Much grand showing-off, but more magic might have helped...

Rating: 5/10 (25 December 2006)

Young woman sacrifices her own life to save her elderly father from imprisonment by a greatly feared beast, but she's able to tame the creature with charm and they come to love each other. Famous romantic story given opulent Disney-animated treatment, complete with bombastic Broadway-styled musical numbers designed to bowl viewers over with showmanship and sassy humor. Of course it's unfair to compare this colorful package with Jean Cocteau's black-and-white live-action French version, but Cocteau was working with actual sets, costumes and actors and yet was still able to conjure more magical wonders on film than the Disney animators. It's certainly well-made and well-voiced (especially by an undetectable Robby Benson as the Beast), but it takes about 30 minutes for the pacing to pick up (and it does, leading to a nicely directed nick-of-time finish). The editing is gratefully not slambang and the narrative does have the chance to unfold and allow us to get our bearings, but even when the pots and candles and utensils come to life, there's nothing intriguing about the Beast's castle. This Disney enterprise plays it predictably safe. For a movie about curses and magic, "Beauty and the Beast" is too uncomplicated and polite. Even the storybook had a little mystery. ** from ****