To date, my favorite animated Disney film.
In 1938, Walt Disney received a special Academy Award for producing "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and bringing a new standard to motion picture cartoons. Then in 1941, the Academy gave "Fantasia" a couple of special awards as another watermark animated film. "Beauty and the Beast" deserves to stand along side both of those films as one that changed animated films forever. For me, there are animated films before "Beauty" and after. Not since Disney's very first animated films ("Snow White," "Pinnochio") had one blended music and story so masterfully. But what sets "Beauty" apart from others is, strangely enough, the acting. The voice work is so perfectly matched with the way the characters are drawn that it's almost possible to forget you're watching two-dimensional creations.
An enchanting film.
Grade: A+
In 1938, Walt Disney received a special Academy Award for producing "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and bringing a new standard to motion picture cartoons. Then in 1941, the Academy gave "Fantasia" a couple of special awards as another watermark animated film. "Beauty and the Beast" deserves to stand along side both of those films as one that changed animated films forever. For me, there are animated films before "Beauty" and after. Not since Disney's very first animated films ("Snow White," "Pinnochio") had one blended music and story so masterfully. But what sets "Beauty" apart from others is, strangely enough, the acting. The voice work is so perfectly matched with the way the characters are drawn that it's almost possible to forget you're watching two-dimensional creations.
An enchanting film.
Grade: A+