Beauty and the Beast

Movie Title-- Beauty and the Beast

Release Year-- 2017

Running Time-- 2 Hours and 9 Minutes

Director-- Bill Condon

Cast-- Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gadd, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Stanley Tucci, Emma Thompson, Kevin Cline, Nathan Mack, Hattie Morahan, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ray Fearson

After a vain young prince is cursed by a beautiful enchantress, he must find someone to break the spell or remain a beast forever.

One winter's night, in a castle in France, a young, rude, vain Prince (Stevens) is having a ball when there is a knock at the door. An old beggar woman (Morahan) comes in looking for a place to keep warm during the storm that is raging outside and offers the Prince a single rose in exchange for shelter. The Prince, being selfish and cruel, laughs and refuses the woman, who then warns him about his ways before again asking for shelter. When she is refused again, she transforms into a beautiful enchantress who curses the Prince, turning him into a Beast and all of the people inside the castle into enchanted inanimate objects. She then erases the memory of the castle from the neighboring townspeople and enchants the woods surrounding the castle into a dark and foreboding, everlasting winter. Before she leaves, she gives the Beast the rose and an enchanted mirror and tells him that he must learn to love another and have them love him in return before the last petal falls in order to break the curse, otherwise he would stay a Beast forever.

Many years later in the nearby village of Villeneuve, Belle (Watson), a beautiful young bookworm lives with her father Maurice (Cline), a tinkerer and inventor. The townspeople think that she is strange because she is learned, loves to read and therefore doesn't share the same interests as the rest of the girls in the village. Although she is a little strange in everyone's eyes, the most eligible man in town, a narcissistic hunter and former soldier Gaston (Evans), is pursuing Belle to be his wife. The thought of being a simple housewife to Gaston disgusts Belle who has much bigger hopes and dreams for her future.

Maurice is headed off to market and asks Belle what he should bring back for her and she requests a single rose. Maurice sets off but soon gets lost in the forest and stumbles upon the Beast's castle. He goes inside seeking shelter from the storm and is taken prisoner for trying to take a rose from his garden.

Philippe, Maurice's horse, returns home without Maurice and leads Belle back to the castle. Belle finds her father and demands he be set free but the Beast tells her that he will only let her father go if she takes his place. Belle tricks her father into letting her take his place and Maurice is dragged away. He returns to the village to try to get help to save his daughter but everyone thinks he is a lunatic. Belle on the other hand is learning to adjust to life in the castle among the enchanted objects and moody Beast.

Do I really need to go any further? This film is a “Tale as Old as Time” (see what I did there??) and if you don't already know the story then you have either been living under a rock for a while or you are possibly not old enough to read this yet. No matter how much or little you know about the story, I only have one thing to say about this film:

WOW

I am one of those people that has not been too happy with the Disney animation into live action film remakes. I mean, the first “Alice in Wonderland” was alright, the second one was not my favorite, I was disappointed with “Maleficent”, “Cinderella” was pretty good and “The Jungle Book” does not look interesting to me at all; so you can imagine that I just somehow knew they were going to screw up “Beauty and the Beast”, one of my favorite childhood movies.

I just need to say...before the first 5 minutes had passed, I knew I was going to love this film. Just in the first few minutes the scenery and the effects and the costumes, they made the whole film come alive. I honestly don't want to say too much because I think this is an experience that a fan of the original animation has to have for themselves. The sets and the costumes are beautiful, honestly, if this film isn't nominated for costume design at next year's Academy Awards (although I know it is way too early to be talking awards...) there is a problem because someone deserves recognition for their work.

Here are the things I do want to address. In the animated film people have problems with some of the inconsistency of the story, such as these following points--

The prince is so young, how could he not wanting a stranger come into his home be considered rude?

Belle falls in love with the Beast because she has Stockholm syndrome.

How do the villagers not know there is a castle in the woods?

How does Belle get Beast on her horse to get him back to the castle after his fight in the woods against the wolves?

These questions are all answered in this new updated version. There seems to be an explanation for all of the previous questions, although, we still don't get an official name for the Beast (everyone says it is Prince Adam but just the other day I saw something that said for this film it could be Prince Ian, so I'm just not sure).

The songs are great, the acting is excellent and the characters have grown up! These characters have more substance to them than their original animated counterparts; Belle is not only beautiful and a bookworm, she is smart and innovative. Beast has more depth, he isn't just a gruff, moody hybrid. Gaston isn't just an idiot without a clue, he is smart and cruel and selfish. Lefou isn't just a sidekick, he develops and changes throughout the film and Maurice, he isn't just eccentric, he has an actual purpose in the story, well besides being captured, released and then being the reason that the villagers go attack the castle. The enchanted objects are not just there to be comic relief but they have their own personalities and stories and it helps to make everything feel that much more immersive.

I honestly could go on and on about this film all day but I will save you from that. I would like to mention just one more thing...THE LIBRARY. Oh, the wondrous sight when the Beast opens the door and we see the library for the first time. It truly is enough to make a real bookworm swoon (I know I did).

I say, gather anyone that you can to see this film and go. I took my 4 year old daughter to see it and she loved it. If a 4 year old can sit through it, anyone can, that is how enjoyable it is. I honestly, would LOVE to go see it again. Go see it, you won't be disappointed and when you get to the theater, Don't Forget the Popcorn!