‘BEAST’ AS BEAUTIFUL AS EVER
Live-action version charms like original classic.
People can debate the need for a live-action Disney version of “Beauty of the Beast” all the livelong day. What’s the point? They can do this, of course, because the animated film, released in 1991, is a masterpiece, the first animated film to score an Oscar nomination for best picture. It made about a gazillion dollars at the box office (note: estimate may not be 100 percent accurate). Isn’t the latest in Disney’s series of turning its great animated films into live-action movies just another cash grab? Why mess with perfection?
No one has. The 1991 version exists as unsullied as ever. And the new version does nothing to dishonor it. It’s not the classic that film was, but it ain’t bad.
In fact it’s better than that — it’s quite good, thanks to the sturdiness of the story, the jaw-dropping visuals and, most importantly, the one thing the first film didn’t offer: Emma Watson.
She plays Belle, a young woman pushing against the constraints of her small French village, “different” largely because she can read (and loves doing so). The ridiculous, vain Gaston (Luke Evans) insists that she marry him, but she’ll have none of it.
Then one day her father gets lost and winds up the prisoner of the Beast (Dan Stevens), who we know from the prologue is actually a cursed prince. If he cannot find a woman to love him before the last petal on a magical rose falls, he’s doomed to his hairy state for eternity.
You know this, of course — it is, after all, a “tale as old as time.” You also know of the servants turned into animate household objects: Lumiere (Ewan McGregor), the candlestick; Cogsworth (Ian McKellen), the clock; Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson), a teapot; and her son Chip (Nathan Mack); and so on. As with any well-known fairy tale, what’s important is the telling.
Director Bill Condon tells this one well, and having Watson on board certainly doesn’t hurt. Thanks to her performance — “plucky” sounds silly and doesn’t quite capture it, but that’s a start — the story shakes off some of its creepy hostage-falls-for-captor baggage. Her Belle has more say in how things go, a welcome development.
The cast is also more inclusive, with two mixed-race couples. A fuss has been raised over the inclusion of a gay character, but it’s much ado about not much. The character, LeFou, is played with terrific verve by Josh Gad. LeFou nurses what may indeed be a crush on Gaston, and at the end of the film dances briefly with another man.
The original songs, by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, return, and a few more, with lyricist Tim Rice taking over for the deceased Ashman, are added (though they don’t add much). Watson is a game singer, and the big numbers are choreographed in winning fashion (particularly “Be Our Guest”).
At times, particularly during the action-adventure climax, the digital animation is a little suspect — surprising in a film that cost a fortune. And at more than two hours, it’s a little long.
But, goofy as it sounds, once Belle shows up in her yellow dress for her “date” with the Beast, it’s hard to deny the magic. I know nothing about fashion, but even a dolt like me can tell the dress is spectacular.
Does it need to exist? No, not really. Neither does ice cream, but you don’t hear many complaints about that. Don’t question it, or look for controversy where it doesn’t exist. Instead, do something better: enjoy it.