Beauty and the Beast 3D

image for Beauty and the Beast 3D

Short takes

Not recommended under 5, PG to 10 due to scary scenes.

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Beauty and the Beast 3D
  • a review of Beauty and the Beast 3D completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 8 May 2012.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 Not recommended due to scary scenes.
Children aged 5-10 Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes
Children aged over 10 OK for this age group

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Beauty and the Beast 3D
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: Some scary scenes
Length: 85 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Beauty and the Beast 3D is a Disney classic being re-released in a 3D format with some new material and improved animation

The film begins with a handsome Prince opening his door to an ugly old witch who asks for his help.  He refuses to help her and shuts the door in her face.  The angry witch reveals herself to be a beautiful woman and admonishes the Prince for his unkindness and superficial judgement of her.  She places a spell on the Prince, turning him into a repulsive Beast who is destined to be judged by his looks forever unless he can find someone to love him.  The Prince hides himself away from the world, ashamed of how he looks and sure in the belief that he will live out his days alone and unloved.

In the village below the Beast’s castle lives Belle (voiced by Paige O’Hara) an unusual and beautiful young woman who feels like a misfit in the town and longs for true love and adventure.  She is not interested in the stupid and self-centred Gaston who wants to marry her. Belle lives with her inventor father, Maurice, who one day comes up with an invention worth selling and sets off to go to a fair to try his luck.  When he becomes lost he arrives at the Beast’s castle where the Beast (voiced by Robby Benson) locks him up in his dungeon.

Belle sets out to find her father and begs the Beast to take her instead and let her father free.  The Beast does as she suggests, hoping that Belle might be the one to break the witch’s spell.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Magic; separation from a parent; intolerance

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including the following examples:

  • Gaston fights with his henchmen to demonstrate his brute strength. He is seen drinking tankards of beer and punching people randomly.  He yells, roars, smashes a chair and throws people.
  • The townsfolk shoot and kill ducks.
  • The townsfolk set upon the Beast with axes and flaming torches.  A fight ensues between the townsfolk and the Beast’s servants.  People are hit by objects and hurt. Some are seen unconscious and possibly dead.
  • Gaston approaches the Beast and attacks him.  They wrestle and fight.  Gaston knifes the Beast in the back but then slips from the roof and falls to his death.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Maurice, Belle’s father, gets lost in the woods and is abandoned by his horse.  He is seen walking through the shadowy and howling forest where wolves are watching him, ready to attack, and bats fly past menacingly
  • Maurice is found by the Beast who is big, scary and roars at him.  He abuses him for trespassing and throws him into a dungeon.
  • The scene where Belle trades places with her father is dark and shadowy.  Belle is seen to be very distressed and the Beast shows minimal sympathy.
  • When Belle refuses to have dinner with the Beast he storms to her room and roars threateningly at her.
  • Gaston has a conversation with an evil doctor and together they plot how they can commit Maurice to a mental asylum.
  • The final fight is scary and loud.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Some of the above-mentioned scenes may also scare children in this age group.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Most children in this age group are unlikely to be scared by anything in this film.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Most children in this age group are unlikely to be scared by anything in this film.

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

None of concern

Nudity and sexual activity

  • Some of the women are curvaceous and sexy, attracting men’s ogling eyes
  • Belle and the Prince kiss passionately at the end of the movie

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Gaston and his men are seen drinking tankards of beer
  • Bottles of enchanted champagne dance for Belle

Coarse language

None of concern

In a nutshell

Beauty and the Beast 3D is an animated musical love story about two people misunderstood by the world around them who find each other despite the odds. It is a re-mastered version of the Disney classic which is likely to be more scary for young children than the original and is not recommended for under 5s.

The main message from this movie is that you should not judge by appearance, but recognise and appreciate inner beauty, both in yourself and in others.

Parents may wish to discuss real life situations in today’s world where people are judged by their appearance.