Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on the French fairy tale, it was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton and produced by Don Hahn. Set in 18th-century France, an enchantress transforms a selfish prince into a monster as punishment for his cruelty. Years later, a young woman, Belle, offers the Beast her own freedom in exchange for her father's. To break the spell, the Beast must earn Belle's love before the last petal falls from his enchanted rose, lest he remain a monster forever. Beauty and the Beast stars the voices of Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson as Belle and the Beast, respectively, with a supporting cast comprising Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Jesse Corti, Rex Everhart, Jo Anne Worley, and Angela Lansbury.

Walt Disney unsuccessfully attempted to adapt "Beauty and the Beast" into an animated film during the 1930s and 1950s. Inspired by the success of The Little Mermaid (1989), Disney enlisted Richard Purdum to adapt the fairy tale, which he originally conceived as a non-musical period drama. Dissatisfied with Purdum's efforts, Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg ordered that the entire film be reworked into a musical with original songs by The Little Mermaid's songwriting team, lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. First-time directors Trousdale and Wise replaced Purdum, and Woolverton's involvement made Beauty and the Beast Disney's first animated film to utilize a completed screenplay prior to storyboarding. The film was the second to use Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), which enabled seamless blending of traditional and computer animation, particularly during its ballroom scene. Beauty and the Beast is dedicated to Ashman, who died from AIDS eight months before the film's release.

An unfinished version of Beauty and the Beast premiered at the New York Film Festival on September 29, 1991, before its wide release on November 22, 1991. The film received widespread acclaim for its story, characters, music, and animation, specifically for the ballroom sequence. With an initial worldwide gross of $331 million, it finished its run as the third highest-grossing film of 1991 and the first animated film to gross over $100 million in the United States. Subsequent re-releases (IMAX in 2002 and 3D in 2012) later increased the film's all-time gross to $451 million. Among its accolades, Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and the first to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It ultimately won the Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ("Beauty and the Beast") at the 64th ceremony, out of six nominations.

In 1994, Beauty and the Beast became the first Disney film adapted into a Broadway musical, which won a Tony Award and ran for 13 years. Other derivate works include three direct-to-video sequels, a television series, and a 2017 live-action remake. In 2002, Beauty and the Beast was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Recognized for its innovative blend of traditional and computer animation, its role in revitalizing Walt Disney Animation Studios, and its contribution to establishing animation as a legitimate art form beyond children's entertainment, Beauty and the Beast is widely considered to be one of the greatest animated films of all time.