Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Director: Bill Condon

Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans

An adaptation of the fairy tale about a monstrous-looking prince and a young woman who fall in love.

I’m sorry to say this was not nearly as entertaining or captivating as 2015’s ‘Cinderella’. Despite the great cinematography and incredible visuals, I found it over the top and ultimately predictable. CGI certainly has come a long way and blends very realistically with the real world, so credit to the director where credit is due. Unfortunately, though, I think the film would have done perfectly well without all that CGI. In fact, at times it becomes cartoonish and silly. Furthermore, there’s not an inch of credibility to the film. The characters are incredibly bland and boring, probably because they were acting in front of blue/green screens and in studios for most of the film. The characters just didn’t feel like part of their surroundings.

When Belle sees the Beast for the first time – looking like the Devil himself – she’s not even a teensy weensy bit scared of him. Without any hesitation or questions she simply accepts him for being a beast and even when she’s held against her will, she still remains cocky and demanding. Uhm, now that’s believable for you. Not! I also found the reason behind the curse pathetic. Such an extreme curse just because he wouldn’t accept a rose? Fair enough, the reason probably runs much deeper, but its not as if he was responsible for the death of the witch’s loved ones or something like that. And to curse EVERYONE in the castle??? That witch has some SERIOUS issues!!

The love story was also very unconvincing and predictable and seemed forced more often than not. There was no chemistry between Belle and Beast – or any of the characters for that matter! (The best chemistry was between Gaston and LeFou). The attack scene on the castle was just stupid! It was done so silly and without feeling that it was simply not entertaining. In fact, I found the scene overbearing and painful to watch. And why was Beast not part of this scene? Why was he upstairs staring into oblivion instead of defending his castle or his people? So he was still being selfish. Gosh, he so deserve to be cursed! The confrontation between Gaston and Beast was also not effective, as they’ve never interacted before. It was just pure Hollywood sensation without any depth. It was bland. Stupid. Horrible.  And I’m not even going to elaborate on how utterly silly the transformation scene was once the curse was broken…

I also found the Beast’s appearance to be very inconsistent. At times it looked really awesome and even scary. Other times it looked like a mask rented from a party supply store. Yes, I know it was all CGI – and maybe that’s where the problem lies. Although this is a classic tale, I doubt the film will go down as a classic.

The film was a huge box office success, earning $1.2 billion on a $160 million budget, and received (and won) several nominations.