Weekend Review of "Beauty and the Beast"

By Cierra Holder on March 24, 2017

As a borderline Disney fanatic I was overjoyed when it was announced that Beauty and the Beast was next in line for a live-action remake. I waited not so patiently for release weekend while keeping tabs on each trailer released. The movie was well hyped in the preceding months, and as I left the theater on Saturday night I could say that it was rightfully so.

pixabay.com

Beauty and the Beast earns a solid 8.5/10 for wonderful music, animation, and storytelling.

The animated classic Beauty and the Beast was a wonderful movie but it admittedly lacked a healthy amount of backstory. From the opening scene of the remake, it was obvious that this had been addressed by the screenwriters. Multiple plot points that were questionable in the original were cleared up over the course of the remake and worked to shed more light into the backstories of the movie’s loving couple. The new content melded wonderfully with the original and did not feel out of place in the tale as old as time.

For 1991 the animated classic was at the height of hand-drawn animation. The 2017 remake was a wonderful continuation, the CGI of the characters, from the Beast down to the singing wardrobe, were all artfully done and looked truly enchanted. I never thought I would be able to say that I was impressed by how real a CGI enchanted-clock looks, but we seem to have reached that point in filmmaking. The CGI team on this remake created a cast of lifelike enchanted household items.

I also applaud the casting team. Luke Evans created a truly manly and evil Gaston that faced a much darker arc of character development than his animated original. Josh Gad was a wonderful contrast, playing a more reluctant villain as LeFou, truly making the character his own. Dan Stevens, albeit not human on screen for a majority of the movie, managed to convince the audience of his beast’s development. Emma Watson rounded it out, creating a truly independent bookworm of Belle that went beyond what the animated classic could have ever done with the character.

To top it all off the entire cast was musically inclined. Evans and Gad were a hoot in their toe-tapping rendition of “Gaston” that managed to throw in a joke about LeFou’s, and most likely the rest of the village’s, illiteracy. Watson effortlessly recapped all of the original Belle songs as well as the addition of “Days In The Sun.” Stevens was also stunning, particularly in the other musical addition and my new personal favorite Disney song, “Evermore.”

The only downside with this new film was the nearly word-by-word remake of scenes from the original and the occasional overuse of movie magic.

At times in the film, the effects are almost too much. Certain shots were too much to take in, Belle’s suite and the creation of the famous ballgown for starters. It was almost hard for the eye to follow, which is something I would rarely say about recent filmmaking.

As for the script and scenes that were nearly word-for-word copied from the original, I was left slightly disappointed. It is always fun to see nods to the animated classic with one-liners, but after the 2015 Cinderella film starring Lily James, my expectations were for a newer and more original script. The new content was wonderful but did not completely make me forget about the lack of originality in the remake script.

Taking that into consideration with all the wonderful music, acting, and stunning CGI, the Beauty and the Beast remake is still a brilliant film that can satisfy even Disney fanatics like me.

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