing, "when the enchanted
wait staff dazzle the captive Belle, assuring her that she's not a prisoner she's a guest of the castle," the result is ultimately "show-stopping." Writing for the
Austin Chronicle, Kathleen Maher, who generally panned the film's songs and musical numbers, liked "Be Our Guest", describing it as
Beauty and the Beast "only ... magical set piece." Ranking
Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack as Disney's greatest
soundtrack,
Moviefone's Sandie Angulo Chen highlighted "Be Our Guest", noting its "infectious quality" while hailing it as an "amazing food chorus line."
JoBlo.com wrote that "Be Our Guest" is both "eye-popping" and "impossibly catchy." Similarly,
Hollywood.com cited in the website's biography of the actor, "Among the highlights of [
Beauty and the Beast] was Orbach's delivery of the showstopping number 'Be Our Guest'." Several critics have awarded specific praise to "Be Our Guest"'s choreography, comparing it extensively to the work of director and choreographer
Busby Berkeley. In addition to hailing "Be Our Guest" as "delightful," Candice Russel of the
Sun-Sentinel wrote, "In
setting the table for Belle, Lumiere and friends concoct a Busby Berkeley song-and-dance extravaganza." The
Deseret News' Chris Hicks described "the Busby Berkeley-style 'Be Our Guest'" as "first-rate."
Lisa Schwarzbaum of
Entertainment Weekly highlighted the scene, writing, "The set pieces are
narcotically pleasing, especially the Busby Berkeley-style dancing-kitchenware spectacular, 'Be Our Guest'."
James Berardinelli of
ReelViews coined "'Be Our Guest' ... the animated equivalent of Broadway show-stoppers, with all the energy and audacity of something choreographed by Busby Berkeley." Calling it a "wonderful musical number,"
Roger Ebert enthused, "'Be Our Guest' is a rollicking invitation to Belle from the castle staff, choreographed like Busby Berkeley
running amok." In review of the 2011 3D re-release of
Beauty and the Beast, Stephen Whitty of
The Star-Ledger commented, "The illusion of depth does add more life to the enchanted housewares — particularly the 'Be Our Guest' number, with its Busby Berkeley geometrics." While
Beauty and the Beast several theatrical re-releases and reissues have been met with generally mixed reviews, critical response towards the "Be Our Guest" musical sequence has remained predominantly positive. Reviewing the 2001
IMAX re-release of the film, the
Los Angeles Times Charles Solomon felt that the inclusion of the deleted song "
Human Again" was unnecessary, preferring "Be Our Guest" and writing, "a second major production number simply isn't needed; 'Be Our Guest' is sufficient." Similarly, the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold wrote, "On the other hand, it's understandable why ["Human Again"] was cut from the original. It's almost too similar to the film's show-stopper, 'Be Our Guest'." Reviewing the film's 2012
3D conversion, Todd Gilchrist of
Boxoffice wrote that "Be Our Guest" is "effective, immersive and maybe even memorable." Meanwhile, Annlee Ellingson of
Paste wrote, "It's thrilling to experience this film's major set pieces on the big screen again, especially the Broadway-infused 'Be Our Guest' number."
The Times-Picayune Mike Scott wrote, "But then the 3-D all but disappears until the 'Be Our Guest' number -- with its artfully surreal dance of the dishes." Andrew Pulver of
The Guardian, who otherwise criticized the film's songs, praised "Be Our Guest", writing, "Apart from the spectacular Busby Berkeleyesque [']Be Our Guest['], the film pretty much grinds to a halt whenever one of the songs ... starts up." Likewise, Neil Smith of
Total Film concluded that "only 'Be Our Guest' and the ballroom swoop really benefit from a stereoscopic make-over that doesn't do the hand-drawn remainder many favours." Although vastly critically acclaimed, the song did receive some minor criticism. Lukewarmly, Irving Tan of Sputnikmusic commented, "numbers like 'Be Our Guest' provides evidence that Lumiere and co. are infinitely preferable as entertaining flatware." On Lansbury's performance, Tan joked, "The singer's delightfully personable contribution is
almost reason enough to forgive Disney for thinking her
English accent ... would not look out of place in a film set in 18th century France." A more negative review was written by Pete Vonder Haar of
The Houston Press. Observing that
Beauty and the Beast "was Disney's first stab at incorporating computer animation," he felt that "the results are, now, pretty primitive," concluding, "I recall thinking the dancing forks during 'Be Our Guest' ... looked pretty bad and time has not been kind." The song has also been compared to "Under the Sea" from
The Little Mermaid, most of which have been mixed. Jay Boyar the
Orlando Sentinel opined, "'Be Our Guest' ... is the closest thing in
Beauty and the Beast to the bubbly 'Under the Sea' extravaganza in
The Little Mermaid," Likewise,
Desson Howe of
The Washington Post panned both the song and Lumiere, writing, "the Candelabrum's
Maurice Chevalier accent is clearly intended to substitute for the Caribbean-lilted lobster in
Mermaid. And the ensemble song, 'Be Our Guest,' in which the household gadgets enjoin Belle to live with them, is an obvious attempt to reprise a similar
Mermaid number, 'Under the Sea.' But it's just under par."
Awards, accolades and legacy Alongside the songs "
Beauty and the Beast" and "
Belle," "Be Our Guest" was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Original Song at the
64th Academy Awards in 1992. Having garnered three separate Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song,
Beauty and the Beast became the first film in the history of the
Academy Awards to achieve this rare feat; this would not be repeated until
The Lion King had three songs nominated for the award. Ultimately, "Be Our Guest" lost to the film's title song. In an interview with
Entertainment Weekly,
Beauty and the Beast producer
Don Hahn revealed that Disney feared that having three songs nominated for Best Original Song would result in a draw or three-way tie. Therefore, while "Beauty and the Beast" received heavy promotion from the studio, significantly less was given to "Be Our Guest" and "Belle." "Be Our Guest" was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the
49th Golden Globe Awards in 1992, losing again to "Beauty and the Beast." In 2004, the
American Film Institute nominated "Be Our Guest" for its "100 Years…100 Songs" ranking. Dubbed one of the most memorable songs from
Beauty and the Beast, while lauded as a "favorite," a "classic" "Be Our Guest" is commonly cited as one of Disney's greatest songs. As
Beauty and the Beast "most frequently heard song,"
BuzzSugar ranked "Be Our Guest" third on the website's list of the "25 Disney Songs We Will Never Stop Singing". Calling the song a "gem," author Maggie Pehanick wrote that "Be Our Guest" was "one of the first [Disney] songs to get permanently lodged in your brain."
Oh No They Didn't ranked "Be Our Guest" eighth on its list of "The Top 25 Disney Songs of All Time", while
IGN ranked the song third, with author
Lucy O'Brien writing, "Of all the brilliant numbers peppered throughout
Beauty and the Beast, it's the turbo-charged Broadway chorus number [']Be Our Guest['] that's the stand-out," describing it as "one of the best songs ever devised by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman." "Be Our Guest" was ranked seventh on ''
M's "
Top 20 Disney Songs of All Time" list, with author Stephanie Osmanski citing "Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test" as her favorite lyrics. Meanwhile, HitFix ranked "Be Our Guest" sixth on their own list o "The 20 Best Disney Songs of All Time." Additionally, while ranking Lumiere the thirty-ninth "Best Animated Movie Character" of all-time, Empire ''hailed "Be Our Guest" as the character's best moment and "Stroke of genius," writing, "The song ... sees Lumiere introduce perhaps the greatest dining experience in animation history." While ranking the "50 Greatest Fairy Tale Movies," on which
Beauty and the Beast ranked second,
Total Film highlighted "Be Our Guest" as the film's "Most Magical Moment."
Film.com ranked "Be Our Guest" the thirteenth "Greatest Musical Number ... in Movie History," describing the song as "a masterpiece of
showtune construction" while lauding its Busby Berkeley-inspired choreography. "Be Our Guest" was the only animated musical number included on the website's list of 50.
Certifications ==Live performances==