Beauty and the Beast is the live-action remake of the 1991 animated film of the same name.
Overall, it is a pretty faithful remake so I'm not going to go too much into the plot. If you've seen the animated version then you know what happens in this one. The original 1991 film is widely considered one of the major highlights among Disney's large catalogue of movies so, I'm going to compare this one to the animated feature quite a bit.
First off, the songs. What would Beauty and the Beast be without some of that stuck-in-your-head-all-day Disney music? Well, for the most part the songs you're probably expecting if you're going to see this are all there (There are also a few tunes that aren't in the original but they're all pretty bland and forgettable). Now, while most of them are done well enough, the song sequences overall aren't nearly as fun as in the animated version. 'Be Our Guest' for example is good but isn't as memorable and high-energy, resulting in a scene that I found kind of disappointing.
Next, let's move on to the characters. One of the concerns I had going in was that the actors were just going to be doing impressions of their animated counterparts and, while I do enjoy the original Beauty and the Beast, I was hoping that their would be some new life breathed into the material and that actors would really own their roles. Unfortunately, that is not really the case for the most part and Belle's father Maurice (played by Kevin Kline) was the only character that I wholeheartedly prefer in this version. While, overall, the acting is pretty solid (Emma Watson was good as Belle, and Luke Evans was fine as Gaston) there is a lot of simply recreating exactly what was already done. Now, if that's what you want to see then you're in luck. However, at least for me, the result is nearly every performance being a downgrade from the original. Without picking apart every performance, I'll simply say that some of these downgrades are minor, some of them a bit more substantial.
While on the topic of characters, obviously there is a lot of CGI in the film as all of the inhabitants of the castle have been turned into candlesticks, clocks, teapots, and other objects that would otherwise be inanimate. The CGI is good for the most part, although many of the character designs are less appealing and by trying really hard to make them look like actual real-world objects they lost a lot of facial expressions that made those characters relatable.
Like I stated at the start, this is a pretty faithful remake but, nothing in the film out does the previous film. If you like the animated movie, then you may want to check this one out. However, if you aren't a huge fan of the original then you can save your money and skip this one altogether. A halfhearted attempt was made to flesh out some of the character's motivations but, it is more or less a beat-for-beat remake and I found myself thinking 'Oh yea, that's the scene from the cartoon' rather than getting really invested in the story. By contrast, Disney's remake of The Jungle Book (which came out about this same time last year) kept to the same spirit of the original but still felt like a fresh re-imagining of the animated classic.
Overall, it was a solid effort and the movie looks really nice but, I don't see any reason why I'd watch this one again when there exists a much better version.
I give this one a 2.5 out of 5.
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This is a movie I had high hopes for and unfortunately it fell flat both times I watched it. I agree with you. When it came to the music, it wasn't as much fun as the original and in fact some songs sounded slower to me. As good as Emma Watson was as Belle, her singing fell a little short for me. I think personally I was hoping that the actors would sound similar to their original animated versions. The Jungle Book had done an incredible job with this, and unfortunately this movie did not live up to my expectation. I agree with your rating! Great review!
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