Beauty and the Beast

Scott Hardie: “It was ok.”

Despite liking the songs and being curious about what is considered one of Disney Animation's biggest triumphs, I deliberately avoided this movie for many years, because I feared not having much tolerance for the rotting stink of misogyny and hypocrisy under the French-perfumed surface. It turns out, my fears were wrong: It was even worse than I anticipated. This is a story in which a woman is aggressively courted by two violent suitors until one of them "wins" her affection by coercing her into forced romantic rituals by literally imprisoning and starving her for refusal to cooperate, only becoming "deserving" of her love once he turns his violence towards others to protect her. That Gaston is portrayed as a villain and Beast as a hero is meaningless when their treatment of Belle is so very similar; if anything, Beast achieves more cruelty.

Look, I get it: Hollywood isn't merely misogynist by design; it gets there by expediency. As this excellent video spells out, it's a lot of work to develop a story in which a woman and man properly meet and fall in love, so having one imprison the other is a narrative shortcut that isolates them and forces their interaction. Beauty and the Incel was famously produced in half of the time of Disney's usual animated features and its makers didn't have certain luxuries. But even cutting the movie that slack, it's still shocking to see Beast be so barbarous as to deny Belle food unless she complies with his overtures, and so irredeemable that he never apologizes for his mistreatment. The filmmakers tip their hand that this is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy, not a female one, when Beast melodramatically loses the will to live upon Belle leaving his side to rescue her father from mortal peril, only to re-establish his dominance and re-earn her loyalty by finding the inner strength to tear the outmatched Gaston a new asshole. (If you're in doubt, the filmmakers have said that they regard Beast, not Belle, as the hero of the story.) A far better arc for Beast would be to have him earn Belle's love by understanding his mistakes and changing into a good person on the inside and even convincing the local rabble to spare his life through an act of selflessness—but that wouldn't be easy to write, would it? It's as if everyone making this completely forgot the moral of the fairy tale they were adapting.

If I choose to judge this on its own terms, sure, it's the masterpiece that deserves its reputation. The songs are magnificent and easily the best element of the movie. The animation is also exceptional, particularly in the facial expressions; pause randomly during any conversation to see what the literal handiwork of animators drawing each frame can achieve compared to today's more shape-driven CGI animation. I loved the character design, the stained-glass prologue, the heartfelt vocal performance by Paige O'Hara, the antics of LeFou and the castle's servants, and lots more. It's an extremely well made movie. I wish I could say it was a good one.This review contains spoilers. Reveal it.

− July 10, 2026 • more by Scott • log in or register to reply