* Directed by Bill Condon
* Starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Kevin Kline, Emma Thompson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, and Nathan Mack
The Plot: A prince (Dan Stevens) is under a curse being transformed into a monstrous beast and must find a true love with another woman in order to break this curse. However, one thing leads to another and an inventor (Keven Kline) is held prisoner by the Beast after trespassing his secluded manor. In order to set him free his young daughter Belle (Emma Watson) offers to take her father's place and next thing you know she's then given hospitality in his home by the manor's magical houseware appliances, the Beast's servants. The longer she stays the Beast has feelings for Belle as she does for him and a relationship starts to build between the two.
I'll be honest it actually took me a while to see the original 1991 animated Disney film because obviously as a young boy I was never one for movies involving Disney "Princesses." However, I did finally see the movie and I really enjoyed it and then revisiting it a second time recently I can say that this is another one of Disney's masterpieces. It's a heartfelt love story and the use of its hand drawn animation did a perfect job of evoking so much emotion, but does the story still translate well to live action?
The answer is a big fat yes! I absolutely loved the remake to this animated classic and a studio like Disney was not only able to tell the original story well, but execute it in a way that didn't feel like a complete retread of the first film. The film did so much to make it stand on its own and I applaud that because even though a younger generation can go back and still enjoy the original, they still have a newer version that's almost up to par with the previous version. Even though the formula might be in similar footsteps of the original, it was still a great retelling of the story we know and love. When certain events happen over the course of the movie it's so much different than in the original film in the best way possible. The way certain events are orchestrated and are later resolved feel right to happen for the story that's being told. I also love that for the characters of Beast and Belle there's more added backstory and it actually gave these characters more depth that I just found to be so emotionally impactful. I love that with more added in this retelling that it didn't overcomplicate the story told in the original. If anything it completely complimented it from start to finish.
My other major positives were that with such an all-star cast every single actor did such an amazing job portraying these iconic characters. Even though a majority of the performances was voice acting, it was still nothing short of being impressive. The way they're portrayed stays true to what was originally seen, but there was enough there to have these actors make these characters their own. Of course, the talent in front of the camera was also just as brilliant behind the camera because the creative efforts that went into the making of this film were absolutely terrific. It could've probably been easy to make this environment in front of a green screen and maybe some shots utilized green screen and did it well, but the production design for this film was remarkable in detail. The CGI and visual effects, for the most part, were pretty flawless to look at. There were some amazing visual displays on screen and the majority of characters who were animated houseware objects were great CGI creations.
If I had issues with the movie I'd say that the pacing can be a little uneven at times. There were moments in the film where events went by a little too quickly and it felt like a few characters weren't having enough time to shine. It felt like they weren't in it enough in the first act at least, but luckily the pacing of the next couple acts allowed the film to take a breath and the film was able to take its time and have you be with these characters long enough. Also, even though I did say a majority of the film's CGI was great, the CGI used to create Beast's face was a bit of a misfire. Compared to the rest of the seamless visuals, there was too much of the CGI used for Beast and maybe it would've been more of a benefit utilizing make-up and practical animatronic effects. I get maybe it could've been a more of a challenge to go the practical route with Dan Steven's face, but there could've been more improvement for the motion capture technology. I appreciated the idea of it, but there could've been more done to tweak or maybe we're not at that point to see this type of CGI in motion.
All and all this film was flawless of a reimagining of the original Disney classic we know and love with a really well-directed musical fantasy film, a pitch-perfect cast, wonderful song numbers new and old, and more than solid visual effects. Beauty and the Beast stays true and respects its original predecessor, but stands on its own to still enchant audiences of all ages.
Verdict: A-
Disney has honestly been doing a great job with these remakes as of recent and I'm very open to see the other reimaginings they have lined up next. I know The Lion King is one of them and that's probably my favorite Disney movie, so to see what they did here and with 2016's The Jungle Book, the talent they have for these films couldn't be in any better hands. Kudos to Disney. My business isn't over yet I still have one more review to cover for this weekend and that's for the sci-fi horror film Life, which I'm very excited to see, so be on the lookout for that review tomorrow afternoon. For more updates be sure to follow me in the links below:
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Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this. It's been an absolute treat getting my thoughts out on cinema in this fashion! As always be sure to see some movies and all that good stuff!
Take care :-)
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