Rating: 7/10
By now we all know the story of Beauty and the Beast. A young farm girl, who lives in a small village falls in love with a prince, except that prince is cursed. He's quite literally a beast. The new film adds very little to the 1991 animated hit's plot, except slightly more peril.
Beauty and the Beast has some gorgeous visuals, particularly Beast and some wolves seen in a couple of scenes. Unfortunately, some of the animation is not as good. While some of the characters like Lumiere and Cogsworth look fine, but a dresser doesn't look that good. Overall, the good visuals balance out with the bad visuals.
The singing in the 2017 version is about on par with the original, and there are a few new songs. "Evermore" is one of the best original songs, and is sung by Josh Groban during the credits, as well as Beast during the movie. The titular song doesn't even come close to the original 1991 version. Emma Thompson sings most of "Beauty and the Beast" and all though she is a good actress, she can't go up against the vocal prowess of Angela Lansbury from the 1991 movie.
The costumes are Oscar-worthy, and Emma Watson shines as Belle. Although her voice just turns out okay. In conclusion is a fun family film, but don't expect it to be any better than the original.
Notice: A couple of months before the movie premiered it was revealed that Gaston's friend LeFou was gay, and had feelings for Gaston. The film was banned in Malaysia and given a 16+ rating in Russia. A lot of people boycotted the film. In my opinion, Disney put in a gay character to 1). raise awareness for LGBT groups and 2). the cast was very diverse in the 2017 version, several characters were of Indian or African descent. In regards to the moment: LeFou dances with another man towards the end of the film and is infatuated with Gaston throughout most of the movie until he moves on.
For Parents:
Language: a couple instances of name-calling.
Sexual Content: One kiss and both same-sex and opposite sex dancing.
Violence: The Beast could scare younger kids. Wolves attack both Belle and her father and leave Beast with several gashes on his back. Belle is seen treating him later. Beast is shot three times and blood can be briefly seen soaking the back of his shirt on a couple of occasions. A man is tied to a tree and left to die, but he eventually escapes. One character falls to his death. The film climaxes with a battle in Beast's castle with the various household items taking on Gaston's mob.
Beauty and the Beast is in theaters now. It stars Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, and Sir Ian McKellen. The film is rated PG for some action violence, peril, and frightening images.
The film is fine for 5 and up.
Copyright The Review Cafe April 9, 2017
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