Film: Beauty and the Beast

GENRE: Fantasy Musical

RATING: PG for action violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 9 minutes

STARRING: Emma Watson (Harry Potter, Perks of Being a Wallflower)

Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, Legion), Luke Evans (Dracula Untold)

DIRECTOR: Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Twilight: Breaking Dawn)

WRITERS: Stephen Chbosky (Perks of Being a Wallflower),

Evan Spiliotopoulos (Hercules-2014, lots of Disney straight to video sequels)

PLOT: Real life adaptation of the Disney cartoon about a woman who falls in love with a monstrous looking prince.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Not my favourite Disney cartoon. Haven’t seen the Broadway musical either.

STORY STUFF: They do an awesome job adapting the animated version of the film while throwing in (less-catchy) songs from the Broadway musical and other fun things. I was surprised how much Belle’s dad was featured in the story; maybe it was because Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda) was playing him. As a side note, he didn’t really have a good reason for not telling his daughter what happened to her mother. Also, the prince gets a pretty big curse, Gaston gets nothing.

ACTING STUFF: Great work all around. Watson plays Belle perfectly. The voice acting for the artifacts are spot on. My highlights though would have to be Evans as Gaston and Josh Gad (Frozen) as La Fou. They are a treat to watch. It helps that I love both of their songs as well.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Beautifully shot. The cinematography and production design are gorgeous. Of course, they are matching the animated film most of the time, but still. Some of the CG was a tad overdone but it didn’t bother me too much. We saw it in 3D and while there were a couple of times it is used well, I still prefer to see it in 2D.    

VERDICT: Four out of five stars

SEE IT IF: You are a Disney fan, even if the cartoon is not your favourite.
UPCOMING REVIEWS: CHiPs