Beauty and The Beast Story
Beauty and The Beast is the story of a young prince, who is cursed because of his arrogance and is turned into a hideous beast and a young girl, Belle, a book-lover who seeks a life full of adventure beyond her little village. When Belle’s father accidentally reaches the forgotten castle of the Beast, he is imprisoned. Young Belle takes his father’s place in the castle and meets the rest of the people of the house. She eventually falls in love with the Beast and lifts the curse. This is another of Disney’s fairy tale bundled with snarling wolves and a narcissist villain.
Beauty and the Beast is the most expensive musical ever made. It is a live-action remake of the earlier Beauty and the Beast (1991). This is Disney’s fifth live-action musical after Cinderella(2015), Enchanted(2007), Into the Woods (2014) and Mary Poppins (1964). Lily Collins, Emma Roberts and Kristen Stewart were considered for the role of Belle. The first teaser trailer broke all records and got a smashing 91.8 Million views in first 24 hours. Apparently, Ryan Gosling turned down the role of Beast in this movie to appear in the Oscar-nominated La La Land, while Emma Watson turned down the role of lead in the same to appear in this movie. Emma Watson took a stand and refused to wear the corset. She even took singing lessons for her role.
What To Anticipate:
The director of the movie, Bill Condon has directed, among many, two Twilight sequels and two academy-award winning musicals – Chicago and Dreamgirls. His experiences seem to have served him well. The musical journey that the movie takes the audience on is beautiful. Most of the actors in the movie carry a musical background and do a tremendous job but, even Emma’s singing talents are to be praised. Besides her singing talents, Emma comes as a confident, mature woman effortlessly breaking her image of Hermione.
The story of Beauty and the Beast is not just about Belle and the Beast, but most of the screen space is taken by the supporting actors of the movie who have again done amazing work in terms of acting and singing. Gaston, played by Luke Evans comes off as the perfect narcissistic tiny-brained Captain, but his limelight is equally shared by his sidekick, Le Fou, played by Josh Gad. At the same time, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson and Stanley Gucci provide plenty of comedy and drama to the screen. You will love the character of Lumière played by Ewan McGregor.
Beauty and The Beast Review
The first half of the movie is a slow prelude to the exciting second half of the story. It felt as if the story deliberately didn’t let the character of the Beast nurture as well as that of Belle. The book-lover Belle is well-established from the beginning as someone beautiful and yet different. The script feels a little weak in terms of character-building. Also, a song towards the end of the first half of the movie seems unnecessarily overstretched with heavy CGI effects.
The movie had some stretched eyebrows over the idea of turning it into an action remake, but whatever little action the movie carries, fits perfectly. Beauty and the Beast was also criticized for not bringing anything new to the screen. Partially agreeing to that, the plot can be played with a little, but it’s a classic story where the beginning and the end has to remain the same. So, has it topped the 1991 version? No, but it definitely is worth a watch.
Trailer: