I recently saw Beauty and the Beast with my family. This included my cousin's 3-year-old daughter who loves Belle. She really enjoyed the movie. When asked she said she liked this the same as the original. Generally, I agree with her.
Leading up to this movie I avoided it as much as I could. No trailers. No interviews. I'm really glad I did this because it allowed me to go in with fresh eyes and an open mind.
The characters are where I'm the most conflicted. Luke Evans as Gaston was spectacular. He was Gaston. This Gaston was a truly great villain with just a dash of humanity. Every scene he was in hooked me. Emma Watson did a good job as Belle but fell a little flat. Part of it is that the other characters stand out more. Josh Gad has an amazing voice and fantastic comedic timing as Le Fou. But there was something that just didn't feel right. Maybe it's that his over-the-top character didn't translate well to live-action. The Beast was a compelling character and I appreciate the additional backstory.
Then, there are the side characters. One of my favorite things was that Maurice wasn't a bumbling fool. He actually has depth and I became attached to him easily. Cogsworth was my favorite of the servants. But the others were decent. The CGI, however, didn't work for me on most of them (and the Beast). I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but the style doesn't appeal to me.
Next is the music and choreography. As a former dancer of musicals, I'm a sucker for a big dance sequence. "Belle" was beautifully done, but that's expected since it practically opened the movie.
In the cartoon, "Be Our Guest" is my favorite sequence, but with this one, it was the Mob song. It was mesmerizing. However, I didn't particularly like the new songs. They lacked the emotion and magic of the original songs. This is made worse by the fact that the Broadway musical has beautiful music they should've used.
I've already mentioned parts of the plot, but I have some more to say. For the most part, it's the same story. They added backstory or depth to some of the characters. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I liked most of these additions.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie and thought it was shot beautifully. I would watch this again without much thought. And I would like to own it, but wouldn't spend 30 of my dollars on it. And nothing beats the look on my cousin's daughter's face when she looked at the credits rolling with her chin in her hands.
Thanks for reading!
Holly
Leading up to this movie I avoided it as much as I could. No trailers. No interviews. I'm really glad I did this because it allowed me to go in with fresh eyes and an open mind.
The characters are where I'm the most conflicted. Luke Evans as Gaston was spectacular. He was Gaston. This Gaston was a truly great villain with just a dash of humanity. Every scene he was in hooked me. Emma Watson did a good job as Belle but fell a little flat. Part of it is that the other characters stand out more. Josh Gad has an amazing voice and fantastic comedic timing as Le Fou. But there was something that just didn't feel right. Maybe it's that his over-the-top character didn't translate well to live-action. The Beast was a compelling character and I appreciate the additional backstory.
Then, there are the side characters. One of my favorite things was that Maurice wasn't a bumbling fool. He actually has depth and I became attached to him easily. Cogsworth was my favorite of the servants. But the others were decent. The CGI, however, didn't work for me on most of them (and the Beast). I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but the style doesn't appeal to me.
Next is the music and choreography. As a former dancer of musicals, I'm a sucker for a big dance sequence. "Belle" was beautifully done, but that's expected since it practically opened the movie.
In the cartoon, "Be Our Guest" is my favorite sequence, but with this one, it was the Mob song. It was mesmerizing. However, I didn't particularly like the new songs. They lacked the emotion and magic of the original songs. This is made worse by the fact that the Broadway musical has beautiful music they should've used.
I've already mentioned parts of the plot, but I have some more to say. For the most part, it's the same story. They added backstory or depth to some of the characters. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I liked most of these additions.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie and thought it was shot beautifully. I would watch this again without much thought. And I would like to own it, but wouldn't spend 30 of my dollars on it. And nothing beats the look on my cousin's daughter's face when she looked at the credits rolling with her chin in her hands.
Thanks for reading!
Holly
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