Based on the French fairy tale,[b] it was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton, and produced by Don Hahn.

Beauty and the Beast stars the voices of Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Jesse Corti, Rex Everhart, Jo Anne Worley, and Angela Lansbury.

Dissatisfied with Purdum's efforts, Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg ordered that the entire film be reworked into a musical with original songs by The Little Mermaid's songwriting team, lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken.

Several years later, in a nearby village, Belle, the bookworm daughter of eccentric inventor Maurice, dreams of adventure while constantly rejecting advances from Gaston, an arrogant hunter.

Belle meets the castle's servants, including candelabra Lumière, mantel clock Cogsworth, teapot Mrs. Potts, and her son Chip, a teacup.

He suggested his colleague, English animation director Richard Purdum, in his place, and work began under producer Don Hahn on a non-musical version of Beauty and the Beast set in 19th-century France.

After Linda Woolverton had written a spec script for a Winnie the Pooh project that was never developed, Katzenberg asked her to work on Beauty and the Beast, with her earliest drafts being darker and non-musical.

[36] Upon seeing the initial storyboard reels in 1989, Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg was dissatisfied with Purdum's idea and ordered that the film be scrapped and started over from scratch.

Ashman, who at the time had learned he was dying of complications from AIDS, had been working with Disney on a pet project of his, Aladdin, and only reluctantly agreed to join the struggling production team.

[42] According to co-director Kirk Wise, O'Hara was given the role because she "had a unique quality, a tone she would hit that made her special",[43] reminiscent to that of American actress and singer Judy Garland.

[33] A pop version of the "Beauty and the Beast" theme, performed by Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson over the end credits, was released as a commercial single from the film's soundtrack, supported with a music video.

[60][61][62] To appeal to adult audiences, the approach involved blending live-action filmmaking techniques with animation, crafting a narrative that resonates with mature perspectives, and evoking nostalgia among baby boomers through a classic Broadway-style soundtrack.

This measure was to diminish the threat of video pirates making copies derived from the LaserDisc (which are not copy-protected) and selling them in international markets, where the film was yet to be available for home release.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Enchanting, sweepingly romantic, and featuring plenty of wonderful musical numbers, Beauty and the Beast is one of Disney's most elegant animated offerings.

[116] He wrote, "Beauty and the Beast reaches back to an older and healthier Hollywood tradition in which the best writers, musicians, and filmmakers are gathered for a project on the assumption that a family audience deserves great entertainment, too".

[122] Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel added that the film "has a beauty of a bite," commending Disney's attempt to tell a darker fairy tale in its use of themes and art direction.

[126] Animation historian Michael Barrier commented on Belle's character, noting that her intellect seems more symbolic—"hanging out with books" rather than engaging deeply with them—but acknowledged that the film pushes closer to the challenges tackled by the finest Walt Disney features.

David Whitley noted that Belle's independence marked a departure from earlier Disney heroines, as she was largely free from domestic chores and embodied a modern adolescent's undefined role.

[130] Beauty and the Beast is widely regarded as a groundbreaking animated film due to its unprecedented combination of critical acclaim, box office success, accolades, and overall cultural impact.

[62][149][150][151][152] Film critic Richard Corliss said that, only four years later, Pixar's Toy Story would take full advantage of the computer animation foundation laid by Beauty and the Beast.

[60] This event, he argues, helped critics and audiences recognize the complexity, artistry, and decision-making involved in animation, paving the way for the medium's acceptance as legitimate cinema.

[155] According to Bruce Westbrook of the Houston Chronicle, Beauty and the Beast remains Disney's "crowning achievement", crediting it with cementing the studio's Broadway-style approach to animated musicals that would ultimately inspire their own stage adaptations.

[162] Several publications have ranked it among the studio's best work, including The Independent (2),[163] IGN (2),[155] GamesRadar+ (2),[154] Paste (2),[164] The Daily Telegraph (4),[165] and Rolling Stone (10),[166] while Leah Pickett of Consequence described it as arguably "the most critically lauded animated film of the 20th century".

[172] According to research conducted by 24/7 Wall Street based on online audience and critic ratings, and reported by USA Today in 2018, Beauty and the Beast is the 37th best animated film of all-time.

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) executive director Frank Young had been trying to get Disney interested in a stage version of Beauty about the same time Eisner and Katzenberg were mulling over Rich's column.

[186] The original Broadway cast included Terrence Mann as the Beast, Susan Egan as Belle, Burke Moses as Gaston, Gary Beach as Lumière, Heath Lamberts as Cogsworth, Tom Bosley as Maurice, Beth Fowler as Mrs. Potts, and Stacey Logan as Babette the feather duster.

[185] Many well-known actors and singers also starred in the Broadway production during its thirteen-year run, including Kerry Butler, Deborah Gibson, Toni Braxton, Andrea McArdle, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Christy Carlson Romano, Ashley Brown, and Anneliese van der Pol as Belle; Chuck Wagner, James Barbour, and Jeff McCarthy as the Beast; Meshach Taylor, Patrick Page, Bryan Batt, Jacob Young, and John Tartaglia as Lumière; Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, and Donny Osmond as Gaston; and Nick Jonas, Harrison Chad, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Chip.

[195] In March 2015, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Emma Thompson, Josh Gad, Audra McDonald, and Kevin Kline joined the film as the Beast, Gaston, Mrs. Potts, Lefou, Garderobe, and Maurice, respectively.

The cast included Zooey Deschanel as Belle, Anthony Evans as the Beast, Taye Diggs as Gaston, Kelsey Grammer as Lumière, Rebel Wilson as LeFou, Jane Krakowski as Mrs. Potts, and Baraka May as Chip.

As the Beast, the player must successfully complete several levels, based on scenes from the film, in order to protect the castle from invading villagers and forest animals and rescue Belle from Gaston.