Review:Beauty and The Beast (2017)

I don't think since Les Miserables has a movie had this much pressure on it to do the original justice. This is the fourth film where Disney have breathed new life into their catalogue of animated classics and I’ll tell you what, they’re onto something. Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Mr Holmes) is the most anticipated of the live-action remakes so far and with additional scenes and characters it justifies its existence.

There’s no story book opening, right of the bat we get a full look at the story of how the Beast and the castle is cursed, with added stipulations to the curse that remove some of the plot holes from the original. That’s the thing with this version; the added or changed scenes from the original tidy up the old story and make everything seem justified. From no one in the town ever hearing about the castle to the fact that a young intelligent girl falls in love with a beast who has captured her, it all works. The additional plot points also add motifs and opportunities for some nice acting moments more suited for a live-action film.

The performances are all quite good; despite what the trailers show. Luke Evans(Gaston) and Josh Gad(Lefou) are spot on and Dan Stevens is acceptable as The Beast, it’s just a shame that The Beast or Gaston's voices are true baritones like the original. All of the objects are as charming as the original, so long as you’re open to different interpretations of the characters. Cogsworth’s (Ian McKellen) part seems to be reduced and less authoritative and Ewan McGregor’s accent doesn’t seem nearly as bad as it does in the trailer. Unfortunately, the weakest part of the film is Emma Watson’s voice. Her acting is fine (you can see that in her chemistry with The Beast), she looks the part, but her voice is too thin and has been auto-tuned to a point that her voice doesn’t match the style of rest of the film. It does take away from a lot of the big numbers and is only highlighted in the additional song “Days in the Sun” when you have a voice like Audra McDonald’s which is utterly flawless.

The production design Beauty and the Beast sticks to its namesake when there are beautiful, shimmering French set pieces and costumes meeting with gothic, beastly jagged edge aspects of the castle. It does step away from the colourful world of Disney animation and delves into a more realistic world with dark tones and living objects without clear distinguishable facial features and you know what? That’s the whole point of making a live-action version. Again, it’s one of those changes that makes this adaptation relevant, there is even an additional detail that every time a petal falls from the rose they become less human and more object-like. I don’t think any heart was removed from the characters because of this, even to the point where the during the climax (spoiler alert) before everything becomes human again, your heart breaks a little because they get you to a point where you think it may not happen. They only technical barrier I do feel this film comes short is the CGI face of the beast, it still looked far to computerized that it was difficult to see the human underneath. They should have opted for some sort of makeup/wig situation because for me that blurred the line of animation/live-action too much.

All of the numbers are just as big and just as magical as the original, it’s hard not leap to your feet and clap after both “Be Our Guest” and “Gaston”. Despite Emma Thomson not being Angela Lansbury, there’s still a lot of heart in the title track, except she’s blown away when we’re treated to a version by Audra MCDonald. I quite liked the additional songs, most of all “How Does a Moment Last Forever” sung by Maurice at the beginning. The addition of the song “Evermore” sung by The Beast seems forced and the lyrics seem silly, they should have just kept “If I can’t love her”, makes me think that they were hoping to recreate the record set by the original of being nominated for three different “Best Original Songs” in a single film at the Oscars.

This film had a lot of pressure to deliver and it did. I cried happy tears. I laughed. I cried sad tears. I went in with self-preserved low-expectations and within the first 15 minutes I found myself sitting there transported back as if I were seeing it and loving it for the first time. I already want to see it again to see if I can get past Emma Watson’s voice and the Beast’s CGI face. Fans of the original will love it, so long as they haven’t decided not to already and it will create many new fans I’m sure.