Overrated, but still something of a classic

Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2006)

I really cannot see why so many high-profile critics have such deep veneration for this film; so much that they include it in their "All-Time" lists. Surely they have seen many art films that are more profoundly affecting than this gorgeous, but (in the big scheme of the motion picture universe) somewhat slight animated flick. I am able to identify flaws in this diamond, this relic of my childhood, that I was blinded to by its light, but those will be elaborated upon later. I still love this film nevertheless, now that I am able to appreciate and articulate exactly why.
The opening sequence is still hauntingly beautiful, with the tracking shot from idyllic Disney forest to the gloomy castle's stained glass windows as the Alan Menken score smoothly segues in accordance with the changing visuals. The series of stained glass windows that tell of the selfish prince's punishment would make one heck of a picture book on their own, and David Ogden Stiers narrates with class and warmth. In fact, all the music in the film fits well with the visuals, and the songs are still quite catch. "Belle" works in enlivening, Broadway style, the morning gossip of the little town and the respective yearnings of Belle and Gaston,"Gaston" has a suitably chummy beer-hall mentality, and of course "Be Our Guest" and the ballroom-scene rendition of the title song are both grand by their own standards.
The characters are not particularly complex (hence the "slight"-ness of the film), but are still pretty well-drawn. Belle sees through the good looks of the chauvinist Gaston but is terrified at the Beast's appearance (of course, the fact that he locked up her father may be a factor in her fear), and is '90s empowered while being a romantic and a loving daughter. Odd-couple Lumiere and Cogsworth make good comic relief, as their rapport is rarely too immature; matronly Mrs. Potts and son Chip are also decently crafted objects (once human, of course). The Beast, menacing and then tender, has the two most touching moments in the film with his (SPOILER) sacrifice of possession of Belle and his merciful sparing of Gaston in the final battle, but his transformation into that unselfish being should have been more developed-here we come to the movie's flaws. (SPOILER END)
Gaston is effective as a shallow, egotistical fool and an obsessively persistent suitor, but attempts to make him a villain are rather contrived.(SPOILER)Let's face it, blackmailing Belle with the threat of her father's institutionalization is not really enough justification for Belle to call him call him a monster, and there is no reason why he could not be redeemed just like the equally selfish Beast was instead falling to his death like many Disney villains.(SPOILER END) Also, the themes of the film are not incredibly subtle, and there are those conflicting morals of the Beast's physical transformation.
Despite these flaws, I continue to prize the film while expanding my cinematic understanding by watching many others- I'll one day see the original French version of the story-, and I expect its Disney-style romanticism to keep my burgeoning cynical side in check with each future viewing. 9/10