Whilst covering a couple of genres and delivering an interesting study or two, the film retains a heartfelt and innocent quality that still works.

Rating: 7/10 (14 October 2008)

Beauty and the Beast is a classic fairytale if ever there was one. It's a film about discovery; about adventure; about venturing off and away from home or a comfort zone to explore and discover. This exploration will be littered with danger and threat but it will evoke an element of magic and the unreal for equal measure although the smart move Disney make in Beauty and the Beast is that they do not clearly define who the 'villain' is and nor do they dumb down this role. In fact Disney bring an air of study and greater extent to the material other than shoddy metaphorical content, something that they very rarely did so before this and thus; Beauty and the Beast earns its place amongst the circles when talking about some of their best films.
The film could be read as if told to us aurally, that is to say the immediate beginning is being narrated to us and we have rough sketches that look as if they're straight out of the Medieval era presented to us in story book fashion. These still images confirm to us of a Prince's back-story of how he became so hideous in appearance and how his castle and its inhabitants became so equally physically deformed, some of which are transformed into items that resemble their role in the castle whereas some others are not. Here is an interesting study of character 'bodies' within film, a brief reference to centuries ago during which what you wore would immediately tell others of your 'role' in the world ie; Royalty, jesters and peasants would all clearly be labelled by the clothes they wore  this is significant due to the various items the castle's workers are transformed into and the manner in which the 'style' of the early images are presented to us in that mock, Medieval fashion.
So if characters like Mrs. Potts (Lansbury) are transformed into a teapot because she's the maid that makes and brings the tea; the Stove (Cummings) is transformed into his namesake since he is the chef and the flirtatious French maid is transformed into a brush to signify her job as a cleaner then it's possible to read into the fact the two individuals we the audience follow more often than not, those being Cogsworth (Ogden Stiers) and Lumiere (Orbach), are of a certain elevated level since it's difficult to place a candelabra and a clock into a realm of profession within the domestic environment. If there's one thing people have had fun in reading into over the years then it's Disney and their particular animation styling they choose; characters with lean or fat builds can signify one thing; characters with very astute or pointed expressions another whereas a rounded character with a big smile and bright blue eyes could easily be associated with heroic tendencies.
The Beast (Benson) himself is not necessarily transformed into something as he is turned inside out. The character of the Prince is an unkind 'beast' on the inside and has these psychological characteristics switched so he must physically resemble a 'beast' or a monster, cruel and consuming none-the-less. But Beauty and the Beast is more so a character study of the mind rather than just how fancy Disney can make and force us to identify with each character's animation. As a character, Belle (O'Hara) plays the protagonist and like most female Disney protagonists, she lacks a motherly figure but does her very best to figure out what's right anyway. As a character with a persona she is smart and outgoing, an independent woman who will not conform to stereotypes but will maintain an attitude that has an element of feminism throughout.
Her mission through the film changes a few times, on one occasion actually reverting back to a prior one. Initially she sets out to rescue her father, Maurice (Everhart), after he is kept in the very castle the Beast inhabits following a similar exchange comparable to that of the enchanted woman at the beginning when she also requested shelter from outside forces. Things take a turn for the worst and Belle's new goal having achieved the last one is to stay behind with the Beast after which she must get used to. Belle begins the film within the filmic space that is 'the farm'; a simplistic and rural setting which is located within 'the village', a setting in which all inside is 'good' and everything outside is 'evil' or at least unknown and mysterious. Belle doesn't conform to the caricature she should do within these spaces and this is highlighted with a wonderful early musical number in which the villagers call her 'strange' and 'funny' because she's a free thinker and she reads books.
Completing a future love triangle is Gaston (White), a physically powerful and space dominating character who possesses so much love for Belle, it leads to obsession  you get the feeling in the real world if Belle had developed a relationship with someone else in the village, Gaston may well have challenged them because of it. He dominates his assistant Lefou (Corti) in the same manner Beast dominates his assistants initially within the castle planting a seed in the audience's mind to do with power struggles and what would happen if these two came up against each other. But Beast becomes more human when he seems to treat the assistants with more respect and is presented in compromising situations such as looking daft following a bath, whereas Gaston goes the other way. The film is a great study for certain things and will no doubt remain highly rated in years to come.