More relevant now than ever, in a way

Rating: 10/10 (23 July 2018)

Beauty and the Beast is a gorgeous and enchanting fairy tale, to be sure, but Disney packed a lot of subtle social commentary on small town small mindedness in there. The people in the village Belle lives in dismiss her as "odd" for being an intelligent and bookish woman, fear the Beast because of his appearance, and worship the loutish Gaston, the very epitome of a musclebound meathead - and toxic masculinity.
The latter character, who seemed like a thinking woman's worst nightmare when the film first came out, is now even more creepy, because his continual harassment of Belle reeks of Me Too. This makes him a hundred times more horrifying than more traditional Disney villains like Ursula or Malificent. Evil witches are only in fiction. Gaston clones are everywhere.
Ultimately, the film's message is the triumph of open minds over closed ones, and that even society's so-called rejects can hold their heads high and triumph in the end. I can't imagine a more positive message to convey to kids.