Another Disney live action remake, coming out 3/17/17



Looks to have an amazing cast:

Emma Watson (Belle)
Dan Stevens (Beast)
Luke Evans (Gaston)
Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts)
Ewan McGregor (Lumiere)
Ian McKellan (Cogsworth)
Kevin Kline (Maurice)
Josh Gad (LeFou)

5/23/2016 4:26:16 PM

ewan mcgregor's french accent

5/23/2016 8:25:28 PM

And Ian McKellan saying "you fool!" (0:54 in the trailer)



[Edited on May 24, 2016 at 3:43 AM. Reason : -]

5/24/2016 3:42:59 AM

LOVED IT!

3/20/2017 2:21:18 PM

Starting out, it was good, but not great, then it got to Be our Guest and was awesome to the end.

3/20/2017 2:38:02 PM

Good point wolfdawg4. I can see that.

3/20/2017 3:09:53 PM

The two best scenes were the Gaston bar song and Beast's solo song which was new (Evermore).

3/20/2017 6:11:02 PM

The Beast solo song was what I hated most about the movie.

In a musical, a song should serve a purpose. It can...
-Paint a setting (Belle singing about the provincial town and how much she hates it)
-Introduce and help the audience get to know a character ("Chicago" did this particularly well with just about every character having a personalized entrance)
-Help a character make difficult decision or make a plan (Javere in "Les Mis")
-Provide exposition (Mrs. Lovitt tells Sweeney Todd what happened to his wife)

And while expressing emotion can be purpose enough, it has to be otherwise unexpressed in action. Otherwise we don't have to be told. It's Han Solo saying, "I know." We don't have to hear him tell her he loves her back, it's so overwhelmingly obvious in that moment.

So, as the Beast is watching Bell leaving him to be alone in his dark tower, he is literally singing about being lonely in his melancholy tower. The original movie had him roaring in pain, which felt just so much deeper.

My reasons for disliking this song are the same reasons I, a big lover of both stage and movie musicals, hated everything about La La Land.

3/21/2017 7:09:16 PM

Things I liked:

- Emma Watson, and the actors in general
- Costume design
- Set design
- Nostalgia
- The plot and the ending (for the most part) did not change

Things I didn't like:

- New scenes which served zero purpose (background on Belle and Beast's respective mothers)
- Cogsworth didn't give Belle a tour of the castle (so my favorite line from the original was scratched)
- Some of the villagers knew and were even spouses of some of the castle folk...that made zero sense
- LeFou. I felt Josh Gad's talents were wasted, and his internal struggle took away from the actual plot.
- Way too much uncanny valley, especially with Lumiere

3/21/2017 7:36:36 PM

Bdmazur, the narrative about the spell/curse cast on the castle and the people (very beginning of the movie) explained that the spell/curse made the friends and family forget about the people that became under the spell/curse.

3/22/2017 3:01:03 PM

Isn't the narration that "over time, people forgot?" They never say the spell made them forget. And even if so, why would Mrs. Potts get turned and not Mr. Potts? He just wasn't around the night of a huge party all the other servants were present for? There's a throw-away line they added in to the "Belle" number how he can't remember what he's forgotten (reminded me of Neville Longbottom) just so they can have him remember something at the end of the movie, but it was incredibly unnecessary. They even have Mrs. Potts notice him during the fight at the castle, but instead of protecting him from the other household objects she takes time to politely chat with LeFou in the middle of a fight.

I'm not sure how I felt about the Beast being intelligent. On one hand, maybe he's a more natural partner for Belle since he also likes to read. But on the other, Belle teaching him how to read (meaning he had to try harder to connect with her). Instead of scoffing at Romeo & Juliet, we had this:

(sorry for the weird green frame)

[Edited on March 22, 2017 at 8:40 PM. Reason : -]

3/22/2017 8:35:34 PM

The narration does say that initially, but then goes on to say that they forget because it's a part of the spell.

3/23/2017 4:58:12 PM

The payoff still didn't seem worth it. Mrs. Potts gets to hug a guy at the end we don't care about! And look, a funny interaction between Cogsworth who looks like he hates his wife!

And we hate her, too, because she's just as if not more cruel than Gaston. She goes from murderous rage to kissing an eye-rolling Ian McKellan in a snap. A comeuppance would have been more satisfying.

3/23/2017 7:20:10 PM

I actually agree, that the roaring was more impactful than singing about being lonely in a tower, while being lonely in a tower.

That' being said, I think evermore is an amazing song especially the "now I know she'll never leave me; even as she runs away" part of the song really blows me away. Something about his voice I really enjoy. So I'm prepared to give that part a pass even if I think the original did it better.

I didn't care for the exposition on their mothers, or the [spoiler]



tying maurice to the tree [/end spoiler]

at all

3/25/2017 5:35:22 PM

I think the cartoon Belle showed more character.

3/26/2017 6:24:36 PM