When I first heard that Disney was planning on doing a live-action remake of the 1992 classic cartoon, I was over the moon excited, as I grew up an avid Disney fan, watching several of the movies on repeat until I could recite all the lines and the lyrics of each song. “Beauty and the Beast” was always one of my favorite Disney princess movies because of the similarities that I saw in myself and the main character, Belle, when I was growing up. I would read at least two books a day and was always considered pretty nerdy for my love of reading and literature. I always identified with the feelings that Belle experienced as she was ostracized for her interests in books by the people in her town, who found her odd.
As a child, I also admired how confident and intelligent she was, despite the labels given to her and her eccentric father. When Disney announced that Emma Watson was cast as Belle, I became even more excited for the live-action remake. Due to my familiarity with Watson’s involvement in the movie adaptations of the “Harry Potter” series, I was also able to find similarities between her portrayal of Hermione Granger and the general character description of Belle from the original movie. With this information in mind, I had no doubt that this new remake would be absolutely amazing with Watson involved, and was able to picture her perfectly in the role even before seeing any trailers or scenes.
After seeing the movie remake with my family, I knew that my intuition about the casting was correct. Watson was absolutely fantastic and it was really great to see an actress who portrayed two very important fictional female role models from my childhood in this movie. Watson was very active in the writing and development of her character for the remake, as she made the suggestion of having Belle be an intellectual inventor in addition to being one of the only well-read women in her small town.
Although Watson is not known for her singing, I believe that she did an excellent job for her first time singing in a movie! The casting of Gaston (Luke Evans) and Lefou (Josh Gad), the villain and his goofy sidekick respectively, was also well done. It was definitely weird to see Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf from “Frozen,” as a person and not a talking snowman, but I was impressed with his vocals and comedic timing, nevertheless. The movie was full of well-known actors and actresses including Dan Stevens of “Downton Abbey” as the Beast, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Sir Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, and Tony-award winning actress Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe, just to name a few.
Although many elements of the original movie are retained, such as the general storyline, there were also new details added to enhance the audience’s understanding of the plot, where it seemed slightly illogical in the original. For instance, it is explained in the prologue that when the enchantress casts her curse on the prince, his servants, and the castle, she also erased all memories of them from the minds of the local townspeople, which would explain why none of the townspeople are aware of the Beast and his castle. New songs were also written for the movie and although they might not have been necessary to the plot, I really enjoyed the classic Disney feel that they reflected. I was absolutely blown away at how beautiful and romantic the ballroom dancing scene was between Belle and the Beast. It definitely awakened my hopeless romantic side.
Contrary to popular opinion, I actually really liked the new design of Belle’s yellow dress that appears in the ballroom scene. A lot of people found it to be tacky, but I did not. I liked how it was simple yet elegant, while also having elements of modern fashion included in it, such as the golden glitter flecks along the bottom hem of the dress and the gold ear cuff that Belle now wears in the movie. To add sentimental value to the dress, I also just found out that Dan Stevens’ 5-year-old daughter actually helped to design the dress.
Overall, I would give the remake an A+. I loved how intricate and detailed the period costumes were. The scenery was breathtaking, capturing beautiful images of landscape and the ornate design of the Beast’s castle. I found myself falling even more in love with this movie and really loved how it was a perfect blend of modern and classic. The cast was more diverse than usual. Not only were interracial couples featured in the movie, but also a gay couple, which has caused some controversy in different states and countries. Even though to some people this is not enough to make a movie more diverse, I believe that it is a start — and that is just as important. I would definitely recommend “being a guest” in the theater and giving this movie a chance!