Beauty and the Beast (2017) – 4 out of 5
So, Disney is remaking all of their animated features into
live-action films. To some, this is a
sign that they have lost all creativity and are just dipping their hands back
into the well that made their name but to others (like me), this is an
opportunity to see those classic animated features come to life in a new
way…like in a living/life kinda way—you know, because it’s live-action (I
really over explained that one). The
last live-action remake I watched (The Jungle Book) proved to be absolutely
amazing and I was completely enthralled and blown away with the final
product. So, does this tale as old as time
that features the songs that are old as rhyme compare? Is Beauty and the Beast just as awesome with
flesh and blood humans and a computer generated beast as it was when it was
animated? Yes, yes it is!
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Trust me, it's great despite the fact that Beast has a "meh, it's okay" face here. |
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"Gaze upon me and weep for I am all-powerful!" |
In a remote village in France, a young bookworm woman named
Belle (Emma Watson) finds her common life to be a bit boring and is looking for
more than just the local jacked up buffoon; Gaston (Luke Evans), trying to get
her hand in marriage. One night, her
father Maurice (Kevin Kline) stumbles upon a great castle outside the village
in the forest and is taken prisoner by a hideous beast inside. Belle finds him and learns the beast (Dan
Stevens) was once a selfish, arrogant prince who was cursed by an enchantress. Because he had no love in his heart, he would
remain a beast until he could love another and be loved in return. However, like all great curses, there’s a
time limited and a magical rose lies in the castle and when the final pedal
falls and he hasn’t opened his heart to someone, he shall remain a beast
forever and all his servants in the castle will become trapped as household
items (did I mention that part? Yeah,
all his servants are talking house goods).
Can the beast overcome his anger and isolation to find love? Can Belle overcome her fear of the
beast? Will the village and Gaston find
out about the castle in the woods that holds the monster?
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The villagers hated her because she could read and liked to learn. Nowadays Belle would just have been mansplained until she quit social media by a bunch of neckbeards saying "Well actually..." |
First things first (because I can’t very well do the second
thing first, that’s crazy), there was a bit of a shock to the system seeing
Beauty and the Beast go live-action. Unlike
The Jungle Book, B and the B has had a strong foothold in my life and,
alongside The Lion King, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid, was watched a lot in
my younger days and, even now as a man in his mid-30s, I find myself singing
the songs it contained. So, seeing the
familiar faces slightly differently, hearing the same songs done in a way that
they’re changed just enough and seeing the visuals done in a way that honors
what came before but in a live, grandiose way was a bit jarring and I was in
real danger of having nostalgia take over and take me out of this movie
(nostalgia can be so toxic). While I
will admit that it is really weird not having Angela Lansbury singing that
signature theme but any potential toxicity from nostalgia was quickly washed
away in that wonderful Disney magic.
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How cold of a heart could a person have to not love the waltz scene? |
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I'm going to hazard a guess that Gaston is a hero to Men's Rights Activists everywhere. |
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While still pretty cool, there's no denying the nightmare fuel that is live-action Lumière and Cogsworth. |
I didn’t really find any drawbacks to the film beyond the
replay value. Now that I’m in my 30s,
this film probably won’t be seen as often as I watched the animated one when I
was 10 but that doesn’t erase the beautiful visuals, great performances, and
how it captured the magic of the 1991 classic.
I will also add that Josh Gad kinda was a little irritating at points
because he has a habit of being too hammy with his performances and sorta feels
like he’s trying too hard but the level of annoying he brought was very minuscule and it was easy to overlook.
Plus, Disney decided to make his character of Lefou gay and that’s
pretty damn groundbreaking…even though it made people lose their minds because
it meant they had to once again face the reality that the sexual spectrum
exists beyond heterosexuality.
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I wish my dishes did a show for me...instead they recite poetry. It's disappointing. |
Overall, Beauty and the Beast is another for the win column
in Disney’s pursuit of making live-action adaptations of their animated
features. It’s just another example how
retelling a story in a different format may not entirely change the emotional
response or experience but provide a new dimension to the
familiar.
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