Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens,
Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Gugu Mbatha-Raw,
Audra McDonald, Hattie Morahan, Nathan Mack, Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson
Rate: 7 (from 1 to 10)
Review: Did we need a live-action remake
of Disney’s classic BEAUTY AND THE BEAST? No, we didn’t. That movie is still one
of the best animated movies I ever saw and I also had a great time with the
Broadway stage adaptation of it. Besides one or two new songs, this new movie
doesn’t add much to the original. In fact, half of the characters are CGI
animated and that doesn’t make them real “live-action”. So, besides the millions
it’s doing at the box-office, why bother doing it again? Because of the magic!
I love musicals and I love fairy tales, so everything I might say ist’ always
suspicious, but I really enjoyed this luxurious big production.
In the hands of director Bill Condon, who had already shown
that he could handle a musical with DREAMGIRLS, the musical numbers easily flow
through a fabulous fantasy atmosphere that embraces the action with a fantastic
visual style and the right amount of humor. As for the polemic gay character,
oh please! He already existed in the original and there’s nothing wrong with
that. He makes sense in a movie with the message that being different is okay
and that the important thing is the beauty inside and not the physical one.
As for the score, the big hits of the original are here,
although the singing voices aren’t as good as in the original. Even so, Emma
Thompson sweetly delivers the title song and Ewan McGregor leads the cast with
style with “Be Our Guest”. Of course, Josh Gad has a big time with “Gaston”,
the only number better here than in the original. In the role of Beauty, Emma
Watson, of whom I never cared much, doesn’t have a very good singing voice, but
she manages to deliver her songs in tune. I didn’t expect that Dan Stevens, as
the Beast, and Luke Evans, as Gaston, had strong voices, so they surprised me.
I just wish they had given something more to Audra McDonald as Madame
Garderobe; they did give her one of the new songs, “Aria”, but it’s too short
for her enormous talent.
As for the new songs, the best one is “Evermore”, a strong
emotional song that is a trademark of composer Alan Menken. There’s also the sweet
“How Does a Moment Last Forever” and I couldn’t believe that, once again, they
didn’t use the terrific “Be Human Again”. This song, my favorite of the whole
score, was cut from the original movie and later used with magic effect on the
stage production. In the current movie, it’s replaced by the pretty ballad
“Days in the Sun”.
As you may guess, I recommend the movie and the soundtrack.
It’s true, the original movie is better and so is the original Broadway cast
recording, but there’s plenty to enjoy here and the “Be Our Guest”. number is a
feast to all senses!
You can see a gallery of poster by clicking here.
You can see a gallery of poster by clicking here.
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