If you grew up watching the Disney animation you will say that it was a classic style of a movie. So why make a live action adaptation of it? We don't know exactly why but lets see how this 2017 pans out for us movie goers.
The story begins with a old beggar that arrives at the castle while the prince was having a ball. The beggar then offers a rose to the prince in exchange for shelter from the storm for which he refuses. The beggar then turns into an enchantress, seeing through the prince's heart devoid of compassion, he was transformed into a beast and his loyal subjects in household items. The whole castle was cloaked with something and its memories with the townsfolk was wiped clean as well. No one then knew that a castle existed among their midst, sealing it, the prince and his subjects within.
Many years later we see Belle (played by Emma Watson), in the town of Villeneuve, dreaming of adventure. She regularly wards off Gaston, a full of confidence ex soldier, who has a liking to her. He is not Belle's type as he is arrogant and rude and kind of narcissistic. We have the next scene Belle's father Maurice (played by Kevin Kine) off to attend a convention when he got lost in the forest and stumbles upon the hidden castle. He was then imprisoned by the Beast (played by Dan Stevens), his horse returned home, alarming Belle. She then went after him to the castle to find him locked up in a dungeon. She managed to exchange herself for her father, so she was stuck in the castle while Maurice was allowed to go home.
Belle wasn't treated as a prisoner and was even invited to have dinner at the ballroom. Being an adventure, she couldn't help herself by exploring the castle and she wanders into the west wing where she saw a rose. The rose that tells until when the curse of the Beast will be lifted. She was discovered by the Beast and she was frightened by his actions, proceeds to run away from the castle. On her way out of the grounds, she met a pack of wolves but Beast was able to rescue her, albeit with some bites and bruises. Belle helped nurse his wounds and somehow the two had been talking ever since.
All this talking led to a romantic dinner and somehow everything was going well when suddenly Belle discovers (through a magic mirror) that his Father was being held to be sent off to an asylum. She asks Beast to let her leave to see him and he obliged, taking with him the magic mirror as a keepsake. Seeing his father locked up, she confronts the townsfolk and confirms that the Beast exists by using the magic mirror. Gaston realizes that Belle had feelings for the Beast and he got jealous. He then entices the townsfolk to hold Belle together with her father and they should kill the Beast.
Left at the carriage, Belle manages to escape and returns to the castle. She arrives just in time to see Gaston manhandling Beast who seem to have lost his spirit to fight. When he saw Belle came back, he was invigorated and fights with Gaston and won. The Beast spared Gaston's life and starts to reunite with Belle when Gaston shoots at the Beast fatally wounding him. After shooting him, Gaston fell to his death. The Beast then dies as the last petal from the rose falls and all the servants became inanimate.
Belle then tells of how he loved the Beast and the enchantress came back and undoes the curse given to the Beast. Beast then recovers and turns back into a prince, his servants turned back into human beings and the castle was restored magically. As the curse was lifted, all the hidden memories of the castle came back to the townsfolk and realized there was a castle after all. Belle and the Prince then hosted another ball and they lived happily ever after.
The original movie was a classic and it was well written and we were fine already with it. We were glad that the live action adaptation did some justice in making this film. The music that made the first one a well loved movie are still here plus some new ones and added scenes.
They didn't copy the original film literally and we are glad that they put a different spin into it. Especially the love angle. In the original they had Belle teaching Beast a lot of things like manners and such, as if he was a child. It was this experience that made Belle love him, but in this one, the Beast maybe rude and arrogant but he still have the qualities of a prince, a learned individual with love for knowledge and have a penchat for books. Qualities that endears to Belle and this is the reason she started to like and eventually love the Beast.
The story telling was great here, it was not slow, nor it was too fast. Dialogues were on point and crisp making for an entertaining watch. Actors chosen were a match with their characters and we love to loathe at Gaston played by Luke Evans. He really makes your blood boil and would wish Belle teaches him a lesson. Kevin Kline as Maurice also held his performance well even with a limited screentime.
There were other actors that surprised us like Ewan McGregor was here as Lumiere, Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, Ian McKellan as Cogsworth and Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts. Wow what a cast. Them alone is enough already to make us watch this movie many times over.
The original was a classic, and this one? Only time will tell as it has all the makings of a classic.
Should you want to watch this, you can either buy its DVD or BlueRay or purchase it through Youtube for Php370 (standard) or Php550 for HD (Prices were as of this writing).
