Beauty and the Beast
Once upon a time, before the acronyms VHS and DVD were commonplace, Disney would quaintly safeguard such animated classics as " Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs " and " Pinocchio " like priceless gems while benevolently re-issuing them every few years on the big screen before stashing them back in the studio vault.
But in the 1990s, with the advent of home entertainment, the studio started to consider new ways beyond revivals to cash in on the same beloved stories. First came Broadway productions, followed by direct-to-video sequels, TV series spinoffs and then, starting in 2010 with Tim Burton 's effects-laden " Alice in Wonderland ," digitally-enhanced live-action renditions.
It was therefore all but inevitable that a property as adored as 1991's "Beauty and the Beast," the first animated film to not just compete in Oscar's Best Picture category but also top the $100 million box-office mark, would receive a 21st-century makeover after "Cinderella" and " The Jungle Book " followed the rousing $1 billion worldwide box-office reception for "Alice in Wonderland."
The bottom line: This gloriously old-fashioned musical with gee-whiz trappings is a dazzling beauty to behold (with enough Rococo gold decor to gild all of Trump's properties) and is anything but a beastly re-interpretation of a fairy tale as old as time. Also welcome is the more inclusive display of love in its various forms, which go beyond the sweetly awkward courtship between brainy, brave and independent-minded bookworm Belle ( Emma Watson , much cherished for her gutsy portrayal of Hermione Granger in the eight Harry Potter films) and the cursed prince in the ill-tempered guise of a ram-horned bison-faced creature ( Dan Stevens of "Downton Abbey," whose sensitive blue eyes serve him well amid all his CGI faux-fur trappings).
As for that "exclusively gay moment" you have been hearing about? It appears near the conclusion when LeFou, a comic-relief character brought to life by Josh Gad (the voice of Olaf the snowman in " Frozen ") who clearly has an unrequited man-crush on his bulky and boorish buddy Gaston ( Luke Evans of "The Girl on the Train"), fleetingly dances with a male partner. That's it. If your kids aren't freaked out by Michael Keaton 's coy in-the-closet Ken doll in " Toy Story 3 ," they will be fine here—especially considering the central relationship in this PG-rated fantasy basically promotes bestiality.
Still, this is a much denser—and longer, by a considerable 45 minutes—confection, one that doesn't always go down as easily as the less-adorned yet lighter-than-air angel food cake that was the original. It's true that my heart once again went pitty-pat during the ballroom waltz as Emma Thompson voicing Mrs. Potts honors her sublime teapot predecessor Angela Lansbury by warmly warbling the title theme. But I couldn't help but feel that the more-is-more philosophy that lurks behind many of these remakes weighs down not just the story but some key performances. This "Beauty" is too often beset by blockbuster bloat.
The familiar basics of the plot are the same as Maurice, Belle's father ( Kevin Kline , whose sharp skills as a farceur are barely employed), is imprisoned by the Beast inside his forbidding castle for plucking a rose from his garden and Belle eventually offers to take her papa's place. Meanwhile, the enchanted household objects conspire to cause the odd couple to fall for each other and break the spell that allows both them and their master to return to human form again.
There are efforts by screenwriters by Stephen Chbosky (" The Perks of Being a Wallflower ") and Evan Spiliotopoulos ("The Huntsman: Winter's War") to provide emotional links between Belle and her Beast involving their mutual absent mothers that don't add much substance. And, in an ineffectual attempt to embolden her feminist cred, Belle invents a primitive version of a washing machine. Such additions don't hold a candelabra to tried and true sequences as when the Beast, in a wooing mood, reveals his vast library of books to Belle. One can only describe the reaction on Watson's face as she takes in this leather-bound orgy of reading material as a biblio-gasm.
That is not to say there isn't much to admire, especially with director Bill Condon 's dedication to injecting the lushness and scope of tune-filled spectacles of yore into the world of IMAX 3-D. His resume, which includes penning the adapted screenplay for " Chicago " and calling the shots behind the camera for "Dreamgirls" and the final two FX-propelled "Twilight" films, shows he knows his way around both musicals and special effects. Watson might be at her best right out of the gate while performing the song " Belle ," which begins with her bemoaning her provincial existence in a small town and ends with her singing on high amid lush green hilltops dotted with yellow wild flowers while channeling Maria in "The Sound of Music." That the camera lingers upon the freckles on her pert nose is an added bonus.
Alas, once she is ensconced in the massive gothic castle, Watson is more reactive than pro-active as her slightness causes her to be swallowed up by the ornate scenery and upstaged by the chatty servants in the guise of furniture and knickknacks. I was a little nervous about how the voice cast including Ewan McGregor as the urbane French-accented candle man Lumiere and Ian McKellen as the chubby nervous mantel clock Cogsworth would fare. But they all do a bang-up job with the stand-out number "Be Our Guest," the so-called "culinary cabaret" where plates, platters and utensils turn into performers in a Busby Berkeley-style spectacular. Condon wisely takes the choreography to the next level with nods to everything from " West Side Story " and "Les Miserables." Meanwhile, Gad and Evans—both musical theater veterans—pull off the humorous pub number "Gaston" with playful aplomb.
Less successful are the action sequences where the Beast and Gaston battle it out "Hunchback of Notre Dame"-style among rooftop turrets, crumbling buttresses and gargoyles. But m ost disappointing are the not-so-memorable new songs that pop up in the second half whose melodies are once again written by composer Alan Menken but with lyrics by Tim Rice (" The Lion King "). They just cannot compete with the old favorites that never fail to tickle the ears with their irresistible wordplay supplied by the late great Howard Ashman . But with its racially diverse cast (at one point, I wished that Broadway dynamo Audra MacDonald as the wardrobe Madame Garderobe and the sprightly Stanley Tucci as her harpsichord hubby Maestro Cadenza could have done their own duet) and wink at same-sex flirtation, this "Beauty" presents a far more inclusive view of the world. One that is awash with a sense of hope and connection that we desperately need right now. If you desire an entertaining escape from reality right about now, be my guest.
Susan Wloszczyna
Susan Wloszczyna spent much of her nearly thirty years at USA TODAY as a senior entertainment reporter. Now unchained from the grind of daily journalism, she is ready to view the world of movies with fresh eyes.
- Ewan McGregor as Lumiere
- Luke Evans as Gaston
- Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette
- Hattie Morahan as Agathe
- Josh Gad as LeFou
- Emma Watson as Belle
- Kevin Kline as Maurice
- Audra McDonald as Wardrobe
- Ian McKellen as Cogsworth
- Stanley Tucci as Cadenza
- Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts
- Dan Stevens as Beast / Prince Adam
- Alan Menken
- Bill Condon
- Evan Spiliotopoulos
- Stephen Chbosky
Cinematographer
- Tobias A. Schliessler
- Virginia Katz
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Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Revels in Joy and Enchantment
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By A.O. Scott
- March 3, 2017
To quote a lyric from one of the songs in “Beauty and the Beast,” “there may be something there that wasn’t there before.” The familiar elements are all in place, of course. It’s “Beauty and the Beast,” for goodness’ sake: a tale as old as time, a song as old as rhyme and all that. And there are inspired flights of nostalgia as well, visual evocations of the predigital glory of Busby Berkeley , Ray Harryhausen and other masters of fantastical craft.
But this live-action/digital hybrid , directed by Bill Condon and starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the title roles, is more than a flesh-and-blood (and prosthetic fur-and-horns) revival of the 26-year-old cartoon , and more than a dutiful trip back to the pop-culture fairy-tale well. Its classicism feels unforced and fresh. Its romance neither winks nor panders. It looks good, moves gracefully and leaves a clean and invigorating aftertaste. I almost didn’t recognize the flavor: I think the name for it is joy.
This was by no means a foregone conclusion. The reanimation of beloved properties — to use the grim business nomenclature of Hollywood — often leads to hack work and zombie-ism, as old archetypes are shocked to life and arrayed in garish, synthetic modern effects. That might easily have happened here. Look (I mean: don’t look) at the horrors that have been visited, in recent years, on Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz. And even if Disney had done a more convincing upgrade, on the model of last year’s “Jungle Book,” a new “Beauty” could have offended fans of the 1991 animated feature simply by existing. That movie, a high point of the ’80s and ’90s Disney revival, is close to perfect. What singing teapot would dare to challenge Angela Lansbury?
The only possible answer is Emma Thompson, whose Mrs. Potts is joined by other household objects with the voices (and, briefly, the faces) of movie stars. Stanley Tucci and Audra McDonald are the excitable harpsichord and the operatic wardrobe; Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellen are the suave candelabra and the anxious clock. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is the lissome feather duster. Young Nathan Mack is Chip, Mrs. Potts’s son. Their singing and banter is so vivid and so natural that you almost take for granted that they appear to be mechanical objects clicking and whirling in physical space, sharing the frame with human characters.
Movie Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’
The times critic a. o. scott reviews “beauty and the beast.".
“Beauty and the Beast” is the live action re-telling of the animated Walt Disney classic. In his review A.O. Scott writes: This live-action/digital hybrid, starring Emma Watson, is more than a flesh-and-blood revival of the 26-year-old cartoon, and more than a dutiful trip back to the pop-culture fairy-tale well. Its classicism feels unforced and fresh. Its romance neither winks nor panders. The most dazzling visual flights are matched to the best of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s songs. There are a few moments where the digital seams show, and you’re aware of the cold presence of lines of code behind the images. Most of the time, though, you are happily fooled.
There are a few moments — a climactic high-elevation fight scene that looks like every other climactic high-elevation fight scene; a chase through the forest involving wolves — where the digital seams show, and you’re aware of the cold presence of lines of code behind the images. Most of the time, though, you are happily fooled. More than that: enchanted. The most dazzling visual flights are matched to the best of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s songs. “Be Our Guest” in particular is a choreographic extravaganza that enfolds decades of Disney history (all the way back to “Snow White” and “Fantasia”) in contemporary cinematic craft.
But the tradition of Disney features, both live action and animated, rigorously places spectacle in the service of plot. The audience needs to be, by turns, reassured and surprised, guided through startling and suspenseful events toward a never-in-doubt conclusion. The new “Beauty and the Beast,” written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos, smoothly modernizes — and to some degree sanitizes — a story with a potentially thorny psychosexual subtext, a tale of male animality and female captivity. He’s a beast and a prince. She’s his prisoner and his therapist. It’s a little kinky if you stop to think about it, and also (to use a more responsible word) a little problematic.
Variations on the beauty-beast theme are hardly scarce. What else is “Twilight” (the last two movie installments were directed by Mr. Condon)? Or “Fifty Shades of Grey”? “Beauty and the Beast” decisively removes itself from such company by insisting on the heroism and competence of its heroine, Belle, a bookish and ingenious young woman who lives with her father (Kevin Kline) in a picture-book French village.
Ms. Watson, already something of a feminist pioneer thanks to her portrayal of Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” movies, perfectly embodies Belle’s compassion and intelligence. Mr. Stevens, blandly handsome as a human prince, is a splendid monster, especially when the diffidence and charm start to peek through the rage. The awkward business about imprisonment turning into true love is handled smoothly. If you want a hot and haunting “Beauty and the Beast,” check out Jean Cocteau’s version, or the fan-fiction-inspiring television show from the 1980s. This one is chaste and charming.
It’s Disney! Which means there will also be a villain and a comical sidekick, who steal many scenes on the way to their comeuppance. That would be Gaston (Luke Evans), a narcissistic cabbage-stomping former soldier and his adoring pal LeFou (Josh Gad). Gaston is sweet on Belle, and his excitement at her unambiguous refusals makes him the film’s avatar of nastiness. No redemption here. He goes from annoying to evil when he stirs up the anti-intellectualism and xenophobia of a populist mob to serve his own egomaniacal ends. The residents of the castle fight back because their humanity is at stake. It’s just a fairy tale.
Beauty and the Beast Rated PG. Some scary stuff, and some rough stuff, too. Running time: 2 hours 9 minutes.
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