Beauty And The Beast (2017)
Directed by Bill Condon
Based on Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson
Music by Alan Menken
Plot Synopsis: The same as the 1991 animated Disney film. Just watch the animated version instead if you haven’t already.
My Opinion:
Mehhhh…. I can’t be bothered to write much of a review for this movie. It’s a cash grab – we all know that. I can’t really trash Disney, though. I grew up on Disney films & I’ll always love Disney, even when they sell out. It doesn’t matter – the majority of film studios, actors & actresses, directors, etc etc, all sell out at some point. As long as Disney keep making some original & quality films alongside these pointless remakes & sequels, I can forgive some selling-out. But I’m sorry to say that this remake of Beauty And The Beast is indeed completely pointless.
I actually didn’t mind the live-action Cinderella (which I reviewed HERE). The kid watched that again recently & I still don’t mind it. At least it’s not a straight copy. I also enjoyed Maleficent quite a bit more than this as it felt somewhat original. With Beauty And The Beast copying everything, right down to giving us inferior versions of the fantastic songs from the original, I just don’t see the point. Okay – there were a few extra things added in storywise (and, I can’t remember now – one or maybe two new boring songs) that didn’t really enhance what was already a good & simple fairy tale.
Emma Watson: Wrong for the part. I’ve thought that since it was first announced that she would be Belle. She doesn’t do a horrible job but Hermoine as Belle was always going to be very distracting. Dan Stevens: Nope! Didn’t work. Plus he’s not hot enough (cartoon beast-turned-human was a babe). Kevin Kline: He was okay. Luke Evans: Actually, I guess he was pretty perfect as Gaston. Josh Gad: Not too bad – he was kind of fun but all I can hear is Olaf. Ewan McGregor: He did okay copying the original version of the character but the French accent was just confusing. Well, all the accents in this were confusing (but I suppose the same can be said of the original). Emma Thompson: Perfect casting but YOU CAN NEVER TOP ANGELA LANSBURY, dammit!!!! Chip was still cute, though. Just not as cute as animated Chip. But nothing in this topped the original in any way, so….
Whatever. It’s not a horrible movie. The CGI is decent. No, wait – I suppose the CGI actually quite good but we’re all spoiled these days & expect perfection. If you love the animated film, odds are that you’ll want to watch this at some point but I wouldn’t say you have to rush out to see it. If you haven’t seen the animated film for some reason, please just watch that first. Or instead. I’ll give this an extra half point since my kid seemed to enjoy it. I guess that’s all the really counts, right? 😉
My Rating: 6/10
Cinema Parrot Disco 
I may check this out just to see what I think. Though the original animated version is pretty much flawless in my eyes.
It’s worth checking out, I suppose, but it can wait for Netflix. Agreed that the original is pretty much flawless. And this was pointless. : )
I’m going to wait for the DVD.
I think we agree on almost everything, except Watson who I didn’t mind. Then again, I haven’t seen any HP so she wasn’t distracting to me in that way.
Ahh. I can see how she wouldn’t be as distracting if you’ve never seen a Harry Potter film. Wait… You’ve never seen a Harry Potter?! 😉 They’re okay but I don’t love them. The books are much better.
While I didn’t love this as much as the live-action Cinderella, I actually really loved this one. 😉 I thought it was fun and charming, although they definitely played it a little safe and could have been a little more adventurous with the adaptation.
I’m glad you loved it! : ) I really wanted to… I do know a woman at work whose late-teen daughter had gone to it several times already. I think my opinion is fairly unpopular! Lol. People seem to like it pretty well. 🙂
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I’m going to end up mad at Disney if I finally watch this and I end up disliking it. It is my favorite Disney classic, so I hope they are suitably afraid 😀
Have you seen Downton Abbey? My love for Stevens stem from there. I saw some pics of him as human-beast, and that hair is TERRIBLE. Ew.
lol. Uh oh – I honestly don’t know if you’ll like this or not! Most people seem to but I just seriously don’t see the point of it. The animated version is a classic. It’s faithful to it, though. Maybe too faithful… Not seen Downton Abbey but did see him in The Guest. Agree that hair at the end is awful! WTF??? And animated human beast was so hot (but I suppose had kind of weird hair too). 😉
I haven’t been eager to see this. For many of the reason’s you mentioned. Sounds too much like the animated version rather than the story I grew up with, which was slightly different. But one of the biggest issues is that I wasn’t thrilled with the casting. Sure, Watson is a good actress. But I could never see her as Belle. It just didn’t jive with me.
Oh, it’s almost an exact copy of the animated film. Pointless. Watson really didn’t work for me in this. I suppose she could’ve been worse but she definitely wasn’t right for the part, just as I had thought before even seeing it. Meh. They need to stop with these remakes…
Ben Fastnedge says “The original Disney animated Beauty and The Beast’ takes some beating, this version looks enticing and the CGI does look good. I always thought Emma Watson would actually make a fine Belle.”
The CGI wasn’t too bad, especially on the Beast, and Watson wasn’t perfect but could’ve been worse. But I’ll stick with the animated version. 🙂
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