BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2017)
Beautiful songs and heartfelt romance, but better viewed at home.
Should You Watch It?
Disney’s live-action remake preserves much of the original story’s emotional power. Belle remains a strong-willed young woman who loves books, and the Beast’s transformation centers on learning sacrificial love rather than judging by appearances. The songs are beautiful, including the familiar favorites and the new, heartbreaking ballad “Evermore.”
The concern is not the film’s quality. It earns four stars. The concern is the insertion of brief but overt homosexual references and a cross-dressing joke surrounding Gaston’s sidekick. The source review finds this material gratuitous, forced, and distracting from the fairy tale’s central message.
The film also includes magical elements and some frightening or threatening violence. For families who want to evaluate those issues together, wait for home, where you can guide the conversation.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESBelle is a strong-willed young woman in 18th-century France who loves books and longs for adventure. When her father is imprisoned in an isolated forest castle, Belle takes his place.
The castle is ruled by a Beast who was once a selfish prince. An enchantment can be lifted only if Belle learns to love him freely. But Gaston, a jealous suitor, decides the Beast must die.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is a highly entertaining, emotionally effective musical, even though its live-action approach has limitations.
The songs remain beautiful, with “Beauty and the Beast,” “Be Our Guest,” and “Something There” reaching many of the same emotional highs as the 1991 animated film. The new song “Evermore” is a particular highlight. The movie also received strong applause for “Be Our Guest.”
The CGI effects, however, are not as captivating as the original animation. At times, the interaction between the effects and the actors does not fully work, and Belle’s reactions during “Be Our Guest” lack some of the earlier film’s emotional depth. Still, the central romance and positive messages remain compelling.
The Worldview
“Beauty and the Beast” presents a light redemptive worldview with some Christian elements and strong moral themes. Belle receives books from a priest in his chapel, where a large crucifix hangs on the wall. The story also teaches that selfishness can deform the heart and that sacrificial, pure love can transform it.
The film’s strongest ideas are its emphasis on looking beyond appearances, a daughter’s sacrifice for her father, and love that seeks another person’s inner worth. But the review finds those themes interrupted by modern political material, including feminist elements and strong homosexual content involving Gaston’s sidekick, along with a cross-dressing joke and a man dancing with another man. These additions are judged gratuitous and out of place, weakening the story’s otherwise moral and heterosexual perspective. Magical enchantment also remains part of the fairy-tale world.
At its center, the story longs for love that changes selfish hearts. Scripture gives the pattern for faithful love in the simple words, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife” (Genesis 2:24).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Worldview: Light redemptive worldview with some elements of Christianity, including Belle receiving books from a priest in his chapel, which has a large crucifix hanging on the wall, and strong moral elements, interrupted by some Romantic, strong politically correct content featuring some light feminist elements but strong homosexual elements featuring male homosexual elements and a cross-dressing joke, with one male character dancing with another man, who was part of the cross-dressing joke during the movie’s climactic, often comical, battle, plus some magical elements of an enchantment. Language: No foul language but a slightly Christian reference to being “damned” forever, and a slightly Christian reference to being in danger of “damnation,” implicitly eternal and forever though not overtly stated.
Violence
Violence includes scary snarling wolves threaten people in the woods, the “Beast” defends a young woman being threatened by the wolves and gets injured to the point of collapse, the Beast has imprisoned the girl’s father for stealing a rose, a villain shoots the Beast, magical objects in the Beast’s castle attack the villagers, who’ve come to kill the Beast, characters fall, a carriage breaks apart while being chased by wolves, some pratfalls during one or two musical numbers.
Sex
Some homosexual and crossdressing references include villain’s bumbling male sidekick has homosexual lust for villain, sidekick asks, “What about us?” when villain informs him he intends to marry a young woman, when Gaston admires himself in the mirror sidekick also admires the reflection and adds that he’s determined to “get” the villain like the villain is determined to get the young woman, effeminate sidekick clings to villain a couple times during a musical number, three bad guys accidentally wind up in women’s clothes, but one of them leers at the viewers and shows that he secretly likes wearing women’s clothes (a promotion of transvestite behavior), and that same man eventually dances with the male sidekick in the movie’s final celebratory scene.
Nudity
None. Other Content: Alcohol use; no smoking or drugs; and, jealousy turns into a desire for violence and murder, narcissism but rebuked, false imprisonment, uncontrolled anger, filmmakers insert gratuitous message.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Belle looks beyond the Beast’s appearance to recognize his inner worth. How can we practice seeing people as made in God’s image?
Genesis 1:27 · 1 Samuel 16:7The Beast’s selfishness has damaged both him and those around him. What does genuine change look like when someone has acted selfishly?
Ezekiel 36:26 · Luke 19:8–9Belle sacrifices herself for her father. What does sacrificial love look like in your family?
John 15:13 · Philippians 2:3–4The film includes Christian imagery alongside magical enchantment. How should Christians discern what they watch and what messages they embrace?
1 Thessalonians 5:21–22 · Philippians 4:8The Final Word
This is a beautiful, moving musical with strong moral themes, memorable songs, and a powerful message about sacrificial love. But gratuitous political and sexual material makes it better for families to evaluate together at home. Our answer is WAIT FOR HOME.
