Movie Review - Beauty and the Beast (2017)

MegaSoulhero Well, it's time to talk about the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast! Starring Emma Watson. Ever since the very first trailer, people have been excited to see this movie! Disney promoted this movie to near death and it was advertised as the greatest thing ever! I just recently watched it and it was... meh.

A lot of people are praising this as an amazing remake and one of the best Disney movies ever. But honestly, I don't see what the big deal is. I didn't really like this movie. Why didn't I like it? Well for starters, the CGI! It sucks! And I mean WOW!!! The CGI is bad! For a movie with a $160 million dollar budget, you'd think that they would put a little more effort in the CG! There was never a moment when I thought the non-human characters were actually there! It makes it hard for me to care about them! It works better in the animated film since everyone is a cartoon in that film, but this is live action and we're supposed believe that these characters are real and when they interact with Belle, it's not convincing! The CG of the Beast is especially bad! In Jungle Book, the CG was so good to the point where the animals and jungle looked very real! Here, the Beast doesn't look real at all! He's even designed poorly! He doesn't look like a Beast! He looks like a hairy attractive man! They didn't even try to make him scary!

Now let's talk about Emma Watson. HORRIBLE!!!! JUST HORRIBLE!!! She cannot act or sing to save her life! She makes these weird facial expressions and her expressions never seem natural! You can practically see the direction being given to her! "Look sad!" "Look surprised!" "Look happy!" Emma Watson turned belle from this amazing and interesting character to a very bland character who I don't care about! She could've been eaten by those wolves and I wouldn't even care! Her relationship with the Beast wasn't believable either! It was combination of bad acting and terrible CG! Whenever Belle interacts with the Beast, all I can think about is her talking to a cartoon! As if he's not really there! There are certain things that look great in an animated film but look weird in live action. Cogsworth is a perfect example of this! Now, let me discuss the worst character in the entire movie. Garderobe! What a waste of a great celebrity! Not only is her design beyond creepy, but she is annoying! Even more than in the original! Audra McDonald is a very talented singer, but she barely even gets to sing! She sings very briefly at the beginning of the film, very briefly during "Days in the Sun", and very briefly at the end! The other characters who aren't very great singers pretty much steal the spotlight from her!

Now let's talk about the positives. The new songs that were written for the film are amazing! My favorite one is Evermore! It is such a great song and quite possibly one of my favorite Disney songs! It tells us that the Beast really loves Belle, and not just because he wants to become a human again! Some of the songs from the original film that were included in this movie were done pretty well! Although, I didn't care for the "Belle" musical number. Emma Watson sounded WAY too auto-tuned. But I absolutely LOVED Be Our Guest! The audience in my theater really tried (and failed) to hold back their applause at that part! It was just so awesome! Even though Ewan McGregor hasn't seen the original Beauty and the Beast, he still gave a great performance! I also really like the set designs! Belle's town looks like a very realistic town! Kevin Kline as Maurice was perfect casting! He was outstanding! I really enjoyed Gaston and LeFou! Luke Evans and Josh Gad gave excellent performances! In my opinion, the song "Gaston" was better in this movie than it was in the original! But, I have to discuss the elephant in the room. Disney made such a big deal out of LeFou being gay, but there's only like one little moment that shows it. It's a "blink and you'll miss it" kind of thing.

This movie manages to fix some of the plot holes that were in the original. It doesn't tell us that the curse will remain permanent on the prince's 21st birthday. And even though I said the CGI in the film was bad, there are still some pretty good visuals. Especially during the transformation scene. I really like the enchantress in this film! I don't think I can tell you who plays her since it might be a spoiler, but she is really good! I'm glad this wasn't a shot for shot remake of the original. But there are certain parts that were added in this film that didn't need to be there. We see Belle's backstory via a magic book which I thought was pretty pointless. In the beginning, they talk about her mom being dead and whatever but I felt like that's all we needed to know. Also, that magic book only appears for that scene and doesn't appear again! That's probably the biggest problem I have with the movie.

Overall, I found this movie to be very disappointing. It's not awful, I didn't hate it, but it wasn't very good. This was a great idea but not very well executed. I'm glad other people enjoyed it though! I'll probably have to watch this again to see if my opinion changes. Maybe I love the original so much that I expected more out of this. Well when you remake an animated film that was nominated for Best Picture, you tend to have high expectations. This movie could've been a lot better. Also, I hope Disney never casts Emma Watson in one of their films again!

Score: 6/10

Comments

Funny, since I literally thought the same way with La La Land. We truly are polar opposites, since I thought this movie was awesome. I personally thought that the acting was way more convincing here than in La La Land. I never cried during La La Land and I cried during this.

Anyways, I respect your opinion on this movie, but try not to let your nostalgia get in the way of your opinions. - DCfnaf

This Movie Is Good, Emma Watson Is Gorgous, Still Opinion Respected - VideoGamefan5

The CGI was good and Emma Watson playeed her perfectly I do not know what you're talking about. - TristGamer

I can think of at least 3 actresses who would've been better for the role of Belle! - MegaSoulhero

But of course, that is your own opinion. - TristGamer

Well, I like Emma Watson as an actress, but this wasn't her best role. She didn't do horribly, she just wasn't as convincing as she could've been. That doesn't really ruin the movie for me, though, I still really enjoyed it. My main problem was that the pacing could be erratic, mainly because 1 or 2 subplots had no point. I did like some of the subplots, though. - Elric-san

Nothing beats Hermione Granger, right? - DCfnaf

Or Sam in Perks of Being A Wallflower. - Elric-san

Yeah, this was unsatisfying for me. Personally I thought that Emma Watson did an okay job (although yes she really cannot sing for jack) but Kevin Kline and Josh Gad really stole the show (along with the visual settings, the castle was gorgeous). - Anonymousxcxc

Terrible movie-just a shot for shot remake but worse. - iliekpiez