KUALA LUMPUR: A blanket ban on movies based on a character or scene is ridiculous, said Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

Speaking about the indefinite postponement of the local release date for the film Beauty and the Beast, Nazri said that a film has to be looked at in its entirety before a ban can be imposed on it.

The Disney film has garnered some international controversy for including a homosexual character in the live-action adaptation of the fairy tale.

Nazri said that the presence of such characters in the film would not influence young children into considering homosexuality.

"All these years, even without the homosexual character in the Beauty and the Beast, there have been homosexual people in the world. I don't think it is going to influence anyone," he said when met by reporters at the Dewan Rakyat lobby on Monday.

He added that a movie should not be banned for having a homosexual character even though homosexual acts are banned in Malaysia.

"We need to think, we must allow people to decide for themselves. There are stories about murder and by law that is wrong, but do you ban it in a film? Where do you draw the line," he asked.