Ok so some of us have seen Beauty and the Beast by now, yes? *SPOILERS POSSIBLE*

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alicemouse's picture
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Ok so some of us have seen Beauty and the Beast by now, yes? *SPOILERS POSSIBLE*

I really expected not to love this movie. The CGI in the previews reminded me of Oz the Great and Powerful which I thought was perfectly awful. And Disney's track record with live action adaptations has not IMO been strong. Paired with the fact that I love the animated movie and I love the Broadway version and I expected that the movie would either be "safe" (read: boring) or go completely off the rails (we've seen Maleficent, right? I was a little concerned that Beast would die and Gaston would live), I really thought this movie had no option but sheer and utter disappointment.

WRONG!

Music - All of the most beloved songs are still in the movie, some with adapted lyrics, but the spirit of the Menken/Ashman masterpieces is undisturbed. For the new songs (three, I believe?), Tim Rice did a fantastic job of blending his lyrics to the story and to Alan Menken's beautiful music. The new songs advance the story and fill in backstory simultaneously. A+ on music.

Actors & Actresses - I didn't pay much attention to the cast other than I knew about Emma Watson, but Kevin Kline was genius at Maurice. Emma Thompson, Ian McKellan, and Ewan McGregor were stunning as the household objects. I don't follow much who's who in Hollywood anymore, so I don't remember his name, but the gentlemen who played Gaston and Beast were absolutely fantastic. The only weak spot for me was Olaf as LeFou. I felt like he was overboard silly. Like Josh Gad forgot which move he was filming. Or maybe he's just s silly actor and I just don't care for his style. I felt like at any second he was going to break the fourth wall and start talking to the audience. Overall, A for acting.

Story - There was a lot of verbatim dialog, but it works. There were some small strategic tweaks that made the story more genuine and the backstory elements were just brilliant. Even knowing the ending and not having high expectations, I was captivated from beginning to end. A+ for story.

Costumes - Really beautiful and genuine with one notable exception: Belle's yellow dress. I thought it was a little too much like a sundress. The dress that Belle wears at Enchanted Tales with Belle is that heavy, luxurious crushed velvet and I thought something like that would have fit the occasion better, but in a way I kind of like the lighter, airier dress. I don't hate it; it just wasn't what I expected. The powdered wig addition struck me as slightly odd. Not out of place for the setting, but not previously referenced in other versions of the story that I've seen. A for costuming.

Cinematography - For 90% of the movie, it was great, but there were a few times when I was trying to focus on details in the picture and the camera was panning all over the place or zoomed i too far to keep the scene grounded. I'm going to say B.

CGI - The household objects were tremendously better than I had anticipated from the previews. I was expecting to rate them a D, but they were probably about an A-. The CGI for the final battle scene, however, was just as horrible as I feared. Overall, CGI is a C+ for me.

Overall, I give the film an A. I star true to the original without being an exact carbon copy and the additions make sense and enhance the existing story. It's a very rewatch able movie and I'll be excited to add it to my collection. It reminded me a lot of the remake of Cinderella without the weird lizard-man faux pas.

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We saw it yesterday. Loved the movie, all of it! Go see it!

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I'm not going to get to see this for another week or two so I only read the first half of your review. I'm so glad to hear that people who were skeptical have been loving it!

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I saw it on Thursday. I liked it! As a huge Harry Potter fan I struggled a bit with Emma Watson as belle. Had to remind myself it wasn't Hermione laugh but I love Emma. As for the yellow dress, I want it! I may have drooled over it when I saw it in one mans dream at Hollywood studios.

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Emma Watson was totally underwhelming. She has a weak voice and her acting is stiff and lacks emotion and I don't think she has the IT factor. Her big numbers were right at the beginning of the movie and they disappoint, but it picks up after that. Other than that, it was very good. Luke Evans, who I had doubts about, was really very good.

But I can't help thinking what an Anne Hathaway or an Amy Adams would have done as Belle. I don't know what Disney was thinking casting Emma Watson, unless they were trying some half-assed marketing scheme aimed at the HP fan base.

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I LOVED it! My only major gripe is that couple of times they'd zoom in on something specific and then would blur everything behind it and would spin the camera around. There is probably some technical term for this that I don't know, but I hated it. It made my eyes tweak out. One specific example I can think of is the couple of times they'd zoom in on the gold detailing coming down from the ceiling in Belle's room. Just no. Stop doing that.

I thought Emma Watson was ok but not spectacular, and Josh Gad wasn't right for me as LeFou, but neither of these were a deal breaker. I really, really enjoyed the movie. I loved that they added a couple of new elements, but still gave me exactly what I wanted in staying true to the original. I also love the Broadway score and kind of expected at least some elements of that to come in (maybe the Beast's song), but it still worked for me as is.

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I am going to see it on Saturday I can't wait, I am glad that everyone is seeming to really like it for the most part.

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I seen it Sunday gone, I really enjoyed it, I wasn't expecting to and was really nervous about it especially because the original is my favourite Disney film. For me I think they cast every character perfectly except Emma Watson as Belle. I had the same issues trying to see her not as Hermoine but as the movie progressed you do tend to forget so I was pleased about this.

I 100% agree with the comments of the camera zooming round, I originally thought it was just my eyes with my contacts in sometimes I can't pick up fast moving scenes and I really struggled with the gold detail scene for the dress and when it was panning around the castle. I thought the new additions to the story line was really good with the back stories and think they portrayed Gaston perfectly!

I really was overall surprised at how much I enjoyed the film and I would definitely see it again.

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Happy to see the positive reviews. I have been waffling on going to see it because it is my favorite movie!
Thanks for sharing!

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It is also my favorite and I didn't care for it at all. The extra songs added about 15 minutes to the movie that were unnecessary. Be Our Guest was butchered (I've seen it better on stage) What Allie said about the focus and also the fact that some scenes looked so fake I focused more on that. Emma Watson seemed a good fit from the previews but overall, no. I really had no desire to know what happened to her mother. The "earring" or whatever that was on Mrs. Potts. LOL, I could pick it apart all day. it just wasn't for me. Heck, I didn't even cry at the end, I always cry at the end!

I went in with an open mind and I've had a couple days to think about it and feelings haven't changed. Just my opinion. At least I have a couple of friends who have agreed with me silly

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I am going tomorrow, so will report back. I am still just not sure...

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As a rule if a movie does not have aliens, a car chase, excessive gun play, explosions or a combination thereof I don't watch it lol. wink

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I avoided this thread until I saw the movie. I saw it last night. I liked it a lot, but I can't say I loved it.

The scenes panning around the room made me dizzy.

I thought Emma Watson did a good job but it could have been better. During the scene where she was attacked by wolves, I kept waiting for her to pull out her wand and put a spell on them. LOL

What is up with Mr Potts??? Why wasn't he at the castle when the spell was placed on them? He could have been a coffee urn.

I was disappointed in the Be Our Guest scene.

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Be Our Guest was the most disappointing aspect for me

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JoAnn C wrote:

What is up with Mr Potts??? Why wasn't he at the castle when the spell was placed on them? He could have been a coffee urn.

I literally laughed out loud. This was definitely a missed opportunity!

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Ok saw it on Saturday.
I really enjoyed it. I got really excited in the beginning scene with the castle and the rose and the opening scene was awesome.
Great back story on how everyone forgot about it because she cursed it away.
Gaston was cast perfectly, I thought Emma Watson did great, but it is very hard to get past seeing her as Hermione, I think that is pretty much how I will always see her, except in The Perks of Being a Wildflower that was just totally different, but anyways...
I though the everything was really good. Philippe was a little totally ridiculous for me as a horse person, I for sure know that that little horse is certainly NOT going to hold the beast's weight and yes horses will run home usually, but for him to show her the way back and blah blah was just kind of dumb.
The scene with chip and Maurice though was funny! I loved the little comic relief in there. The dresser lady was highly irritating, she was not that annoying in the original.
On that note the bedroom scene was absolutely horrid! We watched it in the imax and I got so... dizzy and it never focused on a darn thing it did this a few times in the movie and I hated it.
The library was awesome, the Beast seemed a little gentler in this movie than the animated. I did like the new magical elements such as the magical book, and a little bit of backstory on her mom, though I am not really sure if it was that necessary.
Now onto her dress, it was just ok. The whole putting the gold on it was cool I guess but again a dizzying scene. The dress itself was just blah, it wasn't any kind of ball gown it was more of a sun dress. I know Emma Watson didn't want to wear a corset because of her cause or whatever, but a corset was used during that time period! That just bothered me so much and you could clearly see where it zipped in the back this is like a huge costuming no no, then the earcuff was entirely confusing to me. The Beast looked amazing though, his outfit was on point.
After that the next confusing part was Mr. Potts?
So like no one of them aged clearly under the spell, it said it had been years but no amount of time was mentioned. So did he age because he wasn't included in the spell?
Evermore was also a great song, I loved it, and this part actually made me cry.
The other confusing part, Agatha/ The Enchantress.
So was she like actually helping to break the curse she put on him for example the lightening hitting the tree and then the tree was back to normal later. And she seemed to be watching Belle in the beginning, I kind of think it was the Beast's mom. They looked really similar and they said that he was a good kid until his mom died, so maybe it was her way of helping him find happiness.
I loved the scenery of the movie, and the costuming other than Belle's dress. And for the most part the things I didn't like were minor. I liked the back story on both sides, although Belle's was kind of not necessary. I loved seeing more of the castle and the rose was absolutely beautiful. I really liked that they seemed perpetually stuck in winter, almost literally frozen in time, that was great. I also liked seeing the Enchantress more involved. Gaston was great, although parts of his song were a little hard to understand with Josh Gad, I also think he was a really great Lafou, although I have no idea what the huge deal was about him because I didn't see anything to the fact why everyone was so upset about it.
All in all I really enjoyed the movie and will most likely purchase it when it comes out, but I think I prefer the animated version.

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I saw it this afternoon and I LOVED it!!! I honestly thought it was better than the original. It was just amazing.

All around I do not think that this could NOT have been cast better.

Belle has never been my favorite Princess, I mean she's fine and all but I never connected with her in the animated movie. I loved Emma Watson's Belle, I thought she was fantastic. I loved the costumes, the way the yellow dress floated when they danced was amazing. It was a different kind of dress for a different sort of Belle, it was lighter and free. Which was a great contrast to the balcony comment about "can anyone be happy when they're not free?"

Dan Stevens was really great, and I was shocked when he turned around at the end for the big reveal how dead on he was to the animated Prince. He's quickly earning a spot on my best of the fun young Brits list. I'm thrilled that he's a Disney guy. The little growl in the end ballroom scene made me burst out laughing - it was so adorable and fun. It may have been my favorite part of the whole film.

Luke Evans can really sing! He actually made me like Gaston, which I never had before. Gaston's suits were to die for!

Honestly there was only one thing that I could fault the movie for and that was under utilization of Kevin Klein's comedic skills. He's one of my favorite all round actors and I thought that his Maurice was a little dull and soft. However it was the writing of Maurice, not Kevin.

I think I may go see it again this weekend with my daughter.

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I saw it, I loved it and I am going with my daughter this weekend!

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Joe and I made it a date night and saw it this evening. Totally enjoyed the whole thing!

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I was 36 years old when the animated feature was released. I have no children. I believe I have seen the animated version a grand total of once, many years ago, just so I would know what it was about (beyond the obvious). Coming to the new live-action version, I didn't remember any of the secondary plot points or some of the minor characters (been wondering for years why there's a beverage at Gaston's named Le Fou's Brew). So unlike many of you, I went in relatively ignorant.

Prior to seeing the film, I wasn't sure about Emma Watson as Belle but thought she gave a respectable performance. One advantage she has over some of the fine actresses mentioned above is that Watson is only a little too old to play the teenaged Belle - Amy Adams is well over 40; Anne Hathaway well over 30, whereas Watson is not quite 27 as I write this. . I liked all the songs; of course I recognized the Big Numbers from the original but have no idea which of the others were new. I LOVED Le Fou - and didn't even realize that was the guy who voiced Olaf until hubby said "Olaf!" when Le Fou first spoke. Gaston was awesome also. And Lumiere. Heck, the whole cast did a great job; I can't think of a single disappointing performance.

I really have nothing bad to say about this film - but I didn't grow up watching the animated version over and over until the VHS tape broke.

Guess I'll go see it a third time.

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I am apparently going to go with the unpopular opinion of just meh. It was alright,but I would probably never watch it again. I thought Luke Evans as Gaston was fabulous and I did like certain aspects of it like the original songs. Overall, I was underwhelmed though.

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I was late to the party mainly because my mam refused to come with me I had absolutely stated 100% I would not go see this film because I adore the original so much, didn't like the idea of Emma Watson at all as belle she isn't belle she is Hermoinie! but after danijrod told me I had to go see it mam finally broke down and came with me (she really wanted to see it but didn't want "my face" spoiling it for her)

overall I didn't hate it as much as I expected to I'm pleased I saw it but have no desire to see it again, I stand by my Emma Watson observation - to me she isn't belle I didn't like her singing voice and felt like she was very wooden, really didn't like Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts I forgot it was her and was sitting thinking "I need to find out who that voice is because she is crap" was shocked when it was Emma Thompson because I like her usually. Things I did like was lefou and gaston and also the beast I like him a lot more than I anticipated and I did like the additions surprisingly, overall I've seen it don't really want to see it again but if I had to sit through it again on tv I would