Thursday, September 24, 2020

Movie Review: "Beauty and the Beast" 03/17/17

This is a movie review for "Beauty and the Beast", released March 17, 2017. I watched this in December of 2019.



Genre: Family, Fantasy, Musical
Run Time: 2 hours and 9 minutes

Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):
G / General Audiences
PG / Parental Guidance Suggested
PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned
R / Restricted
X
Not Rated



Trailer








Notable Cast

Emma Watson ... Belle
Dan Stevens ... Beast
Luke Evans ... Gaston
Josh Gad ... LeFou
Kevin Kline ... Maurice
Ewan McGregor ... Lumière
Ian McKellen ... Cogsworth
Emma Thompson ... Mrs. Potts



Plot

An artist and his daughter Belle, having moved to a small countryside town in France, are having to adapt to the quiet lifestyle. Unfortunately for the bookworm daughter, everyone thinks that she is strange for loving to read. Actually, they think it is bad...



Anyways, father Maurice goes off to another town's market (a yearly thing). He somehow gets lost and finds the beast's castle. He plucks a rose for Belle and gets captured. Belle goes to find him, swaps places with him so that he can go free, and then starts to learn of the castle's curse.

Can the prince/beast learn to love? Will Belle be the one? How will the townsfolk (including Gaston, the man that wants to marry Belle) react about the beast?





Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.



3/5 - *SPOILERS*{Well, this is awkward but I didn't put down a rating when I put it on my list of movies to review... Anyways, after reviewing the movie well after watching it, I have decided to rate it a 3/5.}


As a live-action remake of a beloved 1991 Disney movie, this movie is mediocre. They add in things and take out things that make a "Beauty and the Beast" 1991 fan cringe.


For one, Maurice is nothing but a kind father that is trying his best to help his daughter. He shows nothing of "crazy" like the 1991 version. He is more of an artist than an inventor but he never shows the town reason for them to call him "Crazy Old Maurice".




For being in France, almost no one knows French. Gaston actually says something to LeFou about wanting to marry Belle (she has this....) and LeFou responds with "je ne sais quoi" [which means "I don't know what" in French] and Gaston goes "I don't know what that means". I mean, come on.... Do your French, dummies!


They knock down reading multiple times. I guess there was a time where reading was less popular, especially for women, but... [Put a time stamp on it to make us understand WHEN in France reading is a no-go.] LeFou actually admits that he can't read when singing the "Gaston" song and there is Gaston's name up on the wall - "I'm illiterate". [Bad quality but you get the drift...]





Of the original songs, they kept most of them identical to the original songs but they did change the "Mob Song". LeFou actually seems to realize that Gaston, his hero and man-crush, is probably the monster.... Here's the 1991 version of the "Mob Song" with the comparison afterwards.






I like how LeFou is wising up but I don't like how they changed the lyrics. Gaston says: "Call it war. Call it threat. You can bet they all will follow for in times like these, they'll do just as I say." I mean, are we making references to the war after 9/11 or what....? This really really bothered me.

Why the heck is Belle and Maurice's house in town?! *angry grunt*

As for the music of the movie, there is NO comparison between Angela Lansbury as Mrs Potts and Emma Thompson playing the same part. The wonderful depth of voice acting in the 1991 version is not matched in the 2017 version. Here is a comparison between the 1991 version and the 2017 of "Tale as Old as Time". In my opinion, Angela gives the song much more character with her voice instead of Emma's version.

"Tale as Old as Time" 1991 with Angela Lansbury:



"Tale as Old as Time" 2017 with Emma Thompson:
"Learning you CAN change." Really, why is there an accent there?!



This is true also with "Be Our Guest". I like Ewan McGregor but his version of the song really fell flat....

"Be Our Guest" 1991




"Be Our Guest" 2017

Sorry, Ewan, but your French accent is TERRIBLE! "Gueeeesst....." It's like the whole song is trying too hard to be good.....



New songs - "How Does a Moment Last Forever" and "Evermore".

"How Does a Moment Last Forever" - I think this is a cute song but it is forgettable.


"Evermore" - This is a cute song about the beast/prince realizing that he loves Belle, even though she has just left. "I know that she'll never leave me even as she runs away. She will still torment me, calm me, hurt me, move me, come what may." Well, at least you realize that you care for her... But you still need her to return that love for the spell to be broken.

I definitely did not like the enchanted book. I mean sure, let's learn why Belle's mother wasn't in the picture (the plague in Paris) and why they are out in this other town but it seemed unnecessary and did not flow with the story.

I was upset that the father was changed into an artist especially since Chip never stole away to help them get out of the basement after being locked up, but how could a porcelain cup help anyways? And what is it with the enchantments on the servants anyways? Like how is it only one cup that is a child....? (I was wondering about that with the 1991 version too, since there were more cups with faces. Like how many children are in the castle and why aren't they shown after the transformation?) What is up with the fact that every servant turns to "pure object" right before the transformation back to human? 




[That really messed with the ending because wtf, so we did this too late but NO we didn't!] And then there's the prince giving out a beastial growl at the end.... *cringe*





I guess it was worth giving it a try but honestly, I would suggest just sticking to the original 1991 version. Seriously. If you love the 1991 version, stay away from this one. This was just a terrible try to remake the beloved classic. If you never watched the 1991 version, then you could potentially like this movie. Watching it is your choice though, so thank you for reading my opinion ;-).

(If you want a decent live-action remake of a classic Disney movie, I'd suggest "Aladdin" over this one even though Will Smith didn't do as amazing as Robin Williams for Genie.)


That's my movie review. Thanks for reading! More reviews to come eventually.

~ Gracie Mae DeLunac



Contact me?

Twitter @gracie_delunac
Skype gracelyn2019@yahoo.com







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