The Ramblings of an Optimistic Yet Admittedly Disappointed Beauty and the Beast Fangirl · 6:41am Jun 22nd, 2017
So, I saw the live-action Beauty and the Beast remake a few days ago with my family, and I want to say that I totally loved it and that it’s the best live-action remake to come out of Disney so far, but I can’t. Look, as a diehard fan of the original animated movie and a fan of the Cinderella remake, I wanted to love, love, love this movie so bad. I wanted to be impressed. I wanted to be floored. I wanted to be totally blown away. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. Sad to say but I barely liked it.
I was going to make this post be about what I didn’t like about the remake and what I wish they had done differently, but I decided against doing so because the internet already has enough people complaining about something or other, and the last thing that it needs is more negativity. Besides, I’ve been griping and ranting to my sister about the movie for the past three days or so, and even I’m getting tired of listening to me complain. Instead, I’m going to talk about what I liked about the movie or something good that came out of it. Unmarked spoilers ahead.
However, I’ll give a summary of the misses just to get all the negativity off of my chest. Strike one, the vocal quality, especially in the older songs. It’s kind of unsettling when Cogsworth is able to sing three or four lines more pleasantly than Lumiere is able to sing the original movie’s most iconic musical number. Strike two, in the process of empowering and modernizing Belle, her kindness and compassion kind of ended up taking a back seat in her overall personality. I mean, they’re still there. They’re just not as much in the forefront, which is a shame because they’re the qualities that end up playing the biggest role in breaking the curse. Overall, the remake just lacked a lot of the fun, magic, and emotion that the original movie had.
Well, now that all that junk’s out of the way, let’s get to the positives, which are being listed in no particular order.
- I love how they expanded on each of the characters’ relationships with one another. I mean, I couldn’t get enough of how devoted to each other the beta couples were.
- Filled plot holes. The curse obviously took place during the prince’s adulthood, and the amount of time that passed and the Prince’s age were left unspecified, so no “Writers Cannot Do Math” here. What happened to Belle’s mother was explained. What happened to Mr. Potts was explained. Quite honestly, I found that last reveal way too funny.
- The way Belle and the Beast’s romance played out. More time was spent elaborating how the two of them got closer, and, other than the headshot, watching the whole thing was pretty adorable.
- The Beast’s portrayal. He is a little less angry and a little more insecure in this version. The moviemakers gave him an endearingly witty sense of humor to boot. At one point, Belle catches him reading a romance, and he’s like “Shut up. I’m only reading it for the manly parts like the knights and swords and stuff.” (Totally paraphrasing.) It was adorable. Oh, also, there’s a scene where he totally geeks out over going to Paris. So endearing! (I guess we know where he and Belle went on their honeymoon. Haha!
) - Maurice is less of a clueless dad in this version. I love how he knows that Gaston is a terrible match for his daughter and pretty much flat out tells the jerkface so.
- Gaston is a bigger jerk and a bigger threat. It’s a weird thing to like, I know, but for some reason, I can’t help but like it. I think it’s because Gaston’s additional jerkiness compliments the Beast’s additional dorkiness and Maurice’s decreased cluelessness.
- The new songs were beautiful. “How Does a Moment Last Forever” was a beautiful tribute to the enduring power of love through the good and the bad, especially the end credits version. “Evermore” was movingly melancholy yet bittersweet. “Days in the Sun” is admittedly a bit of a mixed bag for me at the moment mostly because I found out about a cut version featuring the Prince’s mother that I felt should have been left in because it had everything that I felt that the movie was missing. However, the final version still turned out pretty good. I mean, it was a wonderfully poignant piece on the loss of innocence, the accompanying uncertainty and longing, and the hope that things will turn out alright.
- The ending. After the curse is broken, all the characters have tender, happy reunions with their loved ones. Even Cogsworth’s was strangely adorable (and funny).
- Belle being more creative, innovative, and forward thinking. Her inventing that washing machine makes so much sense and was pretty cool to watch. (I just wish they had decided to give the same amount of attention to her kinder, softer side. Also, what happened next kind of ruined that particular segment of the movie.)
- I learned a lesson about setting expectations too high. The next remake that I’m looking forward to is Mulan, and the only thing I’m going to expect is for Shang to be Asian and for either Donny Yen and/or Jackie Chan to get a good role.
- Someone used the soundtrack to make a mini set of EGMVs that ended up resurrecting the Human!Flashlight ship for me. I was this (holds index finger and thumb about half a centimeter apart from each other) close to switching to Flashshimmer. Thank you, Ro994.
I'll be sincere, if I want to watch Disney's Beauty and The Beast, I'll pop in the VHS or DVD of the original film.
4678138
Hey, look on the bright side. If the live-action movie had never been made, I'd probably be shipping Flashshimmer right now.
I never saw the movie, but, I was never pleased that they decided to make Gaston’s sidekick, LeFou, a homosexual character. But, I suppose it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering that the director Bill Condon is gay, and likes to use his movies to promote certain sexualities.
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The movie as a whole lost a lot of its heart and soul in favor of pushing social agendas.
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Exactly.