Beauty and the Beast

Feel a lot of regret saying that because 'Beauty and the Beast' is such a timeless story and there have been good adaptations of it, Disney's being one not just one of my favourite animated films but one of my favourites of all time too. Also have nothing against Burbank Animation Studios, actually liked some of their output when younger (especially 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears') and some are still not bad at all, 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and 'White Fang' in paticular.

Their version of 'Beauty and the Beast', stumbling over it by chance after many years, however is one of the bad ones, very bad. One of their worst, along with 'Hercules', 'The Little Mermaid', 'D4: The Trojan Dog' and 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. Would say too that it is the worst ever adaptation of 'Beauty and the Beast', regardless of it having a lot of recognisable elements from the story. In detail and structurally, it's fairly faithful and that it, and a couple of other things, is pretty much all that it has going for it. The magic and charm however are completely lost, so the spirit of the story is definitely not there, it all comes over as cheap and cheesy.

Other than what was pointed out, Beauty is likeable enough at points, especially compared to the other characters.

She, not sounding too passive or airy, and her father, sympathetic-sounding, are also the best voiced.

However, did not care for or like anybody else. A few were annoying (Beauty's sister), a few were pointless (the fiance especially), but it was the beast that fared worst. He is neither menacing or sympathetic here, instead behaving like a spoiled child who can't stand getting their own way. There is very little chemistry between him and Beauty, and what should have been a gradual love never feels like one. These are two of the adaptation's biggest problems, and when either or both are not done well in any adaptation the adaptation is very much ruined. Other than Beauty and the father, the voice acting is not good. With again the beast coming off worst, with a voice that does not fit the character design, which is quite frankly the weirdest-looking beast for any adaptation of 'Beauty and the Beast'. The shrill voice of the sister not close behind.

Coming onto the animation, while far worse animation exists (anything from Dingo Pictures and Video Brinquedo), the animation, despite some nice detail to the interiors, has no grace or life to it and instead looks very flat in colour and stiff and careless in drawing, a few of the characters look unintentionally creepy. None of the music sticks in the mind and while it's not ill-fitting as such it doesn't add very much. Other than the disastrous depiction of the beast, the writing and story are the biggest problems.

The writing is just so cheesy and childish in a way that is very likely to not appeal to children or adults. Just want to say too about just remembering seeing this a few times as a very young child (early primary school) and even then it didn't do anything for me, even then the voice work and the beast particularly annoyed me. As well as the over-used and more often than not pointless narration, really do not care for over-explanatory narration that starts saying what is going on or about to happen at times that ruins the scene's impact. Likewise with characters explaining motivations when one knows them already, the whole bit with the rose loses its meaning as a result for example. The story is recognisable, but it is very charmlessly and dully told with a lot of cheese and the past-day parts felt like padding. The latter parts of the story are very emotional, and they left me cold here.

In conclusion, very bad. 3/10