An Absorbing, Magical Piece of Art

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2008)

I, like several others, grew up with films like this as a child, and this was one of those that always stood out. When I first saw it I was about five and I think you can tell that a few of the scenes scared me quite a bit, given the Beast's anger-filled scenes with the darker parts of the film. But seeing the film again for the first time in over ten years it was both refreshing and easy to still remember.
The story, style and execution all feel like something out of a Shakespearean play, and while I've never been much of a fan of old William I do tend to like other stories that have similar styles to him, which I will admit to being both a testament to this film and Shakespeare. One of the film's strongest points is that it easily manages to make several emotions arise out of the viewer, ranging from laughter to sorrow and several others (with a fair number of these instances coming out of the most briefest of scenes, a very rare case for any film). There are several scenes in the film that are both serious and dark with others that are light and funny; it seems that for every serious moment there's a scene of clever comic relief to balance the mood out.
While I was certainly curious and excited to see this film once again now that I would understand it much easier, one part that I wasn't looking forward to were the singing sections, with me not being a fan of musicals. There actually wasn't as much singing in the film as I remember, I'd say about 40% to 50% of the movie is singing with the rest being dialogue. Even though I can't say that the songs were exactly necessary to the film they do compliment the given scenes very well and while this may be the case with any musical film, the singing sections of this film give it a personality in a positive way, unlike several others.
If there was any word I could really use to describe this film it would likely be ironic, not due to anything in the movie itself but more how it compares to others. What's ironic is that this film has a heart and the characters, despite being computer animations and creations with little visual detail (compared to the CGI-heavy films by companies like Pixar) and half the characters being enchanted utensils they still come off as far more human than countless actors in several live action films. Heck, even the Beast comes off as one of the more human characters once his inner feelings and emotions start to come out. If it's not clear by now, the voice-acting in this film is simply superb and, along with the film's beautiful and magical art style is probably its strongest point.
Of course that's not to say every other aspect is any less worthy of praise, because this film is one that almost feels like no number of compliments would be enough to justify it. The story, style, acting, score, music, pacing and really every other aspect you could pinpoint in this film are nothing short of superb. If there really is anything that I could say holds the film from perfection it would be that the ending feels rather rushed. While there really isn't much more they probably could've done with the last five minutes beyond what there was it still felt like it went by rather quickly compared to the rest of the film.
But this is really the smallest of complaints and something that really does little to detract from the film. When you hear someone say that this is a film for all ages, they're not lying, anyone of any age can love and appreciate this film with ease. This film, along with a number of others, show that Disney were truly at their best before 21st century. With the exception of maybe Pinocchio and The Lion King I can't think of any other film with the same style and genre that is as magical and marvelous as this. If you haven't seen this film in a while or at all and are struggling to find a good film for the whole family, be sure you keep your eye out for this one.