The Anonymous Post: Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Anonymousxcxc Because I have taken a really long gap on reading New Moon I have instead decided to review this movie, from which I got back from like 20 minutes ago. Anyways on with the review.It has come to my attention that this movie is the subject of controversy when it comes to opinion, with a lot of people liking it such as most critics and general audiences and then others hating this movie such as online critics like the Nostalgia Critic. So if anyone is reading this there may be backlash in the comments because of my opinions but hey I will respect your opinions so please try to read this with an open mind.
Let's talk about plot in this movie and how it differs from the original. There's not that much different but I will point them out. In the beginning of the movie there is narration telling of The Beast's origins but instead of it being of the tapestry it is at some party that The Beast (very selfish at the time) had thrown for some reason. Of course the part with the Enchantress is still there, anyways she curses him (*side note: With the curse part I guess they fixed a plot hole by making it winter year-round at the castle or something so that's why the season changes are a bit off. Also the villagers apparently lose their memories of the prince and the castle for some reason in this version.*) and yada yada you guys know what happens with Belle and stuff but here's a few nitpicky plot differences in the beginning:
- The house's position: In the original movie Belle's house is a little bit farther out in the village and she's closer to the hill where she sings her "Disney 'I want' song" whereas in this version her house is smack dab in the center of town.
- "Blue": In the 1991 animated movie Belle is the only one in her village wearing blue and the animators did this to dignify how she stands out from the crowd. In the 2017 version literally half of the village is seen wearing blue.
- Belle's movements throughout the opening/her introduction song: This one is really a nitpick but whatever. The way she grabs the bread is different, the Gaston fangirls have different hair colors than in the original movie and they're all wearing the same color outfit, the interactions with the townspeople are slightly different, yeah there's a lot of differences.
- The Bookstore: In the 2017 version I feel like the bookstore is actually smaller with less books than in the original. I don't know why but I just do. Also Belle grabs a different book in this version than in the animated movie.
Still talking about plot differences once Belle gets to The Beast's castle the exchange on how she takes her father's place is a little different but hey most of that part remains the same. So I'm pretty sure most of you know what goes on from here with things like the "Be Our Guest" number and everything but I will give out some more plot differences: there's this new piano character that's the dresser's husband apparently, Belle tries to escape at first using clothing as rope (I'm not sure if she ever did this in the original animated movie), and instead of The Beast telling her about The West Wing and some other stuff Lumière and Cogsworth do it (also is it just me or do they have less screen time in this version?). Anyways the scene where Belle goes into The West Wing is about the same however when she gets the rose instead of taking off the lid and almost touching it, in this she gets within twenty feet of it but then The Beast comes and does the whole rampage scene (which is less dramatic in this version). But the scene after that remains the same and Belle does see The Beast save her from the wolves so that scene mainly remains the same however the exchange between her healing him is not really the same. Also a plot difference that I really liked in this movie was that I felt that the bonding between Belle and The Beast was on a much deeper level in an odd way and I liked the scene where he takes Belle to Paris and it shows a different, more remorseful side of both Belle and The Beast that we never really got to see in the original movie. However I will take points off of this by saying that despite this deeper bonding thing I feel like the original Belle and Beast were the more powerful couple despite the fact that they bonded less (due to the much shorter run time). Also the library scene is very very different, in the animated movie it is kind of a grand scene and it is able to wow the audience, however in the live-action movie it's just like "oh hey this scene from the original movie is in here, eh".
Now back to the village with Gaston and company. So the Gaston song ended up being different in this than the original because to me it felt like the LeFou song because LeFou was singing more in this version and Gaston ended up singing less in a song titled Gaston. Okay what?! Anyways when Maurice arrives at the tavern place the scene that happens is very very different. In the original when he begs for help they mock him and throw him out into the freezing cold whereas in this Gaston mocks belief in wanting to help Maurice then he and Lefou go with Maurice to try and find The Beast's castle and when he can't find the rest of the path to castle Gaston gets mad and ties Maurice up to leave him TO DIE all because Maurice said that he didn't want Gaston to marry his daughter. What?! Anyways Maurice ends up being saved by some lady and when he tries to tell the village the truth that's when they decide to want to throw him to the asylum whereas in the animated movie Gaston bribes the asylum dude to take Maurice in and stuff.
Finally here should be the last paragraph on plot differences. Back at the castle we're eventually led to the big set up to the iconic dance (where the Beast's makeup part is slightly different but whatever) and then to the iconic dance and the song "Tale As Old As Time" and the dance remains unchanged. You all know what happens after the dance so I'll just speed up to when Belle arrives at the village (Chip doesn't sneak into her bag in this version) basically the way Gaston convinces the villagers that The Beast should be killed is different and the way that Belle and Maurice escape the asylum truck is different but whatever. The fight between the furniture and the villagers remains the same, for the most part, and I guess the battle between Gaston and The Beast is still the same. However what remains different is that when the last rose petal falls the servants actually turn into inanimate objects and that when breaking the curse it's not solely Belle doing it but it turns out that the woman who saved Maurice from being fed to the wolves was actually The Enchantress and she lifts the curse. Finally the ending sequence is very different from the original movie, with a long reunion scene with the villagers and the former furniture servants and instead of the final scene being of a small ball with everyone watching Belle and The Beast dance it's a larger one with everyone dancing (and Belle not wearing the yellow dress in the end but a pretty floral one) and even a small joke at the end.
Now let's move onto characters. For this one I don't need to do too much explaining on because I'm pretty sure 99.9% of you reading this know who all of these characters are, but before you ask who the new piano character is in the 2017 movie I'll tell you that he is the dresser's husband and he used to be a piano player. First let's talk about Belle in this version; I like Emma Watson okay. I personally think that she did a fine job with Belle but there are a couple of things that I have to agree with the Emma Watson Belle dissers about: 1, She can't sing that well, no really I legitimately thought that the guy who played The Beast in this movie was a better singer than her. 2, Some of her interactions and movements in the movie are a tad bland and stuff (such as when she and The Beast are arguing about the whole wolves thing and the whole "Madame Gaston" part of her "Disney 'I want' song"). 3, Her chemistry with The Beast can be a little forgettable at times. But other than that I liked how she portrayed Belle and how the movie still managed to keep her free-thinking and independent but kind and gentle as well.
Then with The Beast I wasn't too crazy about him in this movie. Personally I found this one kind of forgettable whereas in the original movie he had a very awkward but lovable personality, you know once you got to know him. Now Dan Stevens didn't do a bad job as him but this Beast was just kind of forgettable as a character.
Okay then this movie's Gaston is also kind of forgettable. You know how in the original Beauty and The Beast animated movie he's cocky and arrogant but he's so over the top that it's hilarious? Well in this movie he's just a poor copy of that on top of being kind of forgettable. No really, in the 1991 movie his sidekick LeFou was the forgettable one whereas everyone remembers Gaston however in this version I feel like LeFou was the more memorable character. Plus his song basically became more of the LeFou song in this version.
LeFou and Maurice: Okay I'm just combining the two characters in this one just to say that they were probably the most memorable characters in this movie. I'm dead serious, although Josh Gad's portrayal of LeFou comes off as more of an arsehole kind of thing I still liked how the movie had developed LeFou and made him change a little. Plus with Maurice in this version I like how they gave him more depth and stuff giving him a really good character execution as well as showing oddly enough the relationship of Belle's that has the most chemistry in the movie because of how small and sincere it is. It's a much more intimate relationship between a father and daughter that I find realistic and memorable as well as heartwarming. Salutes to Kevin Kline and Josh Gad.
Lumière and Cogsworth: For me even in the original version Lumière was always more memorable to me than Cogsworth and the same thing happened here. But their dynamic friendship remains faithful to the original movie and is enjoyable to watch.
Mrs. Potts and Chip: They're both done very well and in this version I like them just as much as I did in the original. I love them both.
The other supporting characters in the castle: They all remained faithful to the original movie and their parts are played well and very significantly.
The villagers: They're still the same forgettable characters as they were in the animated movie. Nothing too special.
Okay now let's jump into how I felt about the music. It was done very nicely and sounded pleasant (for the most part). Although they may have jumped into the numbers a little too fast and added songs that could've very easily been taken out I still loved the musical score and (most of) the voices cast in this movie. Now I know I shouldn't be too hard on Emma Watson on the singing part because I get that she's not a vocalist and Paige O'Hara (as well as any other singing voice for a Disney Princess) is hard to really get on the same level as but I still don't understand why they couldn't have just dubbed her voice. Plus I'm not exactly the greatest singer in the world so I don't do it as a result, but like I said before the music is still pleasing to listen to.
That was short so I'm deciding to talk about the visuals of the movie. These were probably my favorite parts about the movie. The camerawork was nice and the sets were phenomenal, especially the castle. Although some of the visuals did get tiring after awhile I still loved them.
Finally I would like to say that the movie may have had a little bit of a problem in some parts. There were times when I was either sucked into the movie completely because of some decisions but then I was taken out of the movie because of some parts. It's weird and I kinda felt like this throughout the entire movie and I don't know why.
Okay so what would you guys say on how I feel about this movie? Well the thing is I don't know what category to put it into. Even with all of the points listed up there I still feel empty somehow. This is the first time that this has ever happened to me but have any of you ever seen a movie where you thought that it wasn't good, wasn't bad, but wasn't okay or mediocre either? Well that's what happened to me when I saw this movie. I don't know why I felt like this, I mean my mom just said that it was okay so at least she has an opinion on it but for me I just came out feeling unsatisfied and unsure on what to think about this movie, it's hard to explain.
Anyways to conclude I'll just say that even though I may have felt unsatisfied with the movie doesn't mean that others aren't and if you are a person that likes or hates the movie it's great that you have an opinion on something that I just have trouble grasping. Also have a great um night everyone and I'll be back here next time with a New Moon review, so hold on tight for that bumpy ride.