Review of Beauty and the Beast (2017) by Frame R — 03 Apr 2018

Relive the tale as old as Stockholm Syndrome with this film based on our most beloved couple: Trump and Melania.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

I once played Beast in a small production of Beauty and the Beast, it was demanding as hell, but it was always captivating for me to be involved in a story that, in so few years, managed to leave a big imprint in pop culture. With Disney trying to remake everything that I held dear, I've decided long ago to look at these new live-action remakes as great opportunities for the next generation to connect with and spike interest about watching the original. And though I have mixed feelings about Maleficent, didn't go crazy about The Jungle Book, I think this one is up there with Cinderella. As all live action remakes, it relies on stardom to be attractive but with a truly remarkable group of actors put together, who can complain? Watson is stunning and graceful, Thompson was born to play Potts and Luke Evans is greater than the original. Stevens plays and nuanced Beast but I feel his appearance is not menacing enough (but, of course, more marketable). The costume and production design is resplendent and the CGI is capable, though sometimes it all gets too soundstagy for my taste. The longer runtime allows for some welcomed and purposeful scenes and great new songs but lets in some black sheep that really aren't needed. Despite some issues that I have with the overall direction and editing, it does manage to bring some new ideas that can be brought to life either through that circular shot when preparing dinner or in well-accomplished musical numbers like Be Our Guest and Gaston. Overall. it's a fast-paced, and well-thought out movie, striking a difficult balance between dialogue and song and reminding us that, with about 4 musicals theses last 4 months, it is great time for the musical genre! There are too many live-action remakes on the horizon, but judging from a Tim Burton's Dumbo, a Lion King with Beyoncé, a Cruela with Emma Stone and a Mary Poppins with Meryl Streep... As long as they're as good as this, I say keep them coming! It must bug me, of course, that all the fuss around the "gay LeFou" happened. It's disgusting that some regions refused to distribute the movie because he dances for literally two seconds with a man. What a retrogadous world that doesn't allow Disney to have queer chatacters in their movies, as they're pressured by foreign markets that won't allow it. In this particular situation, I see no heroes as Disney advertised that LeFou was gay but made almost no effort to develop a character that despite being camp was gay and rather being gay because the original character was camp.