“Oh, isn’t this amazing! It’s my favorite part, because you’ll see.”
The live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” lived up to its reputation as a “tale as old as time.” Emma Watson and Dan Stevens portray Belle and the Beast as well as Paige O’Hara and Robby Benson did in the original.
I have seen this movie twice. The first time I saw it I was amazed. It was everything that I could remember from the original. The second time, I saw it with my seven-year-old cousin. It was wonderful to see her have the same reactions that I had when I saw the movie for the first time. She has not seen the original, so for her this is her first taste of “Beauty and the Beast,” and she loved it.
This adaption closely follows the story line from the 1991 version. However, there are some twists to the original. In the live-action movie, Belle is not just a bookworm; she is an inventor. She also gets a new backstory where she finds out what really happened to her mother.
The other characters get new personalities as well, like Maurice (played by Kevin Kline). Instead of being an inventor he is a clock-maker. The first time the audience sees Maurice is when he is singing “How Does a Moment Last Forever” and working on a clock with an intricate design on the inside.
However not every character gets a friendly disposition. Gaston (played by Luke Evans) slowly turns into a monster throughout the movie. Gaston in the original was just a narcissist man who had a lot of muscles. In the live-action version Gaston knows how to manipulate the townspeople.
The relationship between Belle and the Beast is also sweet to watch. The audience can see the hesitation in both Belle and Beast as they realize that they like each other and are unsure about what to do. There was also the wonderful twist that the Beast is actually able to read.
The music in the film was particularly noteworthy. Actress Emma Watson has a lovely singing voice. Though her voice was not as strong as some of the other singers, such as broadway star Audra McDonald, the music was overall well done. Additional songs were added to the remake that were not featured in the original, such as “Evermore,” “How Can A Moment Last Forever” and “Days in the Sun.” These musical numbers allow the audience to discover a little bit more about the characters and their relationships to each other. For example, with “Evermore” the audience hears the grief the Beast is going through as Belle leaves him.
I only had a few issues with the movie. One of them was the age difference between Belle and Gaston. When Belle was close to Gaston she looked like a little kid in comparison to him. However, it does make sense that Gaston is older; it just looks odd. The “gay scene” was not really a “gay scene.” To a child the scene just looked like someone got the dance steps wrong and ended up with the wrong partner. I feel like the controversy was made up to create more publicity for the movie. Personally, I did not see anything that was worth creating an issue about.
This was a wonderful remake of a classical Disney movie, and it lived up to my expectations. I loved the little one-liners that LeFou (played by Josh Gad) had. For example, Gaston asked him what made Belle so different than the other girls, and LeFou responded, “Dignity.” There were parts where I teared up a little and parts where I laughed out loud. Overall, this movie was amazing, and I would see it a third time.
