A classic Disney film would not be what it is without making you feel nostalgic about your childhood. Beauty and the beast premiered March 17.
The movie is a romantic musical about a prince that is cursed into a beast until he learns how to love. A village girl that is imprisoned in his castle change the heart of the mean spirited beast. The film was an original animated film from 1991 that won an Oscar for best picture. In the new version, Emma Watson plays the ideal Belle.
The moment I saw the first musical scene with Belle singing in the village, I knew that Watson was going to be amazing. Watson portrayed Belle with such beauty and grace. At the same time, Belle was not like the typical girls in her village. Belle is a feminist that is ahead of her time. She enjoys reading which is not popular in her village for women to do. Belle is ridicule by people in her village because she is teaching girls to read instead of handwashing her laundry. During this time period, boys went to school and girls stayed at home to do house chores. This makes Belle feel out of place.
There were a few minor changes from the original film. For instance, the musical scene Something There had the same concept of Belle and the beast falling in love with each other. However, the scene was different from the original. Additionally, the new version had a lot of background information on the characters. For example, you find out what happened to Belle’s mother. One of my favorite scenes is the musical of Be Our Guest. This scene is so beautiful and made me feel like a little kid watching fireworks for the first time. The beast’s servants were turned into household items because of the curse. In order to get Belle to fall in love with the beast, the servants invite her to dinner. The plates, who are the beast’s servants are flying from the ceiling onto the dinner table as colorful lights invade the room. The production team did a wonderful job with the set. Considering the fact that the movie is a live action film, they must have put a lot of time into making sure everything looked realistic.
According to an interview with Access Hollywood, the hardest scene to film was the ballroom dance between the beast and Belle. Dan Steven, who played the beast had to do the waltz with stilts on. “I was particularly concerned about not breaking any of Emma Watson’s toes,” said Steven. Emma Thompson who plays Mrs. Potts didn’t just seem like a teapot to me. Through her singing and dialogue with her son, I felt her emotions and forgot she was an object for a moment. Luke Evens plays Gaston who is trying to win Belle’s heart despite the fact that Belle is not fond of him. Gaston goes to extreme measures to win over Belle and even betrays Belle’s father Maurice who is played by Kevin Kline. Furthermore, Gaston is a narcissist man that only cares about himself.
A Disney movie would not be what it is without a lesson behind it. This movie symbolizes inner beauty. We cannot judge people base on how they look on the outside. Because of Gaston’s attitude, he should have been the beast. Although Gaston was an attractive man, he could not get Belle to fall in love with him because of his arrogance. The beast was not attractive but he wins Belle’s, heart. The connection was not base on looks. Belle and The Beast bonded over books, and the fact that they both felt trapped. The beast was trapped in his castle and Belle wanted to escape her village. While watching their romance develop the beast didn’t look that bad and there is actually something attractive about him as he begins to show Belle his nice side. Before watching the movie, I was opposed to filmmakers recreating a classic film. Nevertheless, the film is still magical and felt like my childhood was re-lived in that theater.