The Disney movie “Beauty and the Beast” was remade beautifully in live-action by director Bill Condon, the man behind movies such as “Dreamgirls” and “Kinsey.” The “tale as old as time” features actress Emma Watson as the main character Belle. The movie is viewed as a classic princess movie, but the special effects, music, and actors bring this movie to life.
The movie starts by telling the story of a spoiled prince who was cursed by an enchantress and turned into a beast, with the only hope to break the curse by finding someone to love and earn back her love. Someone must love him passionately and he must love her back before the last petal on the rose the enchantress gave him falls. He despairs that no one will learn to love him because he is a beast, and begins to lose hope as years go by. In a small village away from his castle, arrogant hunter Gaston is also seeking the love of someone else: Belle. Not too far from the introduction of these two characters, her father Maurice was captured by the beast after getting lost and seeking shelter at his castle. Belle comes to take her father’s place and the beast now has her as his prisoner.
Soon they become more than friends, and the beast discovers that he loves her deeply. During this time her father, who has returned to the village, now pleads for the villagers to help him rescue Belle. Everyone believes he is crazy, but Gaston wants to do this in order to gain her hand in marriage. They try to find the castle, but they can’t, and when Maurice yells at Gaston, the hunter knocks him out and leaves him for the wolves. Maurice escapes and is helped by the enchantress, who is in disguise, but when he comes back to the village they call him insane and proceed to send him off to an asylum. The beast shows Belle her father using a magic mirror, and she sees that he’s in trouble and rushes to his aid. After showing the villagers that the beast is real by using the mirror to save her father, the villagers quickly storm to the beast’s castle after being aroused by Gaston. To see whether Belle will break this curse in time or not, watch the movie.
The real defining factor of the movie is its overall look. At some times the special effects are too much, but it really adds a way to look at the movie as a beautiful work of art. Other than a cartoon, the special effects make the cartoon characters look realistic and it adds in a lot more detail. For example, the color and flow of movement in the song “Be Our Guest” made it eye-catching and fun to watch. The songs are also naturally catchy, especially the ones that we all know, like “Tale as Old as Time” and “Be Our Guest.” It is overall it was a good remake of an already good story. The gradual improvement of the relationship between Belle and the beast also makes this movie charming.
Emma Watson talks about their relationship in an interview with the Entertainment Weekly. “They are having no illusions about who the other one is,” Emma Watson said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “They have seen the worst of one another, but they also bring up the best.”
I would recommend this movie even if you have already seen the original. The movie is highly rated, and is at the top of the UK box office and receiving praise from numerous news sites. This is, again, an amazing remake and it is a great movie to watch.