My take on the new Beauty and the Beast movie

81usaf92

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I went and saw it because I grew up liking the animated one, and wanted to know if this one stood up to it since Disney has evolved technologically since then. I also wanted to know if all the controversy and early praise are misleading to how the film really is. So without further ado...

I. My Rating:

I rank the classic a 9/10 because it was one of those Disney Renaissance films (pretty much anything from The Little Mermaid to Hercules time frame) that revolutionized animation and story telling in Disney films. I didnt expect the remake to be a 9/10 type movie, but I expected it to be a good solid movie. But.... it sucked. I give it a 4/10.

Im going into why I feel my ranking is what it is with the assumption that pretty much everybody has seen the original. Because there arent that many spoilers I could spoil if you have seen the original. The only spoiler Im going to kinda give is the changes with Gaston,and the gay controversy. Otherwise Im going to touch generally on what went right and wrong in the Remake, and leave any big spoilers that are new out.

II. The Gay Controversy:

Since this has been such a huge talking point the last month, I guess Ill start with it. If you havent heard Disney has officially made the character Lefou the first openly gay character in a Disney movie. Lefou is Gaston's lackey that follows him around throughout the movie. If the character didnt offend you in the original, then he isnt going to offend you here. He is the same as he was in the original. I think Disney only released the gay information to have people talking in case the movie bombed after the opening weekend.

III The Good

The Beast, house servants, Kevin Kline, and Emma were all on point when they were on scene together. Also some story arc they added surrounding the spell, Belle's past, and the relationship between the castle and the town were really cool. You can see the potential.

IV The Bad

I guess Ill start in the order of my chief complaints

a) Gaston

In the original Gaston is portrayed as the manliest of men in that he was strong, charismatic, courageous, and good looking. Disney basically made him into the typical hero type character. But they threw us a curveball by him being incapable of getting the girl. Basically he wouldve been the hero in every other disney film. But compare the animated one to the Luke Evans one, and you could probably see some of the problems off the bat.




Luke Evans wears a coat throughout the whole movie to make him appear large. But then they change him from being a jealous jock to being a ruthless cold blooded killer with PTSD. Usually Im all for this change, but it feels totally weird and off base from the tone of the movie.

b) songs,songs , and more songs

Ok I get it, Disney loves songs. They did in the original, but they throw songs in for just song's sake in this one. Had they marketed this as a musical, and added 4 more songs then it wouldve made way more sense, but its like everytime they need a transition to another scene, or they just feel that it has been 5 minutes since the last song, here comes another song. This is a 2hr and 9 minute movie.

c) pacing

It is very hard to pay attention in this film because it goes at a break neck speed, but still feels longer than it actually is.

d) political messages
No Im not referring to the gay non issue, Im referring to them beating 2 certain points across your head everytime they have a chance. Those points really take away from the movie at times.

V Who is this movie for?

I would say if the original is very dear to you and a disappointment here might ruin your childhood then avoid this like the plague. If you just want something for you kids to watch and you can watch without getting too bored while watching it with them then this is bearable. Just note they have some minor cuss words in it. But I dont think this is a must see movie like some critics and media or portraying it as.
 
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Jessica4Bama

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As a kid, I hated this movie. This new one doesn't look much better. Now if they redo The Lion King, I'm all over it. :)

Thanks for for the review. It's one I'll pass on, but I'm not a big movie buff anyway.
 

day-day

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81usaf92--Thanks for the review. I haven't been too interested in this remake after seeing some trailers. Now I'm curious about the political messages you mention. I haven't talked to anyone who has seen it.

As for Gaston, I thought in the original movie he had elements of the hero but he was a disrespectful self-centered jerk; at least from what I remember.
 

81usaf92

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81usaf92--Thanks for the review. I haven't been too interested in this remake after seeing some trailers. Now I'm curious about the political messages you mention. I haven't talked to anyone who has seen it.

.
They are minor, but they took me out of the movie a little because of when and how they are presented. but Ill give them with a minor spoiler warning here since its not an Ah hah kinda thing


One of their political messages is feminism. Yes you can see it in the original as well, but the original shut it off at a certain point to make the main story progress, but this one continuously hits you in the head with how backwatered the townsfolk are when we should be focusing on Belle and the Beast's relationship.

The second is that they try to make the movie Hamilton V 2.0. Hamilton is that Broadway play that has people of different cultures and races of people playing the founding fathers. This is ok if they are trying to tell a FAIRYTALE, but they go out of their way to tell us that this story actually happened in our history. So it is kinda weird when you are telling me..... ***minor Spoiler for new content***




that the plague existed in this story, and black and Hispanic people are married to, and on equal standing as white people in 14th century France it just kinda threw me for a loop. Again I dont mind this if you are making a political statement of inclusion,but if you are doing a link to a historic time without context it just feels odd. But it might be nitpicking, and thats why it was lower on my list of bad things about the movie.


As for Gaston, I thought in the original movie he had elements of the hero but he was a disrespectful self-centered jerk; at least from what I remember.
This one is a war veteran who has no real heroic qualities, and thirsts for sex and blood. The original was more of the Brom Bones type village hero trying to woo the prettiest girl in town that was playing hard to get due to his immaturity. The Gaston and Mob songs really kinda gives him character.



He really doesnt become a true villain until he gets humiliated one time too many. His character is more 3 dimensional, and you can see that he has the town's respect. Basically he is a Disney hero fallen from Grace.


Luke Evans is a villain from the first scene, and you just dont see anything more than an evil person. The songs above feel very weird when the new Gaston sings them because they just dont seem to fit.
 
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Crimson1967

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I never saw the cartoon and honestly had forgotten it existed. So I had no plans to see this one.

I wonder if Disney let it out the character was gay because the knew it would cause a fuss. Then the guy at the drive-in played right into their hands.

Had he not made a big statement, nobody would have known. It is a drive-in, with one screen. It is not a multiplex with 20 screens. Just don't show it and nobody will know or care what your views on homosexuality are.


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81usaf92

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I never saw the cartoon and honestly had forgotten it existed. So I had no plans to see this one.

I wonder if Disney let it out the character was gay because the knew it would cause a fuss. Then the guy at the drive-in played right into their hands.

Had he not made a big statement, nobody would have known. It is a drive-in, with one screen. It is not a multiplex with 20 screens. Just don't show it and nobody will know or care what your views on homosexuality are.


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I think Disney just was worried about early bad reviews causing them to lose money. Because the whole thing was subtle and could've been interpreted as a guy idolizing his hero, or being fiercely loyal to his "friend" as much as him being gay. The scene that they are trying to say is "the gay moment" is basically a ballroom masquerade in which everyone is switching dance partners during the dance. Lefou, the "gay" man, is starting off with one of the girls from town, and during the switch he is bumped off course and ends up dancing with another man. The "gay moment" only lasts like a second and it quickly cuts to something else. So if you are going to see this movie to support Disney's first "gay" character I think you'll be disappointed because to borrow from the nostalgia critic's review of the movie, " there is more gay moments in Disney movies such as: The Great Mouse Detective, Lion King, and the jungle book than this film."
 
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CrimsonNagus

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Took my daughters to see it this morning and we all loved it. No, not nearly as much as the original but we had a blast. I'm sorry but, if you didn't know this was a musical then you weren't paying attention, Disney wasn't hiding anything.

I enjoyed the new songs and actually think Days in the Sun is better then Human Again. Evermore was wonderful imo. I thought the movie found a great middle point between the original and the Broadway show (which I love as well). The new songs in this movie basically take the place of the added songs for the Broadway show, in about the same spots as well. The director originally wanted to make the Broadway show into a movie but Disney didn't want him to use any of the additional Broadway songs. So they just wrote some new ones, which I think are mostly successful. Because of this, the movie feels more closely related to the Broadway show then the original movie, IMO at least.

I agree, the gay stuff is being blown way out of proportion. In fact, without the controversy, I doubt I would have even noticed some of the stuff but, I was looking for things because of all the fuss. My daughters (ages 9 and 7) didn't pick up on anything and didn't ask any "scary" gay questions afterwards. As a Christian, I'm sick and tired of how some Christians just look for controversy in everything.

I disagree about your political message, it never even crossed my mind until I read this thread. Even then I think you are stretching a little.

I liked the changes and additions. I really enjoyed the added back story. I thought the Maurice character was better here then in the original or Broadway show. I didn't mind the changes to Gaston and I liked how Lefou actually turns against him, I thought it all worked for this version.

Overall we had a great time and were all swept away by this enchanting tale once again. It will never replaced the original, which is a 10/10 for me. This movie, like the Broadway show before it, is a great compliment to the original and a wonderfully fun time at the movies. 8/10 for me.
 
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81usaf92

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Took my daughters to see it this morning and we all loved it. No, not nearly as much as the original but we had a blast.



Overall we had a great time and were all swept away by this enchanting tale once again. It will never replaced the original, which is a 10/10 for me. This movie, like the Broadway show before it, is a great compliment to the original and a wonderfully fun time at the movies. 8/10 for me.
It is a film that I could see someone liking or hating, but Im just unfortunately the latter because of some of the issues I explained.

. I'm sorry but, if you didn't know this was a musical then you weren't paying attention, Disney wasn't hiding anything.

.
Oh I knew, and expected it to probably have more songs than the original, but I felt it was way too many. I watched the original today, and counted 5 songs. This new one had like 10, and both films are practically the same run time (1hr 50 min for the 91 version, and 2 hrs and 9 min for the new). I just felt that some songs just got in the way of storytelling. I think it would've been better to make it a full musical or cut down 2 or 3 songs.


I agree, the gay stuff is being blown way out of proportion. In fact, without the controversy, I doubt I would have even noticed some of the stuff but, I was looking for things because of all the fuss. My daughters (ages 9 and 7) didn't pick up on anything and didn't ask any "scary" gay questions afterwards. As a Christian, I'm sick and tired of how some Christians just look for controversy in everything.

I disagree about your political message, it never even crossed my mind until I read this thread. Even then I think you are stretching a little.


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Again it was low on my totem poll of complaints. They just took me out of the movie a little. And no I wasnt going in looking for them, if anything I was looking at what all the hub bub was about the gay controversy.


I liked the changes and additions. I really enjoyed the added back story. I thought the Maurice character was better here then in the original or Broadway show. I didn't mind the changes to Gaston and I liked how Lefou actually turns against him, I thought it all worked for this version.
Kevin Kline was a great Maurice, and Gad gave a more memorable performance for Lefou. But Gaston was really a swing and a miss for me for the reasons I gave.


I went in with an open mind to them changing, and was trying to give them a chance like I did Jungle Book and Cinderella where I could view them as different films. But where JB took high notes from the original and changed the story as a whole, B&B made a carbon copy with more songs and a bunch of weird changes IMO. I just had no choice but to see a direct comparison with the original.


But again I can see people loving and hating it.
 
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rgw

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I did not see the "openly gay"...I saw "wink and a nod gay"


seems like this whole deal was either marketing ploys or blogs running away with a small off-hand comment from an actor.
 

RTR91

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I did not see the "openly gay"...I saw "wink and a nod gay"


seems like this whole deal was either marketing ploys or blogs running away with a small off-hand comment from an actor.
It all started when the producer said there was an "exclusively gay" scene. The more I hear about it, the more I believe it was solely a marketing ploy.


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CrimsonNagus

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Oh I knew, and expected it to probably have more songs than the original, but I felt it was way too many. I watched the original today, and counted 5 songs. This new one had like 10, and both films are practically the same run time (1hr 50 min for the 91 version, and 2 hrs and 9 min for the new). I just felt that some songs just got in the way of storytelling. I think it would've been better to make it a full musical or cut down 2 or 3 songs.
I think you got your numbers wrong. The '91 version is only 84 minutes long (86 for the special edition). That's over 40 minutes shorter then this new version.

The '91 version has 9 songs if you count the 2 reprises and the finale. The special edition added Human Again which brings that to 10. The new movie has 13 songs if you count the Belle reprise and finale. They did write 4 new songs for this version; Aria, How Does a Moment Last Forever, Days in the Sun and Evermore. The Gaston reprise and Human Again, that are in the '91 version, are not in the new movie.

I'm really not trying to be argumentative, just picky.
 

rgw

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It all started when the producer said there was an "exclusively gay" scene. The more I hear about it, the more I believe it was solely a marketing ploy.


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My wife called it "gaybaiting" which apparently Disney is wont to do. As she explained it Disney occasionally uses some ploy involving homosexuality to hype a segment of the homosexual community that is devoted to Disney flicks or something.
 

81usaf92

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I think you got your numbers wrong. The '91 version is only 84 minutes long (86 for the special edition). That's over 40 minutes shorter then this new version.

The '91 version has 9 songs if you count the 2 reprises and the finale. The special edition added Human Again which brings that to 10. The new movie has 13 songs if you count the Belle reprise and finale. They did write 4 new songs for this version; Aria, How Does a Moment Last Forever, Days in the Sun and Evermore. The Gaston reprise and Human Again, that are in the '91 version, are not in the new movie.

I'm really not trying to be argumentative, just picky.
Ok on the runtime I just googled and the 1st answer was 1 hr 50 minutes, but it is 84 minutes.

For the songs I count the reprises as a continuation of the 1 song because with the exception of Belle reprise they aren't adding anything new in it. The Gaston reprise is just the same song on the opposite sides of a short interruption by Maurice. The beauty and the Beast reprise is used as an outro to the movie, so it isn't taking space in the meat of the story, but rather ushering in the credits. I don't count the instrumentials as well.

So I see

1. Belle
2. Gaston
3. Be our guest
4. Something there
5. Mob song

* human again in the SE

The new one has 9-10.
 

rgw

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The biggest problem with this movie is that the movie really plays it by the numbers. They make the French fairy tale connection more apparent but it is almost a beat for beat live-action reshoot of the cartoon. At least it felt that way. It isn't like I've watched this movie since my sister was watching these flicks on repeat when we were young.

It isn't bad. It isn't novel in any way though. This will make a killing though. "90s kid" women will flock to this movie: they watched the cartoon growing up and Emma Watson is a favorite of the bookish type of "90s kid" woman who would like Belle over other Disney princesses. We're in that time right now where a lot of my childhood is getting rehashed...makes sense that this movie would exist and likely making fists of cash.
 

AV8N

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Saw it over the weekend and it was actually pretty good. There was enough action and humor to keep my attention.
Since it's set in a fairy tale version of 18th century France, the whole "gay or just European" thing already comes into play. If you are looking for the "moment", either to celebrate or protest, you will be sorely disappointed.
Also, I like Hermione and all, but she wasn't exactly the hawtest girl in the village. Since Gaston wasn't looking for intellectual conversation, his extreme infatuation with her was rather puzzling.
 

TideMom2Boys

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We will wait till it is on digital. It was never really a favorite movie of mine. Now give me a Little Mermaid live action...I will be there.

I opted to watch the King Kong movie last weekend instead and we both enjoyed it!
 

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