Beauty and the Beast
Thought i was on my way to feeling similarly to Jeff about this. Before the Beast comes into it i found it dull, i was finding it hard to stay interested and because of that i was overcompensating and focusing really hard on the subtitles so my mind didn't wander haha. It completely changed there though as it was like entering another world, i liked it quite a bit.
Visually it was amazing, i've said many times here that i'm not very good at explaining why something works for me visually but alot of the imagery had a strong effect on me here. It is hard to believe this is a 40's film and i'm not just saying that, the costumes, effects, sets (Citizen pointed out they weren't sets but i didn't know that while watching so i may as well keep this in), everything was glorious. Early i praised Day of Wrath visually creating a realistic feeling medieval setting, this definitely surpassed it in terms of vision and execution. Also with this being a fantasy they were able to explore more extraordinary things too. It had both a realistic feeling town and people then the as Citizen put it the otherworldly world Beast inhabited. Great stuff. Speaking of effects either i was tripping or during the scene when Belle first enters the castle she is walking along a long corridor where the curtains are blowing, did she look like she was not floating but not walking either, as if she was on an invisible conveyor belt? haha, it was the weirdest thing, i played the scene again and that's how it looked to me anyway. My biggest surprise may have been The Beasts design, from the posters i thought he was going to look really cheap and ridiculous; i kind of expected me not being able to take him seriously ruining alot of scenes, but not only was that not the case i actually think his look added to the film. He is a big hairy animal-human hybrid basically so he of course looks menacing, but he also had a sympathetic look which obviously was vital for the story to work. I first noticed it when the father was running home and the beast pops out at a tree to watch him go, i couldn't put my finger on what it was at first then i thought while all of his facial features played a part more than anything for me oddly it was his teeth. I'm not sure if i can explain properly why as of course sharp fangs shouldn't indicate warmth but they did for me, and i think the Disney version may have taken from this as i remember his fangs playing a big part in endearing me to him once he started trying to endear himself to Belle. Very odd thing i know, it may have been because it gave off the impression that he was biting his bottom lip. As well as that the actors passionate delivery and just the french language played a major part in his transformation.
Loved the music as well, although i did think a few times it was innappropriately placed; the scene with Belle's father walking around outside the Beasts castle has this big booming score; sounds like something you'd hear at the end of an old film before the credits come up. I thought the music in that scene was great i just don't think it actually suited the scene. Similarly Belle first riding towards The Beasts castle had triumphant sounding music that made no sense at all, it only lasted maybe 10-20 seconds but surely it should have been creepy or something as at this point The Beast is evil and Belle is going to become his prisoner, odd choice using music that sounds like she just won a battle haha. I'm not really complaining here for the record when it happened i found it funny more than anything and it was only a couple of times (maybe just those two i don't remember), the majority of the time it perfectly suited and often made the scenes.
My biggest problem was actually the acting, it was a bit too threatical for me at times. My favourite was actually The Beast because he is a straight up impossible fantasy character so i think it was easier for me to accept and in some way i expected him to be over the top, the others were a bit too much for me at times though. During the more low-key calmer scenes they were fine often good but anything dramatic usually didn't work well for me and often brought scenes down a bit. For example: the scene where Belle first meets The Beast, i thought that was great she was winding around the castle then the grounds everything was pretty creepy and tense then The Beasts entrance was great, Belle fainting the way she did was too much for me though, kind of took me out of it. There was a fair amount of that sadly, i do think it suits this big fantasy film so it's more of a problem of mine than the films i feel.
The acting and the first 30 minutes or however long it was before The Beast turned up stopped this from becoming a favourite, i also think the visuals, music, and just general feel of the film was far above the story or the characters chemistry, but that's not a bad thing as those elements were spectacular. I do think this was a better film than how much i liked it, i did like it quite a bit though. Thanks for nominating Cosmic.
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...I'll see if I can help, I just picked up I Remember Mama DVD and will be watching it soon.
