Film Review: Beauty And The Beast
starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad,
Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci
Watch the trailer for Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast Synopsis
Disney's animated classic takes on a new form, with a widened mythology and an all-star cast. A young prince, imprisoned in the form of a beast, can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity arrives when he meets Belle, the only human girl to ever visit the castle since it was enchanted.I saw Beauty and the Beast last March on its opening weekend. I loved and enjoyed last year's Cinderella live-action film with Lily James in the title role (see my Film Review: Cinderella). So, I thought I'd be watching all the Disney live-action film adaptations (from their Disney Animated film versions). Next up, this movie, which was adapted from the 1991 Animated film version of the same name.
The casting for Belle was quite interesting, Emma Watson (didn't expect to see her play this part...she seemed miscast, in my opinion) did good (but her acting felt wooded at times, but she's not too bad...her singing was surprisingly good...though I've heard people saying that her singing was auto-tuned in this movie! Hmm...). Dan Stevens (whom I loved as Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey's first 3 seasons!) played the Prince and especially the Beast very good. Though his CGI Beast doesn't look realistic and natural. It just looked too weird and not realistically scary like Beast in previous BatB adaptations. He has good singing voice though, I was pleasantly surprised as I've never heard of him sing before. Luke Evens as Gaston was great as the villain Gaston. He really fits the character to a tee! Josh Gad as LeFou was very good and funny in this movie. The rest of the supporting cast were all good (and probably were the best parts of this movie) in their small, yet underused parts: Kevin Kline as Belle's father Maurice, Ewan McGregor as Lumière, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts (the mother teacup), Nathan Mack as Chip (son of Mrs. Potts), Audra McDonald as Madame Garderobe, Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette.
Overall, while I enjoyed watching this movie on the big screen, I did feel like it was too long and there were too many singing (and some songs I'm not familiar with...probably new songs added, but the familiar ones were great to hear again...made me missed the animated film), that when the film ended, I got exhausted from watching this movie. It was still very good and enjoyable movie, just not a movie I could watch over and over again. I think (for me anyway), once is enough. The pace was a bit slow for an over 2 hours (+ 9 minutes) long movie. Productions Designs were a visual fest (but a bit over the top), the Costume Designs by Jacqueline Durran (Academy Award winner for Anna Karenina and did costume designs for Pride & Prejudice and Atonement) were stunningly gorgeous though especially Belle's blue dress and yellow gown. The music was good, the story was a pretty familiar tale as told as time (or rather we've already heard and knew about as they've stick pretty much to the animated version...and the scenes were similar frame by frame from the animated one as well), the CGI effects (especially on the Beast) were not as impressive though...they were messy...and to think Disney had a production budget of $160 million (even Wonder Woman with less $149 million did so much better, quality-wise, with theirs), they could've done a top quality one, but hey...it made a billion worldwide, so I guess audiences loved this movie and wasn't bothered by it at all. That's just my observation, of course. Minor issues aside, this movie was still wonderful, fun, and enjoyable to watch. If you love Beauty and the Beast and musicals, I'm guessing this live-action version of the classic 1991 animated version will be your cup of tea. So go see it, if you haven't already!
My Beauty and the Beast Film Rating:
(9/10 ; A-)
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