An adaptation of the Disney fairy tale about a monstrous-looking prince and a young woman who fall in love is coming to the theaters on March 16, 2017, and so here is my review of
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 2017
TRAILER
(US Final Version)
Beauty and the Beast's running time is about 129 minutes, and it is rated PG for some action violence, peril and frightening images. The movie will be in cinemas on March 15, 2017 in the USA and on March 16, 2017 worldwide and it is the real cut movie of Disney's blockbuster from 1991.
Disney's animated classic takes on a new form, with a widened mythology
and an all-star cast. A young prince, imprisoned in the form of a beast,
can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity
arrives when he meets Belle, the only human girl to ever visit the
castle since it was enchanted.
Let me say something before we go on with the characters, camera, effects, scenes, and the review. I expected more of this movie, but at the end I have to say that Beauty and the Beast is not even good enough, which let's me say WOW when I left the screening cast.
Beauty and the Beast in my absolute favorite Disney movie, I went to Paris to the studios 3 times, when I was still a kid, I watched the live shows of Beauty and the Beast and also the musical. The 2017 is good but I expected more. Why this, well you can read at the end of the review.
Let us talk about the characters first: a lot of Hollywood stars joined the cast, and the list might be endless, so I will just talk about the main characters.
The main character is played by Emma Watson as Belle, who is the Beauty in the movie. She has a lot of screen time, and I mean this, her character is girly, it is sometimes shy, and sometimes too much in her way of acting, which means she has parts, especially when it comes to love scene, where is not conviencing.
By the way Beauty and the Beast deals with a lot of social problems, like sexuality, especially about gay and lesbian love, it deals with different people earning different amount of money, and it deals with love in a special manner, and shows the sex scenes, so the camera and the scenes is not afraid to point out problems, which we still have today, which is a big value for the movie.
The second main character is the Beast played by Dan Stevens, also known from movies like The Ticket or Night at the Museum. He is most of the time a virtual actor, so the Beast in animated. The character of the beast is a mad one, and compared to the version from 1991 it won't change, also not at the end. Well, Belle and the Beast fall in love but it is different, and the Director Bill Condon wants to tell a different ending, and he mixes Beast's character in that way that he is always evil, strong, powerful, and also again in the love scenes not convincing.
Then we have Gaston played by Luke Evans, he is in love with himself (see the trailer), evil, funny, and strong as we know him from the 1991s version already. He is as expected. Good.
Then we have last but not least Kevin Kline playing Maurice, Belle's father. He has only a few minutes in the movie, not really a lot, but in those scenes, where we can see him, he is just awesome, and we don't see Kevin Kline so often anymore on the cinema screen.
These are the main characters, so let's talk about the camera. To make it short, it is awesome: the screening, the details of the beast, when the camera goes really close to him, the landscapes, the castle full screening and the motion time and moves are great. Good job by Tobias A. Schiessler (Hancock or Dreamgirls)
The effects are discribed already in the section above, just add one thing: the effects are nice to see, the animation, and settings of the castle and its citizens are cool, it makes fun to watch and to dive into the positive atmosphere of the character like Jean-Luc and Tassilo.
The scenes are the same like in the version from 1991, transformed into real life and into 2017.
So if you ask me what I like about the movie it is:
- great dancing parts
- love and feelings
- great scenes
- cast
- camera
- 2017 lookalike
But now what I don't like about the movie:
First it is way too long, remember it has a running time of 129 minutest, Disney's version from 1991 almost 75, so we have almost one hour more screening time, which is too much.
After 20 minutes, the movie turns into an introduction of the Beast part for like 45 minutes, so we get more details and an character intro, which is about almost half of the movie's running time. In those 45 minutes, there happens nothing, which is useful of the whole story.
Second is, that the love between the Beauty and the Beast is not convincing, and it is a fantasy and romance movie, but the characters and the cast are playing to plastic and to much following the script and screen play, that it does not catch the audience, and this is a fail for the movie because of its genre.
Third, we have too many songs in the music, that I had the feeling that I am watching a musical, not a cinema movie. Ariana Grande has (in the original version) 5 or 6 songs, which is too much, I am not going to the theaters to hear her singing, I want to watch a movie. But this is not happening.
Last but not least, the movie has only one magical moment, and it comes very very late, when they actually fall in love already, and in my eyes it is misplaced, I cannot provide details right now, because I don't want to tell you too much, before you watched it.
So at the end, the movie didn't achieve my expectations. It is great to see the remake of my favorite Disney movie, childhood memories are there again, the 45 minutes part should be left out, less music, and more feelings and love from the character into their roles would have been great.
I did not expect a lot to be honest, I thought let's have fun with a new version transformed into technology and social responsibilities of 2017. The problems mentioned above are great to see this happening in a Disney movie, does not happen often, but the result is lower than my expectations.
If you are a fan of Ariana Grand and of Beauty and the Beast in generl and you want to experience a love romance with a cheesy popcorn flavour, then go and watch it. If not it is okay, it is not something important that you missed. Sorry, but I am honest.
So for its genre as a fantasy and romance movie I will give it 8 out of 10 points, compared to all the other movie universe, and as I said lower than my expectations 6 out of 10, and though it might be forgotten too soon again.
That is it with my review, and so I wish you a lot of fun in the theaters with Beauty and the Beast, in on March 17, worldwide.
