Movie
Beauty and the Beast (2017) is essentially a remake of the classic (1991) animated movie of the same name. This isn’t a pure remake because it adds several key new elements to the story and in many ways improves upon the already masterful original animated movie.
This movie is focused on the beautiful young woman named Belle who lives in the French countryside. Belle yearns for more with her life and is portrayed with grace and charm by Emma Watson. The Beast was a prince whose life was changed because of a curse. Their lives intersect when Belle’s father goes missing. Only if the Beast finds true love can his curse be lifted . The characters of Belle and the Beast have fantastic chemistry together and this is a key element of the story . Can Belle help the Beast become normal again? This movie is a musical and is beautifully sung with many familiar songs and a few new ones. "Be my guest" is my favorite song within this movie, and this version is excellently choreographed , is easy to understand and is super catchy. When the song came to an end I wanted to stand up and cheer . Like I said earlier in this review this movie has many new scenes and those scenes work well to plug in previous plot holes from the animated version. The new scenes are touching and are well integrated into the story. The story flows well and feels tight with some excellent character development. Belle's father has so much depth and personality and is very likeable. I appreciate the added depth to the characters and the new scenes only enrich an already excellent story. The computer graphics displayed within this movie are exceptional and I loved how they appeared on screen. When I watched the trailers for this movie I was off put by the computer-generated characters, but as I watched the final product thier appearance didn’t bother me at all. Excellent is the best word to describe this movie, it’s entertaining, smart and a magical cinematic experience that the entire family can enjoy. I hate to compare movies but I feel that this movie is superior to the 1991 animated movie. That being say I consider the 1991 animated Beauty and the Beast movie to be a modern classic and one of the best-animated movies of all time. The fact that this movie excels beyond that excellence is an amazing achievement, that Walt Disney would proud of. The movie feels both familiar and new and is the perfect showcase to how to make a remake that adds to the story yet honors what made the original so great to begin with .
Before I conclude this review I must speak on the controversy that this movie has created regarding a “gay scene”. This is a ridiculous controversy, based on silly character regarding an awkward hug. Yes this whole spectacle is based only on a hug . The character of LeFou is fabulous and eccentric and is finally made into a well-rounded person. In the animated version of this movie he is a simple minion of Gaston , but now he is a three-dimensional character. I never understood why LeFou would follow around the brutish Gaston but now it makes sense. I think that 99.9% of people will like his character change and have no problem with his eccentric humorous nature. This is much ado about nothing and is a moronic worthless controversy created by foolish people! I strongly disagree with government censorship of art, and I applaud Disney studios for making this wonderful movie.
In closing I loved this movie and I found it to be a spectacular movie with no significant flaws. The story is richer than ever, the characters are more established and they completely nail the musical performances. The only possible issue that I had was that some story elements fell a little too perfectly into place, but I can forgive that element because of its fairytales origins. Beauty & The Beast (2017) is a wonderful movie and is an excellent remake and is a truly magical theatrical experience.
Final Verdict: 10/10
