My Movie Review on Beauty and the Beast (2017)-OUTDATED
Today, after such a long time of not doing any movie reviews or blog posts, I will be reviewing Disney's 2017 live-action "Beauty and the Beast".
An arrogant prince (played by Dan Stevens) is cursed to live as a terrifying beast until he finds true love. Strangely, his chance comes when he captures an unwary clockmaker (played by Kevin Kline), whose place is then taken by his bold and beautiful daughter Belle (played by Emma Watson). Helped by the Beast's similarly enchanted servants - including a clock (played by Ian Mckellen), a teapot (played by Emma Thompson), and a candelabra (played by Ewan McGregor) - Belle begins to see the sensitive soul behind the fearsome facade. But as time runs out, it soon becomes obvious that Belle's cocky suitor Gaston (played by Luke Evans) is the real beast of the piece.
The movie was definitely a mix of both good and bad every step of the way. An interesting movie, but, it’s nothing compared to the 1991 animated version.
The score and musical numbers orchestrated by returning composer Alan Menken I thought were a definite mix of 50/50. The brand new songs Menken orchestrated, such as “Evermore” & “Days in the Sun”, are the ones that I thought have been pretty well thought out and had a lot of life stored in them, but, the remakes of the old songs such as “Be Our Guest” & “Belle” felt much on the cringing side and time consumingly slow, especially with the pacing of the music and the way the performers sang them.
Another thing I couldn’t help but note was that the way the background sets were made, particularly the castle & village, looked like they were props for a high school play, although, I definitely commend the cinematography for helping everything seem and feel natural.
With the direction, I think Bill Condon did fine, though, unlike his work in “Mr. Holmes”, I don’t think it’s one of his best works. Like I already said, the cinematography he gave the film was perfect. However, I felt that the action moments, particularly with the scenes of the wolf attacks, and the villagers vs the castle residents, were too sluggish and less lively, especially compared to the original.
The story and screenplay done by Stephen Chbosky & Evan Spiliotopoulos did also seem too excessively similar to the original, and I didn’t think it was as ground-breakingly emotional as the animated version. But, most of all, I didn’t think the story did a good job at making itself it’s own instead of seeming like some sort of carbon copy. I did think that the most interesting moment came with the book where you could travel anywhere in the world, as well as the backstory about Belle’s mother and what happened to her.
When it comes to the cast and their performances, I definitely have mixed opinions on which ones were great and which ones weren’t great.
The casting and performances of Emma Watson & Luke Evans as Belle and Gaston were the ones that I felt seemed completely out of place. They definitely looked their parts, but the way they both moved and sounded didn’t seem natural, and it looked like that because their characters are so highly renowned, they just weren’t able to perform without looking like the pressure of being & living up to those characters was too great.
Also, with the exception of Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, none of the cast made their roles French enough for the town and time period the story takes place in.
The incorporation of African-American cast members and characters also didn’t feel right. I’m not being racist or anything, it’s just...when you look in your own history books, you’ll find that the time people of certain ethnicity, like African-Americans, Spanish, and Asians, did not become prevalently widespread until much later than the time period the movie takes place in. I found that to be an example of being too unnecessarily politically correct, and when used at the wrong time, it gives inaccuracy to the setting and culture of a story.
However, when it comes to casting and performances, not everyone was terrible. As I likely said, Ewan McGregor portrayed Lumiere perfectly, and Kevin Kline...he gave his portrayal and character of Maurice a sense of innocence, tenderness, and warmth, and he took his role on like a pro compared to Watson & Evans.
Josh Gad, who portrays Lefou, was also quite the eye-catcher. Admittedly, his character did have a slight guy crush on Gaston, but really, he’s not inherently gay. Even though Gad obviously kept his American accent, he was actually really fun to watch. He had the best comedic-timing out of everyone, and the singing chops he gave for every song he was in were extremely well-done. So, if you’re a fan of Josh Gad, I think you should totally see this film.
But the real star of the movie comes from the guy who played the Beast himself: Dan Stevens. The performance & voice he gave the character, as well as the makeup and motion capture used on him, made the Beast so lifelike and alive. Every moment with him on the screen also makes things worthwhile, because he gives off such strength & emotion into the role.
Overall, the film isn’t bad, but, it pales to the original.
So, I rate “Beauty and the Beast (2017)” three stars out of five.
Before I conclude this post, I’d like to apologize to you all for not making a post to review the animated version yet. And I know that you guys would want me to very soon, especially because of how many comparisons I’ve been making with this film to the animated version. I promise you all though that it will be coming soon, I just have to build it up.
In the meantime though, I hope you all enjoyed this one, because this movie was definitely much easier to take notes on than the original.
So, with all that said, see ya later.
