Review of Beauty and the Beast (2017) by Calumrhysuk — 06 Apr 2017

Growing up in the 90's, my childhood was primarily all about Disney films, those animated tales that helped us escape from reality, with the original 'Beauty and the Beast' still holding up today as one of Disney's finest efforts. So when a film that's as important to our childhood is remade into a live action adaptation, opinions are going to be divisive, as they are here. To sum it up however, this film isn't actually that bad... but damn was it still embarrassing to ask for a ticket for this at the cinema...

Bill Condon is an unknown director, primarily for one reason, his catalogue of films are practically tripe, yeah I'm looking at you 'Twilight', so why Disney entrusted him with a project of this scale is beyond me, probably revolving around financial gain, but heck this is still his strongest effort to date.

The best way to describe this film is that it's technically a shot-for-shot remake, but with extra filler scenes in-between. The main "wow" factor of this film is in its gorgeous production design and costume design, of which I wouldn't be surprised got Oscar nominations next year. The cinematography is generally rather alluring and the visual effects are pristine, but lack in comparison to say 'The Jungle Book' (arguably Disney's strongest live-action adaptation of recent years). I can't fault the acting (maybe Ewan McGregor's flimsy French accent aside) and the songs were executed brilliantly.

My main issue however, was how "dumbed-down" this film was in comparison to the original, perhaps kids of the 90's were just a little more intelligent and didn't need those gags... who knows, but despite it all, the film has that magical vista we all need in our life, something to make us smile. Sure, it'll never stand up to the original, and there are noticeable flaws lying about, but this aside it is still a charming film.