Beauty and the Beast also had some significance within animation history. While Little Mermaid did become the first worldwide animated blockbuster, BatB became the first domestic animated blockbuster. Jeffrey Katzenberg, head of Disney Feature Animation at the time, believed Little Mermaid would break the $100M mark domestically and become an animated landmark. Mermaid, unfortunately, didn't hit that number, but it wasn't until two years later that Beast managed to do it, largely thanks to festival buzz and awards attention, as well as just being a fantastic film in its own right. Much like the other films in the Disney Renaissance, Beauty and the Beast was able to homage the animated classics of the past while also successfully modernizing the film for today's audiences (well, 1991's audiences, but you get the point). And of course, it soon became one of Disney's biggest franchises with massive home video and soundtrack sales, heavy theme park presence, two successful re-releases, a long-running Broadway musical and of course its recent live-action remake.
I liked it quite a bit as a kid, and much like Disney's other films it has aged like wine, getting better and better as time goes on, and is still one of my all-time favorites, both in animation and film in general.