Review of Beauty and the Beast (2017) by Schroederrock — 31 May 2017

Disney's classic Beauty and the Beast is timeless. Everything from the score to the voice actors to the writing is so close to perfect it's hard to imagine Disney would ever try to mess with it. But here we are, and they did.

The modern take of Beauty and the Beast places few real actors in a live-action style setting in rural France. The film does much to borrow from its source material - the music, the lines all are either exactly or in the ballpark of that of the original film.

Why change any of it? The original score is easily one of the most recognizable and timeless of all Disney films. No fault there. However, the film fails to hold itself together in other areas. The 100% digital world of the castle, the rolling hills.

.. all of it is fake and it's incredibly obvious. That made me think "why didn't they shoot more of it in a real location?" Honestly, it looks cool but only if the characters are fake too. Because of real actors, it looks fake.

For me, that's the case and I was unable to shake the feeling that it was all too unbelievable for even a work of fiction. Few times does B&tB take much artistic license to be unique from the original.

When it does, some of it works rather well. Why couldn't Disney write something and produce something for real actors? If Star Wars can appear to be so real perhaps they could have conquered the same feat here - this movie was guaranteed to be a box office hit.

Lastly, the casting is all wrong. Emma Watson does an okay job as Belle, yet she fails to capture the audience with the genuine sweetness and warmth that the cartooned Belle does with only voice acting.

This could have worked but it really didn't. For 2017's Beauty and the Beast, its lack of originality and artistic endeavor makes it fall flat. And the casting... I couldn't figure out where anyone looked at this cast and thought "that person makes sense for that role".

If I am to watch Beauty and the Beast again, it will only be the original - not this very weak remake.