Beauty and the Beast (2017)

       Beauty and the Beast (2017) is directed by Bill Condon (The Fifth Estate) and stars Emma Watson (This is the End), Dan Stevens (The Guest), and Luke Evans (Dracula Untold). It tells the tale as old as time of a young girl who must learn to love a beast in order to save his castle and the various people trapped under an enchantress’ spell.

Beauty and the Beast

      Live action remakes of classic animated movies are all the rage in Hollywood these days with Maleficent, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book already out and Mulan, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Dumbo already announced. Some of the ones already released have been better than others, so when Beauty and the Beast was announced I was not sure if it would be good or not. But once the cast was announced and promotional material began to be released I could not but help but feel a little excited.

      One of the best parts of Beauty and the Beast is the CGI. While the beast looked slightly fake at times, overall it was a very noble attempt that worked more times than it did not. What could have easily felt silly and fake instead felt very realistic with some great designs and innovative techniques.

      Another excellent part was the cast. I was surprised to see some of the actors pull off the singing and thought they did a great job, even if it does not sound like the original. Rather than complain about how different it sounds, just watch the original if you want to hear the vocals of the original cast and watch the new one if you watch to see a different take.

      But the new take is my biggest problem with this film. While the original had a much shorter run time and had a great pace, the remake attempted to add to the mythology but many of the additions fells short and seemed to only add to the run time, not the actual story. The new songs are unmemorable and fall way short of the bar that the original songs set. The main theme of the movie is a beauty who learns to love a beast. The additions to the story should add to this but instead feel crammed in and do little to add upon this central element.
     While the characters and CGI are wonderfully done, the movie ultimately feels unnecessary when the original holds up so well. If you love the original Beauty and the Beast you may as well just watch the original because the additions to the remake only hinder the love story on display.

When should you watch it?

Dollar Theater