Jul 022017
 
two reels

Belle (Emma Watson) becomes the captive of an enchanted nobleman (Dan Stevens as CGI) who must find someone to love him or remain forever a beast. The magical castle is filled with servants who have been transformed into clocks, candelabra, tea pots and the like (Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson). Oh, come on, you know the story already.

I’m not opposed to new cinematic versions of previous successes, or better, failures. I just ask that there be some reason for them: a new take on the material. And a switch in style from animation to live action (well, CGI and live action) should meet my criteria. But in this case, it doesn’t. Here we’re in 1998 Psycho shot-for-shot remake territory, where it is all the same, but less.

Disney’s 1991 Beauty and the Beast worked as a great animated feature and a great musical. It had real heart and earned its classic status in record time. I suppose Disney feared messing too much with an artistic and financial triumph, and in the second they were right as this film has made a ridiculous amount of money. But artistically, they failed. Scene after scene mirror the animated versions, but lack the charm. Mostly it is simply a case that it worked better in a more abstract form, though the cast, none of whom are bad, can’t live up to the originals. McGregor and McKellen are actually quite good, but still can’t match Jerry Orbach’s and David Ogden Stiers’s voice portrayals. Emma Watson is too slight for the part. Her voice is nice, but “nice” is not enough to carry a musical. Emma Thompson does a reasonable rendition of the title song, but it lacked the emotion of Angela Lansbury’s. Only Josh Gad as Le Fou seems to realize that a broad take was the wise way to go. For a film about magic and monsters and talking furniture, it all is surprisingly staid.

The minuscule changes are unnecessary or annoying. The added songs are forgettable and supply nothing new. Making Belle’s father less quirky kills several jokes, though at least doesn’t create any large problems. The constant explanations on the other hand do create problems. Telling us that the servants deserved their fate because they weren’t helpful enough goes past blaming the victim and gives us an ugly philosophy. And having Belle teach reading to young girls and create a washing machine that is destroyed could, with very different writing, have made some meaningful statement about feminism, but as it goes nowhere is just embarrassing and screams “old guys pandering.”

An unpleasant portion of the potential audience went into homophobic conniption fits at news that Le Fou was gay. Discounting that this says more about their bigoted nature than the film, it was also a lot of wind about nothing. Le Fou is the same as he was in the animated version, which, when brought to live-action, makes his effeminate qualities more visible to those who tried to ignore them before.

If all copies of the 1991 version were lost, then I’d give this one another Reel, but as is, watch that one. If you want live-action, try Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête.

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