Beauty And The Beast
I surely don't need a synopsis for Beauty And The Beast but precedent has been established. A vagrant arrives at a debutante ball held at the castle of an unkind and arrogant prince, hoping for a place to shelter. The prince dismisses her, except it turns out she has magical powers. She proceeds to turn the prince into a beast and his servants into household objects. If the prince can open his heart and be loved in return then the curse will be broken. If he fails, then he will be doomed to live the rest of his days as a beast.
We all know what happens, tale as old as time and all that sort of thing. But the prince's problem more specifically is that he's an arsehole, not that he's incapable of love. So really the film should be about him being less of an arsehole, rather than trying to woo Emma Watson. This is one of the story's many plot holes that I'm going to have to gloss over. OK, indulge me in one more. The villagers are seemingly anti-intellectual and question Belle's desire to educate herself through reading*. Later in the film, they're singing a song with the lyrics "Screw your courage to the sticking place". I'll just assume they're innately Shakespearean.
Anyway, Watson is rather good actually, I've not been sold on her in the past but she's well cast here as Belle and has a lovely singing voice. Luke Evans looks like he's enjoying himself as the preening Gaston while Josh Gad is brilliant as his sidekick LeFou and is pretty much responsible for the film's entire quota of laughs, although the much discussed "gay" moment with his character is very much a "blink and you'll miss it" affair.
I'm happy to see Emma Thompson in anything but felt here as Mrs Potts she was attempting to channel Angela Lansbury's depiction in the 1991 version a little too closely. This was one of my overall issues with the film, it makes you feel nostalgic for the animated predecessor without necessarily justifying its existence. Last year's Jungle Book remake felt like an fresh take in part because of its inventive use of CGI. There are subversive flickers and modern touches here and there, with references to The Sound of Music and Les Miserables in nods to musical tradition, but this feels more like a retread. Indeed, the famous ballroom scene almost felt like a shot for shot recreation.
But the songs are decent enough, it's a perfectly acceptable couple of hours of entertainment and I'm sure in years to come it'll be a solid afternoon TV movie.
*Despite the fact there's a guy in the village who runs a very small library. Is he doing that purely for Belle's benefit? If he is, there ought to be a subplot on that subject alone.
We all know what happens, tale as old as time and all that sort of thing. But the prince's problem more specifically is that he's an arsehole, not that he's incapable of love. So really the film should be about him being less of an arsehole, rather than trying to woo Emma Watson. This is one of the story's many plot holes that I'm going to have to gloss over. OK, indulge me in one more. The villagers are seemingly anti-intellectual and question Belle's desire to educate herself through reading*. Later in the film, they're singing a song with the lyrics "Screw your courage to the sticking place". I'll just assume they're innately Shakespearean.
Anyway, Watson is rather good actually, I've not been sold on her in the past but she's well cast here as Belle and has a lovely singing voice. Luke Evans looks like he's enjoying himself as the preening Gaston while Josh Gad is brilliant as his sidekick LeFou and is pretty much responsible for the film's entire quota of laughs, although the much discussed "gay" moment with his character is very much a "blink and you'll miss it" affair.
I'm happy to see Emma Thompson in anything but felt here as Mrs Potts she was attempting to channel Angela Lansbury's depiction in the 1991 version a little too closely. This was one of my overall issues with the film, it makes you feel nostalgic for the animated predecessor without necessarily justifying its existence. Last year's Jungle Book remake felt like an fresh take in part because of its inventive use of CGI. There are subversive flickers and modern touches here and there, with references to The Sound of Music and Les Miserables in nods to musical tradition, but this feels more like a retread. Indeed, the famous ballroom scene almost felt like a shot for shot recreation.
But the songs are decent enough, it's a perfectly acceptable couple of hours of entertainment and I'm sure in years to come it'll be a solid afternoon TV movie.
*Despite the fact there's a guy in the village who runs a very small library. Is he doing that purely for Belle's benefit? If he is, there ought to be a subplot on that subject alone.
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