- “Would I stand on this stage? Hold him like the father he needs? Or would it be hollow?”
- ―Ansel[src]
Ansel Beauregard is the tritagonist of the Netflix film Arlo the Alligator Boy and a supporting character in its sequel series, I ♥ Arlo. He is the biological father of Arlo who has become a successful businessman in New York City, and is half-bird.
Profile[]
Biography[]
Appearance[]
Ansel is light-skinned, has a slight blush on his cheeks, tip of nose and earlobes, a mole on his lower left lip, and black hair swept backwards like a bird's comb. Because he's half-bird, he has two-tone white-gold feathered wings on his back, while his torso downward is a pair of orange bird legs.
During his time disguising himself, Ansel wears a navy blue jacket which hid his wings underneath, with white shirt underneath, darker blue pants, and stood on perches sticking out of black dress shoes.
In the series, Ansel wears a white-pink t-shirt similar to the one he wore as a child, dark teal shorts with belt, and has a darker pink sweater tied around his neck like a scarf. His skin is now more rose-toned, has lost the blush in his ears, and his wings are no longer two-toned, and are slightly darker gold.
Personality[]
Ansel is often portrayed as more level-headed than Arlo, hence being a businessman. Throughout the franchise, he's shown to be rather strict and serious, and willing to get his job done. During his time passing off as a normal human, he became pompous and self-centered, and slightly power-mad, wanting enough to "tear it all down". He was also initially dismissive of Arlo and constantly disowned him and turned him away, due to abandoning him as a baby for the sake of not wanting him to expose his bird-man self.
Following his reunion with Arlo, Ansel has become more kind and accepting of his son, and is intent on joining him on his adventures. He's also warmhearted and often plays the voice of reason next to Bertie.
Abilities[]
- Business: he is really business savvy, shown in his flash back where he was so good the people pulled money out of there pocket and gave it to him. he has made millions of dollars by starting at the bottom of business and made his way up quickly to the top.
- Flight: he when using the ability is really skilled with it. he manged to fly fast enough to make it to Seaside in under a few seconds. he can also use it to fight, shown in the movie when he quickly and easily knocked the poachers away from arlo. he seems to be able to fly really high.
History[]
Arlo the Alligator Boy[]
Young Ansel being bullied by the kids.
About 30 years prior to the franchise, Ansel lived in the community of Seaside by the Seashore of Brooklyn, New York City. Ansel was not like the other kids, given that he's half-bird. This caused him to be teased and ridiculed by the various children over his appearance. It was that moment on he would swear to himself that in order to fit in, he would hide his true self and dedicate his life to accumulate wealth and power, so he would one day have enough to "tear it all down".
In his teen years, Ansel moved to Manhattan and started taking up classes in becoming a businessman. In his young adult years, he got his job and eventually became rich and famous amongst the cityfolk, and helped develop parts of the city into a better place. However, he had to constantly keep his bird self a secret, and eventually started only caring about the money he earned and what came with it. Ansel then went on to have multiple successes, such as earning the penthouse in an apartment building on 1934 Lexington Avenue, and falling in love with a woman whom he would eventually marry.
Ansel sees his half-alligator son, resulting in him making the biggest mistake of his life, by letting him go.
The night Arlo was born, Ansel was shocked at seeing his alligator appearance and feared he would expose his true self to the city. Said moment caused Ansel to invoke the biggest mistake of his life -- he abandons Arlo and leaves him alone in the sewers underneath Bellevue Hospital, and disowns him. Arlo eventually flows out of the sewers at dawn and is lost at sea for days until floating into a Louisiana swamp and ending up at the doorstep of local swamp hermit Edmée, who took him in as her own.
Ansel plans to replace Seaside by the Seashore.
Over the years, Ansel grew into a young man and became an icon amongst all the business people of New York. At the time the film began, Ansel has carried out various projects to keep the city going strong. But his most recent project proves quite a handful for him however; Seaside by the Seashore has since become abandoned and decrepit, and he plans to demolish the community and replace it with a city expansion, which he will be presenting as the host of this year's Met Gala. Ansel has also become selfish and absorbed, as money and success are all that he cares about now.
Ansel cruelly disowns Arlo.
Arlo eventually learned about his true heritage during his time in the swamp, and with that, began a long journey to New York, while assembling a friendship circle of misfits just like him. He eventually reached New York, and with the help of Teeny Tiny Tony, finds Ansel's residence in a lavish penthouse at the top of a building on 1934 Lexington Avenue. Ansel's reunion with Arlo did not go off to a good start though, as he first assumes Arlo found the wrong place and is in the middle of an improbable situation right now. It was that moment Arlo shows Ansel the hospital bracelet from his birth, sending memories back into his head and triggering his trauma from back then. Ansel claims that his son is gone and tells Arlo he is not his father, which he disagrees, as there's no place left for him to go now.
Wanting to help Arlo out, Ansel takes Arlo into his library and shows him the demolition project he's been mentioning, surprising him slightly. He then leads him into an elaborate song-and-dance number, "Better Life", which shows how he enjoys his life as a businessman and learned to "change himself" to fit in. He also changes up Arlo's appearance to be more businesslike just like him; Arlo enjoys it at first, but when the song was over, Ansel reveals all the advice he can give him is to change himself. Arlo soon realizes what Ansel was really doing and accuses him of distracting him from what's important, as he traveled all this way to meet him just so they'd be happy together. Ansel tells Arlo in a mournful voice that he's not his father, and sends him back down the elevator, passing him off as a kid from the foundation when one of his butlers checks up on him. Alone and rejected, Arlo laments over all that he's lost as he plunges into the sewers, eventually ending up at Seaside by the Seashore where Ansel's project will soon take place.
Ansel's secret identity becomes a challenge for him.
On the night of the Met Gala, Ansel works up a few pre-show jitters, before presenting his project to the crowd. At the same time, Arlo and his friends have broken into the gala and Arlo is determined to know the truth from Ansel, even if he believes he may not even be his father at all. Just after Ansel reveals his project, Arlo silences the crowd, getting Ansel's attention. But Arlo is unable to get one sentence out, fearing he could be rejected again, and the rich folk criticize his appearance in various ways, forcing Ansel to go on.
With Bertie's help, however, Arlo manages to break into song and reach out to Ansel with no problem, demanding to know the truth if he is his dad. Ansel begins singing along with him, beginning to worry to himself that what Arlo is doing could expose his bird half, and he ends up getting attention of the whole gala as they feel concerned over him. Ansel retreats into an armory wing in fright, with Arlo following after him, and Ansel accuses him of ruining his presentation and putting everything at risk. But when Arlo brings up he does indeed get what he's going through, Ansel calms down and compliments on Arlo's determination, who promises to leave him alone if he knows the truth once and for all, so he can stop thinking about it.
Ansel finally realizes what he had become.
Just as Ansel is about to tell Arlo he is indeed his dad, their moment is interrupted by the arrival of hunters Ruff and Stucky, who have been perusing Arlo throughout the trip to make into a tourist attraction at their swamp shack. This ignites Ansel's nerves again, and when Stucky brings up what he would do to have an alligator boy for a son, Arlo resigns and claims he doesn't belong here at all, and is thus dragged away by the hunters with their pet, the Beast, following right behind. It is that moment Ansel realizes how horrible and selfish he has become of himself, and vows to fix things.
Ansel's true self revealed to the crowd.
With the Beast being fought by Arlo's best friend Bertie, Ruff and Stucky are close to getting him out the door when they are interrupted by Ansel giving a shrill hawk cry; after all those years of being secluded, Ansel finally spreads his wings and knocks Ruff and Stucky out, freeing Arlo from their grasp and taking him back to the stage. Arlo is surprised at this, before Ansel rips his pants off, revealing his bird legs underneath, and admits to the gala his true form as a bird-man, and Arlo is indeed his son whom he had forsaken. Ansel then proceeds to tell Arlo the truth about his past; how he had to hide his true self for the sake of not wanting to be criticized like what happened in his childhood.
Father and son, reunited.
Ansel then brings up the night Arlo was born, which was also the night he let him go for the sake of not wanting him to be exposed, and tearfully begs for forgiveness. Arlo, also in tears, happily pronounces Ansel as his dad and hugs him, and Ansel hugs back, embracing his son and officially reuniting with him. Ansel then asks Arlo to give him another chance and come live with him, but Arlo turns him down, as he found a new family in the friends he had made, as they need him more. Ansel feels left out, so Furlecia pulls him into the group hug, accepting him as one of them.
Ansel dances with his son and friends.
As Arlo and his gang converse, Ansel tells him he understood what he thought of Seaside by the Seashore and has a deep attachment for it, so he decides to hand it down to him as his hometown, rebuild it, and reopen it. Arlo happily accepts, and in just a short day, the boardwalk is restored in no time, with the help of the rest of the cityfolk. Ansel was last seen flying the tuxedo-clad Beast home into the sunset.
I ♥ Arlo[]
Ansel in I ♥ Arlo.
Ansel is a supporting character in the series, which follows the adventures of Arlo after reopening Seaside by the Seashore and making it his home. While retaining his rich persona from the movie, he has fully accepted Arlo as a son again and is trying to be the perfect father for him.
Ansel first appears in "A Memory of Pizza", when he sends an urgent phone call to Arlo letting him in on not only is he checking up on Seaside's restoration, but the mayor Elena is coming as well for a tour; turns out, he had to tell her of the project, and if she doesn't approve of it, then Seaside will be shut down for good. When he tried to tell Arlo what to do, his instructions were drowned out by the sound of his espresso machine, leaving Arlo to misinterpret his advice and turn Seaside into a lavish high-end neighborhood like his penthouse. After Ansel arrives, he notices one unrenovated structure in particular, Ol' Bessie the Ferris wheel, which he used to ride as a child, and Arlo promises to fix it soon. When Elena finally arrives, the visit does not go well, but Elena reveals she had no plans on shutting Seaside down, and Ansel catastrophized her visit out of fear. After Elena expresses her likeness at the town's authenticity and announces the upcoming Uncondemning block party to be held in honor, Ansel lets Arlo know he's perfect being himself and it's all that matters.
In "In the Blue with You", Ansel takes Arlo out for a father-son fishing trip on his yacht for the two to reconnect more. The problem is, Ansel doesn't understand Arlo's way of fishing and altered such in various ways: He has two surrogates do the fishing for him, hires a Broadway singing sailor crew, and he and Arlo go deep sea diving with narwhals, all of which his son does not find fun. Arlo admits while Ansel's way of fishing is impressive, all he wanted was to spend time with him. Ansel then goes on a real fishing trip with Arlo in a raft at sea and he teaches him how to fish traditionally.
Ansel has his first starring role in "Swamp Itch", when he senses Arlo is sick with swamp itch thanks to a homemade sweater he got from Edmée. Ansel does whatever he can to take care of his son, but his ways are out of the ordinary. Then when Arlo begins suffering hallucinations from the illness, he keeps mistreating and insulting Ansel in various ways, before fleeing from him completely. Ansel then realizes he should use his natural instincts, and while playing along with Arlo's scenario, traps him in twigs which take on the form of a huge nest. This finally calms down Arlo and cures him, but Ansel ends up contracting the illness in return, prompting Arlo to take care of him now.
In "Stay Cool", Ansel asks Arlo to watch his yacht while he is at a yacht conference in Tampa; however, the meddling caused by his friends when they take it out to sea during a heatwave causes it to get sunken by a giant squid. Fortunately, Ansel wins a new lookalike yacht from the conference, and reassures Arlo even though he's disappointed in him for disobeying him, he would never replace him.
By the time of "Goin' It Arlone", Arlo attempted to fix up Ol' Bessie like he promised, but he doesn't fix it properly causing it to break apart and destroy the boardwalk. Nevertheless, Ansel doesn't mind it at all, the only casualty being his bank accounts, but praises his son for wanting to surprise him for the first time in his life. Throughout "Alro", he works on observing Seaside's quick repairs while secretly wanting Elena to visit him by summoning her over to check up with him. In "The Uncondemning", he stays behind to watch the town while Arlo and the others go off to the swamp to rescue Edmée. During the Uncondemning party that night, he dances with Elena and meets Edmée as well.
Relationships[]
Songs sung by Ansel[]
Foreign voices[]
- Hani Mustafa (Arabic)
- Ricardo Fabio (Brazilian Portuguese)
- Caspar Phillipson (Danish)
- Jonathan Demoor (Dutch)
- Osku Ärilä (Finnish)
- Pascal Nowak (French)
- Arne Stephan (German)
- Antonis Vlachos (Greek)
- Gabriele Lopez (Italian)
- Dadi Zohar (Hebrew)
- IKKAN (Japanese)
- Yang Seok-Jung (Korean)
- Idzi Dudkievitch (Latin America)
- Nando Fortanell (Latin America, singing voice)
- Christian Ingebrigsten (Norwegian)
- Janusz Kryciński (Polish)
- Rueben Madureira (Portuguese)
- Adrian Nour (Romanian)
- Hu Chenyu (Simplified/Traditional Chinese)
- Jiliu (Simplified/Traditional Chinese, singing voice)
- José María Gómez Adán (Spanish)
- Jakob Stadell (Swedish)
- Fatih Gülnar (Turkish)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- David DePasquale described Ansel as an "Uncle Walt" type of character, someone which Arlo would immediately trust, which made his reaction following "Better Life" hit him hard.
| v • e — Characters — | |
| Main characters | Arlo Beauregard • Bertie • Teeny Tiny Tony • Alia • Furlecia • Marcellus |
|---|---|
| Supporting and Recurring characters | Ansel Beauregard • Edmée • Elena • Thao • Sam • Lily • Rat King • Sandra June • Bradley Alouicious • Barn Folk • Michelle |
| Antagonists | Ruff • Stucky • Bog Lady |
| Animals | Jeromio • The Beast |