Live action Beauty & the Beast review
As a Disney fan who really loves Belle, I was both excited and reprehensive at the idea of a live action remake of one of my favorite movies. I had been keeping a close eye on the previews anticipating its release.
Generally, my husband and I loved the new adaptation and we can’t wait for it to be released on bluray to add to our collection. As expected, there have been a few small changes to the story which were needed to make it more believable for a live action and I personally liked the changes. They made sense and did not detract from the main story. The addition of time spent between Belle & Beast was nice. We also got to learn what happened to Belle’s mother and a bit more of Beast’s backstory.
Although I do not like the “new” look of Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs Potts & Chip, I agree with the design decision as they are quite authentic to the style of the times. Same for all of the other castle objects and styling. Having visited a few castles in Europe recently, I was really glad to see how well they kept true to the era. I especially loved the heater in the corner of Belle’s room. Similarly for the town, I have just recently traveled to the Alsace region of France and noticed many similarities to villages of Eguishem and Riquevihr.
I was originally unsure of Emma Watson being cast as Belle but she does not disappoint and I really liked her in the role. Not sure I liked Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts and although I love Ewan McGregor, I was not a fan of his rendition of Lumiere (Jerry Orbach did a much better job). Luke Evans as Gaston was a brilliant choice (and I mean it as a compliment) and what to say about Josh Gad’s closeted character Le Fou, he was fun and has more of a personality than the cartoon version which was a brilliant decision.
The costumes were great and kept in spirit with the original cartoon. Generally loved the costumes, they were beautiful. Surprisingly, my favorite dress is the one Belle wore at end of the movie and the reason why Belle’s iconic yellow dress isn’t my favorite is that it failed to impress. I was really disappointed as I expected a wow factor which it did not have. Comparatively the Cinderella Live action remake did an amazing job on her blue iconic dress, taking my breath away and unfortunately Belle’s dress did not. I had great expectations for that dress and it just failed to deliver.
And finally, the music. I really loved their re-make of the “Bonjour” song and Gaston’s song in the tavern. Something There and Beauty & the Beast were a bit of a miss. I preferred by far the original version of Something There, and in the case of Beauty & the Beast Emma Thompson’s rendition paled in comparison to Angela Lansbury’s original version. 3 new songs were added and they just seemed to break the flow of the movie, I really think the movie would’ve been better without it.
Overall I think its a great film. I’m still going to watch the original but this has earned a spot on my shelf.
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