Beauty & The Beast
(Bill Condon)
It was about halfway through the movie, when I was nodding off, that I realized how utterly dull and uninspired this remake is. There are moments where I was engaged and moments where I questioned what the hell the filmmakers were thinking. The classic tale of Stockholm Syndrome has Belle, played by Emma Watson, falling in love with a Beast, played by Dan Stevens in motion capture. It's a tale as old as time. In short, stick to the original cartoon.
If you're still reading, I guess you want more answers for how this film could have limped across the finish line to the end credits. Well, let's start with the set pieces. Attention to detail is marvellous, the castle is gorgeous to look at and completely confusing to understand where you are. Numerous times I was trying to understand the geography of the place and failed. Her prison has a giant window she can jump from to escape, the stairs and hallways are like a hedge maze from The Shining. Moments in the cartoon that inspire awe and smiles are when she enters the library and the ballroom. Yet here, they glaze over such things. I never got a great sense of the rooms, it could be attributed to the atrocious 3D, but it disappointed me. Then we have her village, which felt like it was manufactured the day before they started filming. Nothing in the beginning felt real, everything was staged and choreographed. Yes, we get that it's a musical, but make it a bit more believable, yeah?
Ignoring these aspects of the film, let's try and focus on the effects, mainly the CGI. Yes, the CGI, which is pretty much 75% of the film. It worked wonderfully in the 'Be Our Guest' number, when it brought in vibrant colours and imagination. The rest, not so much. The characters such as Cogsworth, Mrs Potts and Lumière, among other inanimate objects, felt lifeless. Zero characterization for their designs, thankfully they were saved by good voice acting. Ewan McGregor does a great job bringing the candlestick to life. He's one of the highlights this film has. I do wish Sir Ian McKellen did a bit more here, he felt underused or uninterested.
Is there something I'm missing? Oh of course, the Beast himself. Big mistake in turning the character into a fuzzy CGI creation. The movements of the face, did not feel true to make me believe he was a character on the screen. It felt fake, worse than those people complaining about the silicon valley styled Rogue One characters. They should have gone a more practical route. I don't get it either. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes gave beautifully created designs to furry creatures, what the hell happened here? They wanted to make him more human? I felt like Emma Watson was alone in their scenes together. They should be falling love dammit!!!
Was the casting good though? As I mentioned earlier, McGregor does a great job, but the real standout is Luke Evans. Despite not being the ideal looking actor to take on the role of the ego centric Gaston, he steals the show. A wonderful singing voice (others do not) and an actor who is really having a good time with the character and material. Every time he was on screen was a joy to watch. Emma Watson on the other hand, delivers a bland and generic performance for Belle. Which is surprising, considering she loves the character and original film. Nothing she does here is interesting, nor memorable. This character could have been played by literally anyone, they could have swapped out actors halfway through the film and no one would notice. Stanley Tucci is underused as is Kevin Kline (despite having more to do than the original character).
Am I being too hard on the film? Maybe, but the entire thing felt unneeded and by the freakin' numbers. Bill Condon, of Twilight fame, was the wrong man for the job. The film has no visual flare when it should be bursting out of the screen. Everything was forced, staged and relied heavily on CGI, which in turn made the film feel fake. At most, the film is "okay" and if not for Luke Evans, the film would have been considerably worse. They do add a few more scenes to flesh our some characters and try to make their love story a bit more believable. More backstory and story elements as to why no one knows where this castle is despite being hours away. These elements helped a bit, but this film lacks a lot of that thing Disney specializes in...MAGIC.
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