I have grown up with Disney movies in my house my whole life. Though I don't remember it very well, we had the original Beauty and the Beast on VHS when I was very young. I am told that we would watch it a lot because it was one of my favourites, so I am excited to see what they will do with the live action version. So, I hope you enjoy my review on the new Beauty and the Beast.
The movie starts out nearly the same as the 1991 animated movie does, but this time it's not told on stained glass. It shows a hand picking a rose, then as a narrator speaks the story of the spoiled Prince (played by Dan Stevens), we zoom in on him getting makeup on to get ready for his ball. He had only the most beautiful people and things ever surround him. As the party is going on a storm arises and there is a thunderous knock at the door. As the Prince rises to check it out, the doors burst open and in comes an ugly beggar woman asking for shelter in exchange for a rose. The prince laughs as do the others around him. The woman says to not be deceived by looks, but the Prince casts her out again. It is at this moment that the old woman turns into the beautiful Enchantress and places a curse on him and his castle.
It then goes to Belle (played by Emma Watson) coming out of her house and singing about the provincial town that she lives in. She bumps into the town baker and buys some bread and talks about her book briefly but he is not interested. As she goes along the rest of the town comes to life saying hello and good morning to each other. Belle gets to the town library, which is really small, returns the book she had just read and borrows one of her favorites. It is at this time we meet Gaston (played by Luke Evans) and LeFou (played by Josh Gad) coming back from a war while talking. Gaston talks of how he wants to marry Belle, and then it continues on with the song.
The story plot was very much like the original for people going for nostalgic reasons. The changes they did make were pretty noticeable though as well. You know there are going to be changes made, especially when going from one and a half hours to two hours. There were additional storylines to round out some of the characters, as well as some musical numbers. I am not going to go into specifics and spoil the movie, but for the most part they were a great touch. There were a couple that I thought were distracting to the story, though. I am torn with some of the new songs as well. Some were good and some seemed unnecessary and almost gave the movie an unfinished feel.
First I would like to say that the people who chose the actors made a wonderful choice with all of them. The one thing I probably missed most from the original movie though is the deep voice Gaston had, but with the way Luke Evans portrayed him, it almost didn't matter. Emma Watson did a great job with Belle and showing us her strength, but I did miss a little of her initial warmth we get with the animation. She may have brought a little too much Hermione over from Harry Potter forgetting that even when Belle says no to Gaston proposing marriage, she was gentle and kind. That may have been the writers as well, it's a tough call with that one. The one that surprised me the most though was Dan Stevens. I have been watching him on his new show Legion and he has such a quiet voice there most of the time I could not see him with the rough growly persona of the Beast, but he pulled it off brilliantly. I just wish we could have seen more than just his eyes for most of the movie as he is great with facial expressions, more than the CGI face of Beast was anyways.
Overall, the story plot had some good changes and some not as good ones, and the acting might have been a little better in some places. But as much as negativity goes, it's better to see the good rather than focus on the bad, which I think might be the moral of the movie. And so, I would rate this movie 8.2/10.
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