by Stephen Chbosky (screenplay) & Evan Spiliotopoulos (screenplay)
Walt Disney Pictures
I promised you all that we would give you our thoughts on the new live-action Beauty and the Beast, and here are the spoilery thoughts of me and Elyse.
Elyse and I? Both of us.
The top part here is pretty spoiler-free, and then we get into the details, but we’ll mark when that starts.
Elyse: So I loved it. LOVED IT. Would watch again a thousand times. I know intellectually it was not perfect and there are things that made me go “wha?” but on an emotional level, it hit me just right. I was 9 when the first movie came out and I fell in love with it and watched it so much on VHS that I’m pretty sure my mom hates that movie now. So I think some of my happiness was definitely nostalgia.
Side note: when Gaston dies at the end my eight year old nice sniffed and said, “Eh. He deserved it.”
RHG: All the nostalgia was great- I have a theory that one of the things that’s driving all the nostalgia from things from the 90s isn’t, “Oh it’s the era before social media and we all miss that time” but that it was the era right before 9/11.
Similar to how the Edwardian Era looks so shiny and lovely because it’s in contrast to the horror that was WWI came right after it, the 90s is this candy colored age that looks so innocent and carefree from this perspective. So we go back to those things because it reminds us that life wasn’t always this scary place.
….that got deep.
ANYWAY, I was grinning madly through “Belle.” All the supporting cast was fantastic (Luke Evans, please don’t be a dick in real life or if you are just be quiet and don’t ever talk because I really really like watching you do things).
Production values: top notch, but we’ll get to the costumes because I HAVE SOME THOUGHTS.
Your niece is already a wise woman.
Ok. If you’re trying to avoid spoilers stop reading now, k?
HERE WE GO!
Elyse: This movie tried to fix some things that were confusing or problematic in the animated film. Like the prince is much older when he’s cursed–and he’s not just a snotty kid who refuses to let an old lady in. He also over taxes his people, cares only about material possessions, etc.
Also the enchantress makes it so that everyone forgets the prince and the castle exist which explains how everyone forgot they had a monarchy ten years ago.
It also tried to answer the question, “Okay but why are the servants cursed? They didn’t do anything” but the justification is pretty weak.
RHG: I did appreciate that. The question of, “Wait, so… how old is the prince? Why are you losing your shit at an 11 year old kid? Yeah, they’re monsters at that age, but this seems excessive” has bothered me for like 26 (…oh shit) years.
ALSO ALSO ALSO I really liked the answer to the, “What the hell time of year is it? It’s sunny, it’s snowing, it’s sunny and warm again, WHEN IS IT.”
It’s June, and it’s Magic Snow. Boom. Done. (This question bothered my mom. It did not bother me.)
I mean, we are in pre-revolutionary France (so… like… first, Gaston, what war were you in? WHAT WAR? I’m confused) so we don’t have a lot of time before The Prince and Belle are gonna have to carve off their bit of France to be an independent Luxembourg or something or they’re gonna lose their heads!
I loved the production values. The sets and set dressing is FANTASTIC. The Beast’s Castle is INCREDIBLE.
Elyse: There were other, subtle adjustments that added to the story too.
For one, Belle straight up rejects Gaston. No dissembling. “Can I come to dinner?” “No.” “Oh, so you’re busy tonight?” “No.”
Also there’s a scene where Belle’s in the west wing and she sees the Beast’s bed, which is kind of a nest of straw and cloth and animal bones. It’s a really fast glimpse but it confirms that as the curse goes on he’s becoming more and more an animal and less of a man.
There’s even a nod to the whole xenophilia aspect the story. Belle asks the prince (jokingly) if he’s ever considered growing a beard and he growls at her.
I actually really liked Dan Stevens in this. I know a lot of people have not forgiven him for Downton but I think he did a great job. And I felt bad about his stupid temple curls at the end scene.
RHG: By “not a lot of people” you mean me. I have not forgiven him.
He did do a good job. I didn’t realize he could sing, and, TO BE HONEST, in the grand tradition of the Disney BatB, the Beast is kinda hotter than the Prince. He is a good actor, and handled the emotional journey well: “Some of them are in Greek!”
I thought his big solo number, “Evermore” was in the wrong key for the moment. Belle has left and he sings about how he’ll always remember, and it’s a big, belting number and not sad, like that moment is.
Temple curls do no one any favors. No one.
What did you think of the new songs?
Elyse: He did do the singing and there a couple interviews where he shows how he modulated his voice. They added a bit of a growl over it but honestly it’s almost all him. He also had to walk around on ten inch stilts and in a giant foam suit.
I think “Evermore” was okay. I think they did it so we got a little more time in the Beast’s head. The version of “Beauty and the Beast” with Ariana Grande and John Legend is not Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, and that makes me sad.
Actually I was surprised most by Luke Evans’ singing voice. I think they really improved the Gaston song and the mob song. There was some nuance that wasn’t there in the original. They also made Gaston way more of a bastard.
RHG: LUKE EVANS YAS. He was PERFECT. Perfect in all the ways. I love him so much. I GOT YOUR TOXIC MASCULINITY RIGHT HERE.
(I also realized that the “Gaston” scene in the original gave me a very unrealistic idea of what people do in bars, and I’ve been profoundly disappointed my entire adult life.)
And as much as I like Josh Gad, and as much as I love LeFou (“And it’s spelled G A S…T…maybe there’s another T…I just realized I’m illiterate and never had to spell this before…”)
The producers went on in some of the publicity about “we have a gay subplot!” and some theater owners were like, “We ain’t gonna show this movie!”
And it was… exactly the same plot you’d expect and nothing new. LeFou is gay and attracted to Gaston, and Gaston mostly ignores it. This isn’t groundbreaking. This isn’t progressive. It’s overdone, and disappointing. We’ve seen this plot before; it’s only slightly more overt this time.
Elyse: Yeah, there wasn’t any there there. At first I was like, “Oh, great, they are going to make the buffoon-ish sidekick comically gay and attracted to Gaston,” but LeFou actually gets a really good arc. He realizes what a shit bag Gaston is. He does the right thing even when it hurts him.
And hey! There were black people in pre-revolutionary France! Who knew! There was at least more diversity than in the 2015 remake of Cinderella.
Do you want to talk about the costumes? Ha! I know you do. A lot of people didn’t like this version of Belle’s dress. Thoughts?
RHG: Imagine my heavy sigh.
Let me get to the diversity though- yes, Cinderella had some background diversity and at least one speaking role. This had more. But (and you knew there was a but) I would have swapped out Gugu Mbatha-Raw for Emma Watson. Mbatha-Raw has a stronger singing voice and more emotional range and Watson just doesn’t have much there-there.
AS FOR THE COSTUMES.
Clearly, they were capable of making the Pre-Rev costumes – the saque-back gowns that the Court wore were fantastic. Most of Stevens’ costumes were great.
EVERYTHING BELLE WORE THOUGH. EVERYTHING. WHY. Her skirts, even in her village girl clothes, were straight up skimpy. Too short, not full enough, and definitely not full enough to tuck the hem up and SHOW YOUR (out of period) BLOOMERS WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT.
More skirt! JUST MORE.
(That said, I will give credit where credit is due and the pouch she was wearing where she slipped the bread in after she bought it? That is an actual thing, it’s called a wallet.)
BUT THAT YELLOW DRESS THOUGH. WHY. It’s…. Everything about it was WRONG. The silhouette was mid-19th century. It was yellow, sure, but it wasn’t even a decent interpretation of the animated dress. I HATED IT. You know they have costumers in the Disney stable that can do amazing gowns. SOMEONE THEM WERE WORKING ON THIS MOVIE. So why that? WHY.
Also the dress Belle wore for the final ball was…well, it looked like it was made from a couch.
Elyse: I thought it was weird that everything else was so clearly set in a certain time period, but they departed from that with Belle. Like Dan Stevens wore hose and high heels and FUCKING TEMPLE CURLS. Belle’s costume should have been more historically accurate if I have to see Dan Stevens with temple curls. I think he might have had a French braid, too. I don’t know.
I have to say, and I’m super biased because of Legion, that Stevens can be incredibly charismatic and I wanted a little more time at the end where they were just happy together.
I love Emma Watson, but I agree that there are a lot better Belles. Emma didn’t have the vocal range for the songs she had to sing. Audra McDonald would have been a better choice, rather than casting her as the wardrobe.
RHG: Audra was on Broadway in Shuffle Along (or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed) while they were doing principal photography. I liked that they were able to get her at all, given her busy schedule! And she was clearly enjoying her voice work.
I was impressed with everyone they got to be the servants- Ewan McGregor! Ian McKellan! Emma Thompson! STANLEY TUCCI! And KEVIN FREAKING KLINE as Belle’s dad! The casting director has done outstanding work.
The thing that had me confused was the Enchantress is still hanging around… why? To see how this story she set into motion played out? There could have been a moment or two to put a button on that, but she’s just wandering around and living UNDER A TREE and begging in the street for kicks? THIS IS A VERY ODD WAY TO SPEND YOUR POWER.
But also why was Belle wearing a couch?
I did like the trip to Paris and answering the question of, “What happened to these people’s parents? Why does Belle have no mom? Where’s the Beast’s parents?” (WHAT WAR WERE YOU IN, GASTON?)
What was with that dress. Why.
Elyse: The inclusion of more of a backstory for Belle was really great. It also helped develop the romance between Belle and the Beast. They didn’t fall in love immediately after a random snowball fight. The timeline was still compressed, but it gave it a little depth.
Belle also knows the Beast has been cursed in this version and talks about helping him break that curse. She doesn’t know what that entails or who he was, but there were some substantial hints about his expensive education and time spent in Paris. AND HE LIVES IN A GODDAM CASTLE. ALL SIGNS POINT TO ROYALTY. She’s not stupid. So it did bug me a little when she talked about helping everyone and Mrs Potts was like “Don’t worry about it, dear” and Belle went, “Okay then.”
Also, OBVIOUSLY when women have substantial power (the enchantress) they can only use it to help a man along his own heroic journey. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, RHG?
RHG: I’m just saying, she could have at least magicked up some walls.
So, as I said, there were things I loved (set design, supporting performances, some of the additions of logic) and things I didn’t like (Emma Watson, the costumes for Belle), and things I found weird and confusing (The Enchantress). Which I think, which since the performance of Belle is such an integral part of the whole, brings me to a B, B-.
You?
Elyse: I gotta go A-. The only thing that bugged me enough to pull me out of the movie was Watson’s singing, to be honest. And even though it wasn’t perfect it was almost exactly what I wanted. So what do you think? B+ average?
RHG: I’ll go with that. But I’ll also link to some amazing cosplays of Belle’s animated gown and we can mourn what could have been (no, I’m never gonna forgive that, and I can hold a grudge for EVER) (Just ask Dan Stevens).
Beauty and the Beast is in theaters now. You can find tickets (US) at Fandango and Moviefone.
I am so freakin’ excited to see this. I’ve been walking around singing “There’s something sweet, and almost kind…” for about three weeks now. I think I was about 7 or 8 when the movie came out – probably why I know every word to every song and can quote the whole movie. For me, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is classic Disney. I get goosebumps every time I watch this trailer. Thanks for the fun review!
I loved it! Though I agree that it wasn’t perfect and that it’s probably 50% nostalgia ( I wore out my video tape back in the old timey days) I got teary eyed during the big ballroom scene and sang along during Be Our Guest embarrassing the crap out of my kids.
I also was like WTF is up with Belle and her hiked up skirts but I think that this was a little nod to Belle being unconventional, maybe? Also, did no one else find Lumiere’ s French accent atrocious? I love Ewan McGregor but Mon Dieu that was terrible.
My daughter and I saw it Sunday. We loved it. I have to say that I was disappointed when the dress pictures first came out. Though, it did grow on me. My first dress love(s) will continue to be the animated and musical versions. I, mean, the swing that skirt gets! I have to concur that the Beast is more attractive than the human prince, even the animated version. Emma Thompson did wonderful as Mrs. Potts, but Mrs. Potts will always be Angela Lansbury. I did like that LaFou did seem to meet up with someone at the end there. As for the missing mom, I just figured she had died in childbirth or had fallen ill at some point. You know, typical grand life changing moments, per Disney usual. Overall, I was pleased with what they did with the movie.
I’ll tell you what was up with those dresses, especially the yellow one: Easy knock-off. Can you imagine mass-producing a Georgian gown with all its fiddly bits and layers? No. But can you imagine Disney producing a princess movie without an accompanying dress little girls can obsess about? Also no. So you end up with a quasi-Victorian dress that looks like the gathered, pouffy curtains in my mum’s living room circa 1981. Which, at 12, I… also wanted to make into a big gathered, pouffy dress, so I guess Disney knows its core audience.
I saw this with my BFF on Sunday night, which was perfect because we met when we were 5, right when the original came out on VHS and have watched it roughly 8 million times together. We both had some trouble with it. I think part of it is just our deep love for the original makes it hard to appreciate a remake; you can’t improve perfection and the original cartoon was perfection.
First, my French history knowledge is fuzzy, most of it gleaned from historicals where I almost completely ignore the dates mentioned so if this is completely unreasonable, my bad. But with Belle’s mother being mysteriously dead and her father being unable to even talk about it and Gaston returning from a war, I thought it would make a lot of sense for the movie to take place post-Revolution and Belle’s mother have been killed in the uprising. Belle’s father escaping with her and some money when she was 3 or 4 would explain how he didn’t really have to work but they could afford a horse and a house and all that as well as Belle’s education and her sense of not really belonging in the small village even though it’s all she can remember.
Also, I wasn’t the biggest fan of how the servants were done. The voice acting was good, for the most part (as much as I love Ewan McGregor I felt that Lumiere could have been better), but due to being non-cartoons their faces just weren’t as expressive as I wanted them.
Other than that, I agree with pretty much everything in the review. I love Emma Watson, and I think it’s wonderful that she didn’t let them cover her freckles for the role, but there were better options for Belle.
Dan Stevens was amazing, but ugh, those temple rolls. When he was first shown as human after transforming back I had that same “Oh My God He Is So ATTRACTIVE” feeling as I did when I watched the cartoon, but they ruined it with the temple rolls.
The movie was a C for me, with the recognition that I am incredibly biased.
As someone who loves musicals, I have a few thoughts:
1)For RHG, the Seven Years War/French and Indian Wars would probably be about the right time. Maybe it is better to think of the costuming as a nod to an approximate time period than as an historical setting. Obviously this place never existed.
2)”Forevermore” was alright but the stage play actually has a beautiful song for the Beast, “If I Can’t Love Her,” that is reveals his personal growth and is heart wrenching at the same time. It is my favorite song from any of Disney’s three versions of B&B. Not using it is pretty much like Gene Kelly not using “Come To Me” in Brigadoon because he didn’t want any other actor to have a moment.
3)Finally- Emma Watson. Its like wanting Julie Andrews for the lead in My Fair Lady and getting Audrey Hepburn instead. Only they didn’t even bother to get Marney Nixon to dub in the songs. Sigh.
“RHG: All the nostalgia was great- I have a theory that one of the things that’s driving all the nostalgia from things from the 90s isn’t, “Oh it’s the era before social media and we all miss that time” but that it was the era right before 9/11.”
That’s really interesting.
I think it may be that but it’s also just the typical nostalgia cycle – creative adults creating art inspired by their childhoods. In the 70s you had 50s nostalgia (Happy Days), in the 80s nostalgia for the 60s (Mermaids, Stand by Me), in the 90s you had bell bottoms come back and That 70s Show, etc.
@cayenne: your theory is similar to mine regarding the dresses. My first thought upon seeing pictures was, “Oh. Prom dresses.” They look like prom dresses – and I wonder if there are some out there now for prom season.
Love love love this review. It’s everything I ever wanted. I agree about everything you said, and also have some questions of my own, like:
– Why are there so many Cockney peasants in this village in France?
– Why were all the French actors unavailable, forcing them to hire a Scottish actor to play Lumiere instead??? (I love Ewan MacGregor, but… non. Simplement non.)
– Was I the only one worried that after a trip to the Plague House, Belle and the Beast were both doomed? (I mean, she kissed the plague rattle. I know they don’t understand germs yet, but really?)
And the dress. Sigh. I love the first one in the cosplay photos that you included. Beautiful!
Now I’m going to go imagine the version with Gugu as Belle, because OUI.
Despite the ambiguity about what war Gaston was in, I really liked that this gave him some back story too. You could see in his pursuit of Belle and persecution of the Beast a disaffected former soldier seeking purpose. You know, instead of him just being an egotistical bastard …
I loved it. I saw the animated version in a movie theater when it was released. I was an adult. I didn’t have kids. I’m not sure what that says about me other than B&tB is my all-time favorite romance trope.
I assumed Gaston was in the Seven Years War too.
I also didn’t quite understand the frequent hitching up of Belle’s skirts but all of the luscious sets and set pieces made up for it.
My biggest gripe, and I guess I’m not totally alone, was with Dan Stevens AFTER he reverts back to princely nobility. I was fine with him as spoiled French aristocrat and thought his Beast was fantastic. But as soon as he transformed back, I just went “blech”. I think, in addition to the shoulder-length hair and curls, he was just too blonde for me. I want my princely nobility to be not blonde.
My son who’s nine, had a different continuity problem. He thought everyone he should have come back as zombies because the last petal and fallen and turned to ash before any declaration of love.
Totally agree about a lot of stuff. I understand the desire to cast Emma Watson, because Belle is basically a singing Hermione 😉 but yeah, if you have to autotune your heroine to that extent IN A MUSICAL, you have a casting problem. (However, I’m a huge snob about singing voices in musicals. My girlfriends didn’t notice the autotune at all, and told me outright I was being overly critical. Hmph.)
I know his French accent was terrible but that only made me love Ewan more. But then again, he’s been my imaginary boyfriend for 20 years or so, so just let me have this, mmmkay? 😉 I also looooved what they did with Plumette. (And Audra. Audra Audra Audra. That is all.)
(Speaking of Audra, the snippet of a scene where she dresses the mob boys up in women’s clothes and one of them is delighted got a huge cheer in my theatre. :))
Last but not least: ohhhh Luke Evans. Best male singing voice in the whole damn thing. Just as I felt about Richard White (droooool)…if you want your hero to be the one we root for, don’t cast someone with a far superior singing voice as the villain. 😉
P.S. OMG. I forgot to mention my favorite thing: HATTIE MORAHAN. At the end when she showed up I was all, “SENSE AND SENSIBILITY REUNION! ELINOR SAVES EDWARD!” *tears*
Nerrrrrrrd.
Beauty and The Beast is my all time favorite Disney animated movie so I freely admit this movie had a lot to live up to.
To be absolutely blunt- Emma Watson was simply miscast in this role. She doesn’t really look like the Belle of the original story, she is a barely passable singer, does no credit to the wonderful songs and she is like Belle on prozac. She never seems anything more than annoyed or bemused during the whole movie. ( I call it the Kristen Stewart school of acting where she wanders around shoulders down during the whole “Belle” song and I wonder why the villagers think she’s the most beautiful girl in town or why they even notice her).
Emma Watson seems to have made one of those old time movie star agreements where they get to wear their current hair and makeup without any nods to the historical period they are supposedly in. She looks like she just wandered out from the mall. As the review rightly points out Dan Stevens is running around in 18th century period appropriate wigs and makeup, not to mention his gorgeous gold trimmed Louis heeled shoes. Why does Belle’s ball gown look like it came from Forever 21? Why is she wearing an ear cuff in 18th century France? Why does her hair always look like she just came from the gym?
Luke Evans is as close to perfection as one can come to a living, breathing Gaston. He made me feel worse for him in the beginning and became even more evil and horrible than the original Gaston a few scenes later. He pretty much stole every scene he was in and he has a wonderful commanding voice.
I thought the Enchantress added nothing to the story and her opening narration was weak compared to the rich voice of the original story. I was wishing for something akin to Cate Blanchett’s amazing voice over for The Lord of The Rings or even Lena Headley’s from 300 Rise of an Empire.
I thought Dan Stevens was great and was impressed with his singing voice. I’m very glad the Beast finally got his Phantom Of The Opera moment in song.
I agree 100% that Gugu Mbatha-Raw was severely underused. She has the kind of stunning looks and grace that would have worked so well for Belle. I felt cheated that she spent most of the movie as a bird.
Overall I thought the production value was very high and the movie was enjoyable but it lacked the joy and the emotion of the original.
I read a background article on this somewhere that said that Gaston was going to get a ton of backstory and PTSD to explain why he’s such an ass. At age 16 he led the town in throwing off an invasion, apparently, and had legit local hero status, which is why everyone admires him. But it didn’t make the cut, I guess. They’re now talking about a Gaston prequel seeing this did so well.
I haven’t seen this yet, although I plan on it at some point. I’m a little confused about the dress thing because Disney has a line of “princess” wedding gowns and Belle’s yellow dress is supposed to be a part of it. Couldn’t they have just used one of those dresses? Why design a whole new gown when the animated one has already been made into a real one.
Also, just how bad is Emma Watson’s singing? Is it Pierce Brosnan in Mama Mia bad?
100% #TEAMGUGU FOR BELLE.
I love the original animated film. Love, love, love. And it was nominated for Best Picture – not best Animated Picture, but Best freakin’ Picture in a time when only five films made the cut.
I’ve also worn out the Broadway cast album.
Needless to say, the remake in my my head would be pretty hard to match, so I do give the filmmakers credit for the gorgeous sets and costumes (although I’m with everyone else on the Disney Store-ification of Belle’s gowns – both of which are indeed on sale at Disney Stores everywhere, couch version included).
But I got mightily distracted by the uncanny valley CGI Beast about halfway through, and started to giggle when he leapt from turret to turret with all the weight and verisimilitude of a Playstation 3 game character. And I can’t believe “Human Again” got left out of a film again! I also agree with the comments about the Enchantress. So…she curses the Beast and his servants for being awful, but does nothing to the villagers, who are just as awful? Why is she hanging around, anyway? Either the Beast learns to love and be loved in return in time, or he doesn’t. I vastly prefer the original, in which Belle’s love & Beast’s sacrifice beat the rose clock all on their own.
We’re going to stick to the animated film for our B&B viewing pleasure.
Luke Evans, though…I’m sighing as if I’m one of the village triplets.
So with you on the dress. And while Emma had a fine voice (or at least better than I would have thought), the only voice that really disappointed me was Ewan McGregor’s! And he can sing (hello, Moulin Rogue)! This might be because I saw an interview with him while he was recording the voices, but he mentioned that the director kept telling him he “sounded Mexican” not French…and it is ALL I COULD HEAR! And not an actual Mexican accent, just a bad imitation. But really, Jerry Orbach is the only Lumiere in my heart. And I loved Dan Stevens, even though I had zero interest in him as the Beast to start (not cause of Downton, I just didn’t think he was as hot as Prince Adam is supposed to be). Proved me wrong (minus the temple curls *shudder*).
Omg! And her bloomers showing! Like half her skirt was a mini-skirt–that totally bugged me on my second time thru. I kept thinking, “Gaston would take seeing her ankles and HALF HER LEG as an invitation” why is her skirt in her waistband? Just no.
When I saw the movie, there was a middle-aged woman with an older woman in front of me. When they showed Luke Evans in the credits at the end, the older lady sighed, “He’s so pretty.” 🙂
Belle’s tucked up dress bothered me as well. I kept wondering if someone from wardrobe forgot to pull her dress down. Also, did anyone notice that Belle is wearing what appears to be TOMS shoes on her feet? That just threw me off. Overall, I did enjoy the movie and the most touching part was when the servants said their goodbyes to each other before they turned into objects.
Most of the critic reviews I’ve read assumed it was the Seven Years’ War.
Most girls, not all, began buying the prom dresses in December and January, at least that’s true for my area.
I read somewhere, a legit site (pretty sure), that Emma Watson had some input on the costumes. She didn’t want a corset/boning, and they wanted to give her something she could easily move around in. Hence, not quite historically accurate dresses.
They intentionally didn’t use the music from the musical. It was inspired by the animated movie, and the new music was created by the original creators from that movie.
(I had to do some research on the movie because I saw it early as a reviewer for a friend’s lifestyle blog, and I needed to know the background, etc…)
If you haven’t seen James Corden’s parody from his show, it’s so worth it!
I remember reading that Emma Watson was very involved in the design of her outfits. She was adamant that there be no corsets. And hey, I can get behind that but the outfits didn’t have to be boring! And the hiked up skirt made zero sense because it wasn’t long enough to have gotten in her way (plus it wasn’t consistent even through the “Belle” number).
I like Emma Watson as a person, but I agree she was miscast. During “Be Our Guest” the look on her face was so wrong for what was happening. Animated Belle looked astonished and gasped; IRL Belle just looked like she was patiently watching her five year old nephew put on a play for her.
I think I’d give this movie a B-. I enjoyed it, but it just missed a lot of the emotional beats that the animated film had.
I haven’t seen the movie, but looooove the animated version just like many here. I never warmed up to Emma Watson being Belle (she just seems blah to me), then I heard her singing voice and I was quite deflated… Gugu Mbatha-Raw would have been aweeeessommmeeee!
Can I plug Cinderella with Brandy and Whitney Houston? Yeah, acting was uneven, but such a diverse cast with fantastic singing (Asian prince anyone?).. I guess as kid seeing a princess story with people who looked like my friends and me was such a thrill and shows you don’t need a “reason” for having diverse people in a Disney story.
Though it really makes me wish musical-movies would adopt a more “Bollywood” film process. Nobody expects every actor to be a fantastic singer, so having someone doing the singing for you is not a bad thing. Either hire actors trained in singing or just get talented singers to do singing over the talented actors. Everybody wins.
@denise: Thanks for the Corden rec. It was fantastic! 😀
Did anyone else notice the coming and going of the Beast’s fangs???? I didn’t like how they protruded over his bottom lip, but then when they totally disappeared I was confused. Then they came back. And away again. Is one of his beast characteristics vampirism??
I saw this and it was a lot better than I expected. As someone who still regularly watches the animated version (hey its a Christmas tradition with my sister and a bottle of wine), I was concerned about the live action. I did have three main issues though.
1. Stop with the new songs. These only get put in so that the movie will be nominated for an Oscar for best song or best soundtrack. I hate when revivals do this. Its gotten to the point where, if I don’t know the original (like with Into the Woods), I play a game where I try to figure out which song is the new one. And I’m usually right. They just are never to the caliber of the original.
2. The casting of Belle. I love Emma Watson but pick a better singer. Go with a singer who can act instead of an actor who can sing. It will be way better. I had a big issue with the last Les Mis movie because of this. Russell Crowe was horrible in that.
3. The ball scene. This was a dream in the animated movie. The dress and the sweeping way it was filmed. The dress was disappointing. And they never came close to that sweeping screenshot that was in the original. That was the biggest miss for me.
(I haven’t seen it yet, so I’m skimming.)
“Eh. He deserved it.” That’s exactly what I think every time someone fangirls Gaston. He’s a great and entertaining villain, don’t get me wrong. But he does nothing for me. (I mean he threw her BOOK in the mud! Jerk.)
The yellow dress has…’grown’ on me, I guess. Certainly I’m glad they took Emma’s feedback into consideration, and of course I want her to be comfortable while filming. And it’s a fairy tale so I don’t mind them taking ‘some’ liberties when it comes to the costumes. Though I wish there’d been more of a compromise between what she wanted and what the original looked like. What it looks like in that beautiful artwork for the original soundtrack will be forever stuck in my mind I suppose. (And I like both Beasts and the princes, but yes, those side-curls need to go.)
Would have loved for ‘If I Can’t Love Her’ to have been included in the film, but ‘Evermore’ is pretty much in the same vein.
I’m still very much looking forward to seeing this and enjoyed the review!
Agree, agree, agree on all counts! The dresses were jarring and too contemporary. Emma Watson wasn’t very expressive. The beast’s face was also not very expressive–I heard they CGI over it. I’m not sure I felt the romance. But still enjoyed, the look, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, and the rest.
When I was about 15 many many moons ago I saw Jean Cocteau’s version of Beauty and the Beast. I still think it was the most magical movie I have ever seen although some of the details are now a little hazy.
Worth getting the DVD and comparing with the Disney versions.
For those who like BatB parodies like the James Corden musical. (It’s Deadpool, so be wary of some language and violence. It’s not anywhere near as much as there was in the movie.)
@Ash – YES. Brandy Cinderella forever!!! I love that movie so much. Pretty sure I need to go watch it now. I wish more fairy tale movies were made like that one.
Forgot to say this earlier, but anyone who loves lush set design and Beauty and the Beast should check out the French version that came out a couple of years ago (La belle et la bête) starring Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux. It adds an interesting dimension to the Beast’s backstory, it’s visually stunning, and the music is amazing!
Ah the nostalgia! I was not young (mid 30s) when this came out and my ex and I watched the animated one over and over and over. I loved her falling in love with the Beast before he turned handsome. I did NOT find the animated version handsome at all and while I like Dan Stevens, he was not quite to my liking either. I wanted a dark hair man too and when he flipped his head to look over his shoulder like the animated, it looked…awkward. Loved the costumes even if not appropriate but Belle’s regular dress? I know the animated had part of the skirt flipped up but it really bothered me in this version.
Loved everyone else but flipping went crazy over Luke Evans as Gaston. He killed it and yes, took over every scene he was in. You could tell he was just loving the part and wow, he’s a great singer. I love him anyway, this just cemented it. I’m ready to watch the movie a third time. 🙂
You know, the yellow dress in this new movie grew on me. I didn’t like it at all in the photos in Entertainment Weekly, but when I actually saw it in the movie, I loved it. I didn’t really care that it wasn’t historically accurate. Actually, I didn’t at all care about that.
However, I wasn’t a big fan of her peasant dress with the skirt tucked up. I didn’t care that it was showing her bloomers, but it just looked awkward. The material looked so stiff, and all I could think was that it probably kept untucking.
While I absolutely loved Luke Evans, I didn’t love the “Gaston” number nearly as much as I love the animated version. I liked the new one, but over all I was just “meh.” But I felt that way for almost all the original numbers (except for “Belle”). I actually loved “Evermore” though. I have been listening to it on repeat. I did feel like it was a sad number. The beast is sad there. I loved it. And “Days in the Sun.”
I thought the inclusion of the enchantress throughout the movie did two things: it was an homage to Beastly (there was also a moment that screamed King Kong and likely a few other winks to previous incarnations of the story that I missed), it also solved one of my major issues with the animated movie- timing. The animated movie took place over the course of 3 days- super Stockholm Syndrome-y. By having the enchantress find Maurice and nurse him back to help- it added time for Belle and the Beast to develop a relationship with each other.
My main gripe about the movie was the camera work. It felt too much like a music video- whipping around from person to person without bothering to take in any reactions after dialog or events. I would have rather dropped some of the filler stuff (particularly beast’s song) in favor of letting the material breathe a little more.
Luke Evans was perfect.
I am going to dissent from (I think) everyone here – I really liked Emma Watson as Belle and thought she did a good job with the singing. I was listening to an NPR On Point episode about Disney Princesses last fall and they were discussing the evolution of the Disney princess in three stages from stage one pretty passive (Cinderella) to stage three – complete independence and agency (Moana). They classified Belle as the middle stage – somewhat defiant of expectations by being into reading and not what society thought she should be, but still less in control of her own destiny than later princesses. I appreciated that Emma Watson brought a fresh take on the character. As a side note, I don’t completely agree with the analysis on that NPR – Cinderella is one of my very favorites of the older Disney animated movies (and I love Jacques and GusGus) and I think they missed some of the finer points of the early Disney princesses, BUT I did at the very least find it very thought provoking. I am a MAJOR Disney fan (of their movies and theme parks), so I could go on and on about this topic as well as many other Disney animated movies, but I will stop myself there.
Dan Stevens as the prince (not the beast) didn’t do much for me. Perhaps my modern sensibilities were too much in play to appreciate a pre-revolution Frenchman, but I was a hard pass on the prince himself.
Gaston stole the show – he was played perfectly.
Overall, I thought the movie was awesome (I saw it with my mom, mother-in-law, and husband). I told my ten year-old niece that I liked it so much I would see it again if she wanted me to take her and she was completely uninterested. Of course, there is no nostalgia factor for her as she was born in 2006 (which makes me feel ancient).
Fun review, and I agree on so many points. I need to see it again. 🙂
@Molly: Glad someone else got excited about the Sense and Sensibility connections. My poor ten year old son put up with me quietly exclaiming when I kept making connections of who had been in other movies together, and, of course, AUDRA.
Thank you for the reviews – especially the costumes discussion. I did enjoy the movie and only was disappointed by one thing: the omission of the song from the Broadway musical “Human Again”. I was REALLY looking forward to hearing Audra McDonald sing that song!