This article was written by Katherine Quesada, class of 2018.
Following the trend of remaking movies, Disney has introduced the real-life version of the classic, “Beauty and the Beast.” However, the original is a hard act to follow.
The casting was well done, as Emma Watson portrayed Belle in a true-to-character manner and Dan Stevens played the beast with the necessary emotion to encapsulate the frustration of his situation. The costumes, too, were all beautifully done, except for Belle’s ball gown. I was underwhelmed by the dress’ lack of detail and magnificence.
The CGI effects made the movie. The creation of the castle and the surrounding areas, as well as the animation of Lumiere and Cogsworth, was life-like and breathtaking; the entire film was truly a work of art.
However, I was disappointed with the movie as a whole in terms of overall production. As I said before, the original is a hard act to follow, and the recreation was not up-to-par. The film itself was long with parts where I looked at my watch and wondered how much time was left. Some scenes, such as Belle’s father’s trek through the woods and Gaston’s scene in the tavern, were drawn out and boring.
Another part of the film I disliked was the lack of action by Lumiere, Cogsworth and the other household items. They played a crucial role in the original movie to bring Belle and the Beast together but did not in this recreation. For example, Fifi and Lumiere were part of the scene when Belle and the Beast are playing in the snow in the original film but were absent in the recreation.
The most disappointing aspect of this film was the “Be Our Guest” scene. It did not have the same awe-striking effect it did in the animation, although the CGI in the rest of the movie was amazingly done. The dining hall scene also lacked the magic of the original movie.
Overall, I was not impressed with the remake of Beauty and the Beast, as it did not meet the standards of the original. It lacked the magic in the making of the animation and failed to encapsulate the enchantment of “Beauty and the Beast.”
