Fine animation, but story doesn't strike a particularly good chord with me.

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2003)

Disney's animated BEAUTY AND THE BEAST has received much praise and high ratings, but I don't know why it is placed above so many of the other fine animated films. For example, for me Disney's animated TARZAN is a much more entertaining film. Maybe because TARZAN's serious message (family, and accepting outsiders) is delivered in a more entertaining manner. In "beast" Belle is a beautiful young woman whose father becomes imprisoned in the castle of the Beast and she volunteers to be imprisoned instead, to free her father. The Beast had gotten that way from a spell, and could only become the handsome prince again if he could get someone to love him. A bitter person, that appears virtually impossible.
some SPOILERS follow ...
During her stay in the Beast's castle, Belle is rarely treated kindly, but still in the end she falls in love with him. The transition from the two being at odds, to the romance, seems to abrupt, without a plausible buildup to that point. It is well-done, but for me the presentation of the story was not altogther satisfying.