 Animation historian Michael Barrier wrote that Belle " becomes a sort of intellectual less by actually reading books , it seems , than by hanging out with them " , but says that the film comes closer than other " Disney @-@ studio " films to " accepting challenges of the kind that the finest Walt Disney features met " . David Whitley writes in The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation that Belle is different from earlier Disney heroines in that she is mostly free from the burdens of domestic housework , although her role is somewhat undefined in the same way that " contemporary culture now requires most adolescent girls to contribute little in the way of domestic work before they leave home and have to take on the fraught , multiple responsibilities of the working mother " . Whitley also notes other themes and modern influences , such as the film 's critical view of Gaston 's chauvinism and attitude towards nature , the cyborg @-@ like servants , and the father 's role as an inventor rather than a merchant . IGN named Beauty and the Beast as the greatest animated film of all time , directly ahead of WALL @-@ E , The Incredibles , Toy Story 2 , and The Iron Giant . 
