This week we headed out to see the latest film that Disney have taken from animated classic to live action with Beauty and the Beast from acclaimed Director Bill Condon.
The film has already lived on past the original 1991 animated version, with a successful transfer to the stage with a hit musical.
The musical has shown the songs are loved, so this reboot seemed a likely next step, Disney themselves are aware of the loyal fan base these films have, so the films are a fitting tribute as we saw from the box office smash that was The Jungle Book.
The story remains the same, an arrogant prince (Dan Stevens) who we learn in this version is in part down to his upbringing, is put under the spell, along with many of his friends and followers. The spell turns him into a beast, his other friends turned into various items from furniture to home accessories.
They have until the last petal of a rose falls, for this spell to be broken, which can only be done by the Prince, whilst in beast form, finding true love.
When a girl visits, to find her father, this could be the prince and his friends last and only chance to lift the spell!
A lot of the success of this film was dependent on the casting, for which Disney have done remarkably well.
Emma Watson is a great Belle, her singing is also good too, Dan Stevens does well as the Prince and Beast, but it is the back up of the supporting cast that make this film, Ewan McGregor is a real stand out as Lumiere, the candlestick, but Ian McKellen is excellent as the clock, Cogsworth and Emma Thompson is a great Mrs. Potts.
Stanley Tucci as Cadenza; Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette & Audra McDonald as Garderobe also put in memorable performances as the various items within the grounds, trapped with the Beast.
The highlight for us of these characters is a mischievous foot stall, transferred from a dog, which many will remember from the animated film.
Kevin Kline is also great as Belle’s father. The film needs a bad guy in Gaston and Luke Evans does extremely well, aided extremely well by LeFou (Josh Gad) who plays the character, adding a lot of fun and a bit of camp (but nowhere to the extend that the film has got publicity for!)
The film, which follows the story you know well, yet adds in extra to give some new takes on the story (this is mainly in giving more backstory to the prince as we have mentioned already as well as more on Belle’s story, as we learn about her mother)
If you love the story, this film will not disappoint you at all. The songs are performed exceptionally well and catchy.
Our only small issue we have with the film is the Beast himself. With the modern advances in Make-up and prosthetics, we found it a real shame the beast is an almost CGI character, but it certainly doesn’t ruin the film.
We enjoyed it, we still have ‘Be our Guest’ stuck in our head and whilst it’s easy to attack Disney for just remaking their back catalogue, rather than create original new content, when it’s as good as this, we can’t really have any complaints
You can find the trailer at the film website here
Buy it from Amazon here:
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