AS far as animated Disney movies go, one tale “as old as time” has never failed to captivate audiences, young or small.
Beauty and the Beast, the story of how a woman falls in love with a prince cursed as a beast, is considered an iconic animation since the movie’s release in 1991.
So when Disney announced a live-action flick slated for release this year, fans of the movie, yours truly included, had mixed reactions.
Since the disastrous attempt to remake the Avatar series, I have been wary of my favourite animated flicks being butchered as live-action renditions.
Film-maker Bill Condon seemingly took this concern into account and stayed true to the beloved original of Beauty and the Beast thanks to writers Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos.
The deal was made sweeter with the announcement of a star-studded cast including Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Sir Ian McKellen, Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci.
Of particular interest to me was casting Watson as Belle. The former Harry Potter star fit the bill as the “independent, book-savvy and kind-hearted” girl living in a small French village.
Living with her inventor father Maurice (Kline), Belle is shown to be somewhat of an “odd duck” in the village, with villagers pointing out her peculiarity through song while Belle sings about wanting “much more than this provincial life”.
Of course, no Disney flick will be complete without a dastardly villain. Gaston (Evans), a narcissistic soldier and hunter, almost never seen without his sidekick LeFou (Gad), has his heart set on marrying Belle, despite her refusing his offer many times.
It isn’t long before Maurice journeys to a fair with his creations when he takes a wrong turn in the forest and ends up at a supposedly empty castle, inhabited by the Beast (Stevens) and members of his household who were cursed by an enchantress. The curse could only be broken if someone fell in love with the Beast in spite of his appearance.
Maurice is imprisoned by the castle’s owner after being caught stealing a rose from the palace garden.
The storyline then follows that of the original, with Belle taking her father’s place as prisoner in the castle, where she then meets the suave candelabra Lumiere (McGregor), clock Cogsworth (McKellen), teapot Mrs Potts (Thompson) among others.
The journey then begins to get Belle to fall in love with the Beast before the final petal on the enchanted flower falls. Fast forward and pretty soon you see a mob of angry villagers, led by Gaston, heading to the castle to kill the beast.
Similar to the original, Gaston manages to shoot the Beast before falling to his death. Belle manages to confess her true feelings of love, breaking the curse and restoring the Beast (who is in actuality Prince Adam) and his household to their human state.
So if you have seen and loved the original, the live action Beauty and the Beast will be a treat for you.
Some new content in the film such as when the Beast performed some magical mumbo-jumbo and transported Belle to the Paris of her childhood — added more depth to Belle’s character as we discovered her mother died during the plague pandemic in Europe.
Fair warning, there have been additional songs added to the movie, which makes it a bit slow-paced, so there are times you will feel like you are watching a Bollywood movie.
However, Alan Menken is a genius when it comes to song writing and production in Disney movies and this flick is no different. The computer generated imagery (CGI) scenes in the movie are okay: one in particular which stands out is the song “Be our Guest”.
In spite of the controversy surrounding the movie (for featuring a homosexual character), Beauty and the Beast has done well at the box office, raking in more than $US776 million ($F1.6b) worldwide according to Forbes Magazine.
Whatever your reservations, if you’re a fan of the original, then this movie is a must watch for you.
