Friday, March 17, 2017

Beauty and the Beast

Late last night I went to an early screening of Beauty and the Beast, the live action version of the 1991 Disney animated classic, and I loved so much about it (and didn't like a few things).  Emma Watson plays Belle, a smart and independent girl stuck in a provincial town, and Dan Stevens plays the Beast, a prince who has been cursed by an enchantress because there is no love in his heart.  This adaptation follows the familiar story of Belle being taken prisoner in the Beast's castle as a substitute for her father (Kevin Kline), who unknowingly wanders in, and then learning to look past the Beast's gruff exterior with the help of some enchanted objects in the castle:  Ian McKellen as the uptight Cogsworth, Ewan McGregor as the rakish Lumiere, and Emma Thompson as the motherly Mrs. Potts.  Meanwhile, the local war hero Gaston (Luke Evans), with the help his buffoonish sidekick LeFou (Josh Gad), pursues Belle and then sets his sights on killing the Beast.  I loved the big production numbers, especially "Belle," "Gaston," "Be Our Guest," and "Beauty and the Beast," and I actually thought they were pretty magical because the production design is simply gorgeous.  This movie is just visually stunning!  I liked all of the performances (I even thought that Emma Watson sounded fine in her songs) but my favorites are Evans as Gaston and Gad as LeFou because they are absolutely hilarious and Stevens as the Beast because his voice is unexpectedly amazing in the song "Evermore."  I really enjoyed watching this movie, particularly with the rowdy crowd who cheered during several scenes, and I laughed out loud many times.  However, there were a few weak spots for me.  I didn't really like the CGI of the enchanted objects because they didn't seem to be "real."  I was hoping that the objects would actually resemble the actors portraying them (I remember being so excited when I heard that Ewan McGregor was going to play Lumiere) so that was a little bit disappointing.  I thought that Belle's iconic yellow ball gown was extremely underwhelming, especially in comparison to all of the other costumes.  I also didn't especially like most of the new songs (I had the same problem with the new song in Les Miserables) but that might be because I am so used to the original movie and the Broadway musical so I might grow to like them more (I did, however, like the aforementioned "Evermore").  Finally, I thought Belle's backstory where she and the Beast visit Paris was weird and unnecessary; in fact, I wasn't really sure what was even going on and my mind started to wander (this movie is quite long).  However, for me, the positives outweighed the negatives and I really enjoyed it.  I predict that I will be seeing it again soon (especially since Spring break is coming up).

Note:  About that "explicitly gay" scene?  If you blink, you will miss it.

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