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Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Beauty and the Beast is a film directed by Bill Condon. Normally when the film is announced as a remake of something, I tend to watch the original of that. But that was not the case here. I directly watched this film. And I can say that I had a very good time watching this film.

Plot: Belle becomes a prisoner to a monstrous looking prince bounded by a curse.

Story and Direction: I know this story of what I had read in my childhood. Some changes obviously were made to the story so that it sets apart with that of others. The production design and visual effects of the film had me in awe. They were so vast and colorful. I was immediately attracted to it. The attention to detail is very good in this film. Even the beast design and motion capture looked excellent. The songs were also fitted into the narrative very nicely. It didn't look like the song was unnecessary. But I would say though that this is actually not the best musical I have seen.

Performances: Emma Watson shined as Belle. She looked real in her performance. Dan Stevens did also a great work as the Beast/Prince. Kevin Kline was also good as Belle's father. Luke Evans was somewhat funny (in a good way) and menacing as Gaston. Josh Gad was good too as LeFou. The additional cast that did the voice work for the castle household items were good too.

Music: Alan Menken returned to compose songs and score for the film. I was mesmerized by the songs that were in the film. I would say 'Belle' and 'Beauty and the Beast' were my favorite.

Favorite scene: The scene where Belle and Beast dance with each other was the best for me. The choreography and emotion in that scene were par excellence.

Vercict: As I said before, this was not the best musical I have seen. I too haven't seen the original so I can't actually compare it with that. This film was actually very good on its own.

I am giving it an 8/10

If you love musicals, this movie is for you! If you love the original, then maybe you will like this live action version…

For me, neither a fan of the original nor a huge fan of musicals (except La La Land) this movie felt flat and uninspired.

Sure this is a fairy tale, but where is depth? The nuance which live action Can and should bring, like with last year’s Jungle book, which turned a pretty shallow and average cartoon movie of the 1960s into a full-fledged live action adaptation!

Beauty and the Beast fails at the basic level of narration. I won’t hold a 1991 animation to such standards, but would definitely expect the 2017 version to have more narrative juice.

There are places where it seems the main story is moving and all the side characters are standing still, doing nothing waiting for the beauty and beast’s story to move forward.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad film, but it lacks the shine that recent Disney live action remakes have had.

The sets and CGI backgrounds are amazing to look at and the dresses and costumes are impeccable.

But the creature and other character CGI looked a bit off and not as realistic as Jungle Book.

I don’t like songs and dance, so can’t judge them, but the Gaston’s one was a bit funny and pompous. The ball dance between the beast and belle is also well done, but it didn’t reach the heights of magic as was needed by the moment.

Rating : 5/10 . Not a bad film, but nothing overwhelmingly good. See it if you are a fan of the original!