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Be our guest.

Beauty and the Beast, USA, 2017. Directed by B. Condon, written by S. Chbosky and E. Spiliotopoulos. With Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Kevin Kline, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci. Original music by A. Menken. Length: 129′. Rated: PG.

Belle lives in a provincial town in ‘700 France, dreaming a more adventurous life; meanwhile, hidden into a castle in the woods, a spoiled prince, transformed into a hideous beast, has to fight against time and himself to learn to love and be loved to prevent the enchantment to become permanent. But no one knows their paths are meant to cross and change their lives forever…

Disney live action, chapter 5.

Beauty and the Beast, one of the most famous animation movies of the Disney studios, leader of the so-called ‘Disney Renaissance’, gets its live action shot and, maybe due to its fame, it’s the most faithful to the original. But I’m used to considering every movie without any reference to the original material, book or movie (or other), so I’ll try to keep this path as much as I can.

Let’s begin by saying that there was a slightly bitter aftertaste, although I really enjoyed the movie in its entirety. Some choices were incredibly touching and moving, some others were totally incomprehensible.

To begin with, let’s underline a wonderful atmosphere created by photography and set design, which become just a bit too Baroque at some points. A missed chance mostly during the musical numbers, especially the ones taken from the 1991 animated version, which are overwhelming in the negative sense in both direction and editing, adorned with unnecessary frills just to impress where there’s no need to.
In general, as far as the rest of the screenplay is concerned, I really appreciated some unexpected scenes, exploring unknown nooks of the famous story, even if there are a couple of sparks that are not delved into enough.

Also, the story has a very precise setting, XVIII century France. While the village and the castle are both stunning in their overall building, there are a few things that clash with these places. I understand the urge of building a politically correct environment, but I have strong doubts about colored people being courtesans or priests in that place and time, and also I didn’t understand the need to emphasize Belle’s emancipation, which raises well beyond the original character whose level I just cite as the right balance in the character’s building. That seems even odder because apart from this, actually, Belle is the best-written character of the movie, lines and appearance. Next to her of course I place a wonderful Gaston, reinterpreted just as much as he needed to be even if a tiny bit too comic; the same is true for LeFou, whose role is justly increased but risking at times to be more a parody than an important feature of the storytelling.

Then, of course, come the computer-generated characters. Some have a pleasant design, like Lumière and Cogsworth, others are unbearably fake, like Mrs. Potts, whose eyes and mouth are just patched on the teapot.

As we are talking about the characters, let’s just say that, besides the minor above-mentioned flaws, Emma Watson-Belle, Luke Evans-Gaston and Josh Gad-LeFou were the most perfect cast choices in Disney live actions so far. The eye wants its part, when it comes to these well known stories. Especially Emma is clearly behind a lot of choices behind her Belle, whose feministic empowerment resides in her real-life attitude no doubt.

A word of plaudit for Dan Stevens, the only computer-animated character actually shot with motion-capture technique, which I can only expect to be extremely difficult. A great acting performance, enhanced by a really nice appearance.

Hard to judge a pure voice-over role for the ‘magical objects’: McGregor interpreted Lumière with passion and ardor, McKellen played Cogsworth with his incredible talent and professionalism. I just ask myself why Thompson was told to stress her British accent that much: she’s not totally bad, but her version of the “Beauty and the Beast” song is almost unpleasant to hear. I won’t say anything about the ‘new’ character Agatha, mostly because Hattie Morahan is extremely ill-suited for the role; on the other hand, I have to strongly criticize Kevin Kline: Maurice is totally ridiculous in his acting, he seems detached from all of the scenes he plays in and most importantly he exaggerates expressions and emotional involvement similar to bad theatre acting.

The score, both the new and the old, cannot be defined but as superb: Alan Menken is pure genius, and his implementations for this live action are incredibly fitting with the original sounds. The same can be said about the new songs, almost more enjoyable than the old ones, the new arrangements of which were at times a bit dizzy, just like their visual appearances.

I had to write a bit longer than usual, but I couldn’t help it: a dive into a “tale as old as time”, with a few good enhancements but also a few flaws which leave just that annoying hint of bitterness spoiling this otherwise wonderful movie.

DOWNLOAD REVIEW IN PDF: Beauty And The Beast, 2017

LEGGI LA VERSIONE IN ITALIANO: La Bella e la Bestia – Recensione