a BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2017) musing

A serviceable remake of the 1991 film, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST captures the iconic shots and translates them beautifully into live action. Lost in translation is some of the magic that you get from the medium of animation, though. The supporting cast of housewares are fun and cute, and “Be Our Guest” is extravagant as should be. The Beast is completely CGI, except for a few close up shots, I’m sure, but there’s something off putting about this creature when next to Belle. THE JUNGLE BOOK shows how well CGI animals can look when sharing the screen with a human, I just didn’t find The Beast as smooth.

Dan Stevens as The Beast was alright from what I could tell, but don’t get me started on the bleh nothingness that is Emma Watson here. 2005 me would want to punch myself in the face for saying that, but there’s just nothing interesting or deeper in what she’s doing. If I finally watch some of her smaller, darker indie films post-Harry Potter and I feel the same way, I might have to drop her off the Bae-list, sadly, no matter how beautiful she is. On the bright side, Luke Evans was born to play Gaston; he embodies that douche bag machismo so well and is super magnetic on screen, it’s hard to take your eyes off him.

Having not seen the original animated film in a while, I don’t remember all the songs nor the story by heart, but I remember all the iconic imagery and songs, and found myself getting more emotional at my childhood memories, rather than what was going on on screen. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is lovingly made, but there’s nothing new nor interesting to be wrung from this version.

Rating: Why Did I Watch This?

(Refer to my rating system HERE!)