It’s a tale that’s old as time, a song that’s old as rhyme, and now it’s back on the big screen for a new generation. Disney has lately gained success into a new trend of remaking their classic animated features and transitioning them into live-action. After they had a rocky start in attempting to reimagine their original stories with the failed reboots of “Alice in Wonderland” (2010) and “Maleficent” (2014), they finally figured out the secret formula and brought back the stories of “Cinderella” (2015), “The Jungle Book” (2016), and “Pete’s Dragon” (2016) with mostly glowing results. So, it was only a matter of time before Disney would announce a line-up of upcoming remakes in the works ranging from “Aladdin”, “Mulan”, to even “The Lion King”. But before they can re-enter into those territories, their newest victim of the Disney remake machine was none other than “Beauty and the Beast”.
Brought back to life by director Bill Condon, and featuring an all-star cast, this new rendition of “Beauty and the Beast” has quickly broken box office records for Disney. Thanks to its slick marketing and an abundant reliance on nostalgia, this live-action remake quickly earned a total of $357 million during its four-day opening weekend, only with a production budget of $160 million, making it currently the 22nd highest-grossing film of all time, already reaching the $1 billion dollar mark. But, of course, box office success doesn’t always equal to the quality of the film itself. If they did, Michael Bay’s “Transformers” films would be considered critically lauded pieces of cinema. So, it is only fair to take a look at the film itself and what drew many people towards it, despite the amount of nostalgia. So, it is safe to say that while this movie does suffer from many of its shortcomings, this is still an all-around solid remake with plenty of interesting things to offer.
The original 1991 Disney classic of “Beauty and the Beast” still stands as one of the all-time great animated films, and not even from Disney standards. Thanks to its rich storytelling, wonderful characters, stunning animation, beautiful music, and an emotionally earned and developed romance at the center of it all, there is a reason why this classic has stood the test of time and has continued to entertain and delight for years to come. Back when it was released, during the era of the Disney Renaissance, it took the whole world by storm as it blew audiences away with what Disney was able to accomplish: entertaining both kids and adults. Hell, it was even so adult that it managed to become the first ever animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, a feat that would be done only two more times in the future with Disney-Pixar’s “Up” (2009) and “Toy Story 3” (2010); both films were also nominated in the Animated Feature category existing from 2001 to now. So, of course, when the news broke that Disney would reinvent this iconic tale into live-action, it definitely seemed like a daunting task as it already had so much to live up to. So, does this tale as old as time stand on its own in live-action? Only those who read the rest of this review will find out.
Now, let’s be clear on something, when I say this is a remake, I legitimately mean that this is a remake by a “tee”! A lot of the same beats, the same characters, the same songs, and everything else in between are highly represented in this interpretation. When it comes to any major differences, there are only a few new songs and scenes sprinkled throughout, but for the majority, this is arguably 90% of a shot-for-shot retelling of the animated film. While there’s nothing entirely wrong with sticking to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” formula, it unfortunately marks a huge problem with the film’s mere existence. It is indeed easy to criticize the idea of remakes (hell, I continue to do so today) as most of them feel pointless and hardly light a candle to their original counterpart. However, I stand by the idea that if remakes are to be done well, it is possible to re-make a film but also add some interesting, significant new details to the product that can either strengthen the material and/or make it stand on it’s own and not be constantly compared to what came before it. In the case of “Beauty and the Beast”, this is the form of remake where if you’ve seen the original, then you might have already seen this film, as it is mostly the same movie all over again.
In my opinion, this live-action turn stenches from the fact that, aside from a few minor changes, this new interpretation makes no attempt to be any different from what came before it. Its overall sense of formality feels a bit too artificial and it definitely shows throughout the film. The entire narrative repeats a lot of the original scenes and keeps it as a consistent string throughout, but the transitions from scene to scene feel rather bumpy and awkward, making the film feel less flowing or natural as it further progressed. This definitely proves that this layout of events worked much stronger in its initial animated format, as this version had a difficult job in tying everything together cohesively. As for the small changes they did add, they hardly did anything to improve upon the original story or define a clear reasoning for this movie to exist. I’m sorry, but this bugs me completely. Again, as much as I’m against remakes that make changes that entirely hurt the original product, there is nothing wrong with at least being a bit different from someone else. If all you’re going to do is mostly live and act like the same movie with only one or two changes, all you become is a slave to the original and it would be hard for you to stand on your own and act like a new interpretation. Instead, it feels much more old and retired. However, with that said, there are still a plentiful amount of great elements that this movie offers.
As for the performances, Emma Watson and Dan Stevens both give solid portrayals of Belle and The Beast respectively. While Watson did start out with an “iffy” singing voice and a few segments of bland emotion, she definitely recovers for most of the film and retains the charm, grace, and personality of the character. Stevens also does a fine job in portraying the Beast’s character arc on screen, even if his distracting CGI-created design did take me out of the movie at parts, and it would have benefited stronger with more practical makeup effects. As for the supporting cast, Ewan McGregor (Lumiere), Ian McKellen (Cogsworth), and Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts) all do terrific work as the enchanted furniture items hoping to break the spell. Kevin Kline creates a heartwarming and genuinely effective spin on the character of Belle’s father, Maurice. But the real star of the cast is Luke Evans who steals every scene he’s in as Gaston, highly capturing the charm, ego, and surprisingly evil personality of the character perfectly, while also giving it his own subtle, unique twist to it all. In addition to that, his bumbling sidekick, Lefou, was hilariously portrayed by Josh Gad, as he manages to bring a strong sense of levity and backup for Evans to fall back on. In short, both Evans and Gad seemed to be having the time of their lives.
The production value from top-to-bottom is entirely gorgeous to watch on screen, as the set design and costumes grace the screen beautifully. Bet your bottom dollar that they will definitely score at least two Oscar nominations for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design respectively. The special effects, for the most part, are well-done and blend with the environment seamlessly, even with the Beast looking a tad off from time to time. All of the songs we know and love are all back into this remake and they are still as catchy as they’ve ever been. In addition to that, most of the musical numbers are impressively remade in this new format, with “Be Our Guest” in particular as the ultimate highlight. As for Bill Condon’s direction, he doesn’t ultimately take advantage of the incredible work and detail around him, but his work behind the camera is still serviceable, but it could have been much stronger.
Overall, it is definitely a fun, enjoyable movie to watch, and if you’re fans of the original “Beauty and the Beast”, it definitely doesn’t hurt to give this version a watch and see how it lives up or pales in comparison to the original. While not as fresh or inventive as some of Disney’s recent live-action updates, and definitely not enough to be better than the original, this still does a commendable job in recreating this story to life, even if it’s overall point of existence does feel questionable.
GRADE: B
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