Beauty and the Beast

 

Beauty and the Beast 2017

• Director: Bill Condon
• Seen by this director: Dreamgirls
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, and the voices of many top-notch actors
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Emma Watson – Little Women, The Circle, Colonia, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, My Week with Marilyn, Harry Potter
• Dan Stevens – Summer in February, Downton Abbey
• Luke Evans – Crisis, The Girl on the Train, High-Rise, The Hobbit, Tamara Drewe, Robin Hood
• Kevin Kline – Ricki and the Flash, My Old Lady, The Conspirator, As You Like It, Prairie Home Companion, Orange County, Wild Wild West, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Ice Storm, Dave, Chaplin, The January Man, A Fish Called Wanda, Cry Freedom, Silverado, Sophie’s Choice, Hamlet
• Josh Gad – Murder on the Orient Express
• Why? Oh, why not?
• Seen: 10 July 2023      

       If you don’t know the story, Google it. In this version Belle (Watson) is a bookworm and her village regards her with deep suspicion as odd, peculiar, an outsider. She lives with her father (Kline) and through circumstances somewhat beyond her control, she ends up at the castle, prisoner of the Beast.

       Oh yes, it’s a musical, but that isn’t really an essential element. I love musicals but not all films have to be musicals, do they?

       I’ve not seen any other film versions of this, so I’m unburdened by comparisons. I’m enjoying this. If you can get past the romantic stereotype of a feisty (beautiful) young woman taming and loving the tormented hero, you might enjoy it too. It’s lavish, amusing at times and though it’s far from Hermione Granger, it’s a good roll for Watson. It’s one of the better fairy tale films, in the same category as Branagh’s Cinderella. Maybe even a little better (sorry, Sir Ken.) 

3 ½ * of 5   

 

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