 Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel gave the film four out of five stars , saying " It 's not an especially scary movie , but right from the start , you can tell that this Beauty and the Beast has a beauty of a bite . " John Hartl of The Seattle Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four , saying " It 's exceptionally difficult to make an audience care for animated characters unless they 're mermaids or anthropomorphized animals or insects , yet the Disney animators , with a big assist from the vocal talents of a superb cast , have pulled it off . " Gene Siskel also of the Chicago Tribune gave the film four out of four stars , saying " Beauty and the Beast is one of the year`s most entertaining films for both adults and children . " Michael Sragow of The New Yorker gave the film a positive review , saying " It 's got storytelling vigor and clarity , bright , eclectic animation , and a frisky musical wit . " Eric Smoodin writes in his book Animating Culture that the studio was trying to make up for earlier gender stereotypes with this film . Smoodin also states that , in the way it has been viewed as bringing together traditional fairy tales and feminism as well as computer and traditional animation , the film 's " greatness could be proved in terms of technology narrative or even politics " . 
