Magnificent and Unsurpassed

Rating: Null/10 (30 September 2000)

The best animated feature ever made. Period. No argument. The Disney studios pulled out all the stops to create this sublime achievement, using the best animators, storytellers and musical artists in the business. Surpassing any animated feature made before or since this is simple story about a beautiful girl in a small village who wants to escape her "provincial life" and the clutches of the handsome town brute who wants to have her for his own. Told in the style of a lively Hollywood musical, this story is never boring and continuously engaging. You won't find a better family film. Even the movie's beginning, telling the background of the Beast through the use of stain glass windows, is stunningly beautiful and original. The musical numbers are alternately fun, hilarious, quietly sweet and rousing.
Don't expect the DVD version of this film to last on the shelves very long.