Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast aptly follows Hollywood's three act structure. I know this is typically just seen as a children movie, however, it did win two Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. With that being said, I do like to claim that this movie was one of the best that Disney has ever produced. It is, of course, "a tale as old as time."
The movie starts out in a small village town in France, where Belle lives with her father (crazy inventor, Maurice). He gets lost in the woods on the way to a convention, and finds himself to become prisoner in the enchanted castle of a monstrous beast, who is placed under a spell for having a cold heart. Belle, the protagonist of the story, makes the decision to offer her place for his imprisonment, so that her sick father may be released. Belle's decision to become the Beast's new prisoner is our first plot point, as this influences the course of the rest of the movie.
In the second act, Belle starts off on a rocky foot, and doesn't particularly enjoy the Beast's company. She slowly becomes well acquainted with the rest of the magically transformed occupants in the castle. As time passes on, her friendship with the Beast develops beautifully, and he begins to fall in love with her. Once he falls in love, and gets fallen in love with in return, the enchanted spell is supposed to be broken, mind you. When Belle discovers that her father is lost in the cold and is traumatically ill, the Beast releases her from being a prisoner. Which brings us to our next point plot, as this decision leads to his realization that he is in love with Belle.
In our third and final act, the antagonist (Gaston) has arranged to have Maurice forced into the insane asylum, unless Belle agrees to be his wife. The whole town gathers in front of Belle's home, and Belle argues that the Beast is completely real, and that her father is by no means, crazy. She reveals the image of the beast through the magic mirror that the Beast gave to her as a gift. The townspeople then decide that the Beast is a threat to them, and that they must kill him! Once they march to the enchanted castle, the townspeople engage in a battle with the occupants of the castle. Meanwhile, Gaston sets out to be the one to personally kill the Beast. When the two meet, the Beast doesn't want to fight at all, because he is lost in his own feelings of remorse and depression, and his yearning for Belle to return. Gaston takes advantage of this situation, and attacks him. When the Beast discovers that Belle has arrived back to the castle, he fights Gaston back in an epic battle. Gaston falls off the castle, into a rocky pit of mystery below the bridge to the castle. When Belle sees that he is injured and dying, she reveals to him that she loves him. At the same time, the last petal of the rose falls (which was used as the measurement of time he had to fall in love). This is the climax of the movie, because the whole time the audience wonders when Belle will fall in love with the Beast.
Afterwards, the spell is broken and everybody is transformed back into their human forms. The Beast and Belle stay together in the castle (eluding to the fact that they were married, possibly?) And there's the typical "happy ending". The "I love you" served as the resolution in the ending. As you can see, this film aptly followed the typical Hollywood three act structure we are so accustomed to.
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