It’s been ages since I saw it in the theater as a kid, so I can’t claim any kind of reliability; but when I think back on it, my memory of Beauty and the Beast was that it was often dark and gloomy, which would go along with the beast’s angry nature and Belle’s captivity. When I watched the film again on DVD several years ago, everything seemed very bright and colorful, which did not match my memory of the movie at all. I can’t recall specifics of either very well, but it definitely felt wrong to me as a viewer: the appearance of the movie seemed rather at odds with the tone of the story.
The above description of the 35mm film print being more dimly lit suggests that my admittedly vague recollections were on the right track. I’d be very interested to see what it is really supposed to look like.