Disappointing and somewhat overrated

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2004)

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS: This isn't really all that great. I mean, it's not the worst movie ever made, but it really is pretty mediocre. The heroine is a stupid helium voiced bimbo and most definitely not the fairest of them all, also completely one dimensional. The Prince is a boring drip with no personality. The Wicked Queen is, well, a little more interesting, but the very idea of being willing to kill someone for being better looking than you is ridiculous, speaking of which, the whole film is sexist. The songs, along with the dwarfs, are among it's better elements - or at least the ones they sing, but they are no competition for such comic characters as Cogsworth and Lumiere, Timon and Pumbaa, Kronk, Genie, Mushu, Rugg and Tuke or a certain quartet of English vultures, or, for that matter, the bird and mouse act of Spirited Away and Shrek's Donkey, and the songs, once again, are easily beaten. The animation looks very dated, I'm not a big fan of Pinocchio, but the animation is much better, the woodland creatures are nauseatingly over cute, with none of the genuine cuteness of Simba, Bruno of Belleville Rendez-vous, or Jiji in Kiki's Delivery Service, or to site an example of a character of lesser importance, the squirrel in The Emperor's New Groove, the backgrounds are so-so, and the character designs are pretty lifeless. Beauty and the Beast is completely superior, probably the best ever animated fairytale film and should not be compared to this dull, unsatisfying effort. ** out of a possible *****