Review of Beauty and the Beast (2017) by Jun B — 11 Jun 2017

One cannot help but to compare this "Beauty And The Beast" with the Disney cartoon, given that it hews so closely to the original cartoon version. At times in the beginning, the films seemed shot-for-shot duplicates. In that light, the live-action music, characters and singing just aren't as "big" as those in the animated film. However, making such a comparison, is not fair to this live-action version, which itself is very fine. The sets and costumes are spectacular. The CGI is (mostly) impressive. (Just avoid looking at the Beast's face throughout the film and you'll think it was faultless.) The music is marvelous on its own, even if most of the new numbers are lackluster.

This version is a definite five-star film on its own, which would be clearly evident it it didn't have to measure up to its predecessor.