Beauty and the Beast

Reviewed By: Nick Evans

Score: 7/10

Recommendation: Matinee

Summary: A faithful remake of a classic film that may not have been necessary, but was entertaining in its own right.

Review:

I'm going to start this review by being honest. I loved animation as a kid, studied animation at BYU (CS with animation emphasis), and have been hired by an animation studio to do animated films. So, am I biased against remaking animated films? Yes, yes I am. Choosing to watch the version that was drawn frame by frame by a bunch of anit-social shut ins over years at one of the most influential animation studios of all time, will always be the right choice. That's true for all of these Disney remakes (except for Jungle Book... Yeah, Jon Favreau, I see you (Although to be completely honest, Jungle Book (2016) was pretty much completely animated)). So knowing my bias, I also know that not everyone is as excited about animated films as I am. In fact, surprisingly, there are people who prefer live action and some that don't even like animation. Whatever, to each their own... But you people are nuts.

Anyways, back to Beauty and the Beast, which you've already seen because literally everyone has seen it already, but a few months late, here's my review. I'm going to skip the plot summary because everyone knows the story and just say that it stars Emma Watson (Belle), some computer animator in a dark room for a couple years (the Beast), Luke Evans (Gaston), Ian McKellon (Cogsworth), and Ewen McGregor (Lumiere). Okay fine... the beast eventually turns into Dan Stevens. It was directed by Bill Condon (Mr. Holmes, Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Dreamgirls) and released on March 17, 2017.

The remake follows the original material pretty faithfully but adds a little bit to the story as well. Were the additions necessary? No, probably not. But they did help the Dad become a little more developed and gave him a background story and make him more likeable. The music of Beauty and the Beast (1991) is perhaps the best of any Disney animated movie (but I'm also a big fan of the music from Sleeping Beauty). As for the new song everyone is talking about. I didn't hate it which is saying a lot since I like the rest of the music so much. Last note, the village looks awesome!

I'm going to keep this review pretty short since you've already seen this movie and mostly just give it my grade. I enjoyed Beauty and the Beast more than I expected but less than many of my peers. Fans of the original property will be satisfied, but new fans, it will not bring. I will award Beauty and the Beast (2017) with 7 resurrected prince monsters out of 10.