An exceptional, beautiful animated film

Rating: 10/10 (15 August 2011)

Anyone can tell you that 1991's "Beauty and the Beast," the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed animated film from that year, is a modern-day classic. "Beauty and the Beast" is a film I saw throughout my childhood growing up in the '90s (I was six when the film was originally released in 1991), and I often regarded it as just another Disney fairy tale movie.
Boy, was I wrong.
Yes, "Beauty and the Beast" is an animated Disney fairy tale, but it's an animated Disney fairy tale like no other. The film came out during a time that is often regarded in film history as the Disney Renaissance period, when the company was putting out top-of-the-line animated features that were of the highest degree of excellence after a nearly-30-year decline in quality, had stellar production values and animation, stellar star/no-name voice talent, and the films were just of overall better quality than in times past. As a result, Disney was beginning to see critical acclaim and box office profits that at the time were unprecedented in the company's history, or animated-film history, for that matter.
It supposedly began with "The Little Mermaid" (1989) and ended with "Tarzan" in 1999 (and I also don't want to forget about 1992's "Aladdin" or 1994's "The Lion King"; "Beauty and the Beast" is easily the best film from this time.
"Beauty and the Beast" is of course an adaptation of the classic French fairy tale, and the animation screenplay here (ultimately penned by Linda Woolverton and co-directed by Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise) is credited to no less than 11 writers. In the film, an unnamed and selfish young prince (Robby Benson) is transformed into a Beast by a beautiful young enchantress who had disguised herself as an old hag. This curse has not only transformed him into a monster closely resembling a humanoid lion, but it has affected his entire castle - turning it into a darkly ominous and Gothic house of horrors (that is obviously meant to match his inner turmoil, hatred, and contempt for the world) and turned his servants and everyone else in it into everyday household items like silverware, furniture, and other decorations.
In the nearby town, Belle (Paige O'Hara), the town beauty who is regarded as somewhat of an oddball and a goof - due to her love of books and gaining knowledge (my kind of woman, personally!) - is growing tired of her assigned lot in life and wonders if there's anything better out there. Still, she is generally pleased with what she already has, living with her eccentric inventor father Maurice (Rex Everhart). When Maurice leaves town to attend a nearby science exhibition, he gets lost and winds up at the Beast's castle. The angry Beast takes him prisoner, but agrees to let him go in exchange for letting Belle remain in his castle forever.
Although Belle is initially repulsed by the Beast, not so much by his looks but by his violent temper, she gradually begins to warm up to him and his kindly staff who begin tending to her every need. Underneath his horrid exterior, she begins to see that he is indeed a kind and gentle soul, and a very lonely one at that, and predictably begins to fall in love with him and vice-versa. Meanwhile back in town, forces led by the town's ultra-vain hot-shot alpha-male, Gaston (Richard White), are conspiring to get Belle to marry him at any cost, while also masterminding the Beast's downfall.
"Beauty and the Beast" is an extraordinary motion picture event, which had the distinction of being the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (that was until Pixar's "Up" in 2010). It was also one of the earliest pictures to make use of hand-drawn imagery that was seamless integrated with computer-generated special effects. To me, while I usually detest musicals and even though "Beauty and the Beast" has some musical numbers in it, by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, the songs don't slow the film down at all. In fact, they actually enhance the film by actually continuing to tell the story (and they are in fact pretty catchy, which is a rarity in films like this - I might actually go out and by the soundtrack pretty soon).
Another aspect of the film that makes it so extraordinary is how dark it is, and also worth mentioning is the fleeting violence of the film's climax (which does include a slapstick showdown at the Beast's castle between the household staff and Gaston's goons, but I'm specifically referring to the climatic fight between the Beast and Gaston on the roof of his castle). And the Beast himself is actually quite scary, especially in the film's earliest moments. I'm quite surprised that "Beauty and the Beast" didn't receive at least a "PG" rating considering how dark this picture is, both in its subject matter and presentation. Notice how ugly and how drenched in darkness the Beast's castle is when the story begins. But the story is also about beauty, specifically the love of inner beauty. The film and Beast's castle begin to brighten up and come back to life once Belle arrives and begins falling for the Beast.
It may be rated "G," but it's still a mature-minded animated feature that doesn't play dumb to its audience and spoon-feed them crappy, sugar-coated moralistic messages about the true ugliness that is sometimes referred to as life.
"Beauty and the Beast" is very easily one of my favorite Disney animated films, very easily one of my favorite animated films of all time, for sure. I especially appreciated its message about inner beauty, a theme that has always been particularly of interest to me in the few love stories I actually like but has never been realized so brilliantly as it has been here.
A true Disney classic.
10/10