SPOILERS (Because I'm not going through my ramblings to black out all over the place.)
Saw this yesterday. My favorite parts of the movie are the opening with the Enchantress, “Something There,” “Evermore,” and the ending (from the Gaston/Beast fight on the roof to the end of the Celine part of the credits). I’m really glad Celine was the first thing played over the credits and not the Ariana duet, and I loved the way they showed all the characters again during her song.
Love love love “Evermore,” which is a surprise considering I was only ever so-so on "If I Can’t Love Her." I’ve been listening to it on repeat since I got home. The line “It’s more than I can bear,” the second chorus, and the “beginning of the long, long night” are the parts I’m most in love with. My first thought was that lyrically it makes me think of a more tragic version of “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love),” as far as having someone cynical/hardhearted hating themselves for falling in love. Tbh, it almost went too far in that I couldn’t help wondering if Beast would be suicidal standing atop the castle while watching her leave. I agree with you,
taei, I wish we could hear a version with Stevens’ voice without effects.
I thought Emma did a fantastic job—particularly in the scene with the wolves when she nearly leaves the Beast and the fight scene at the end. The only actor who was a question mark to me coming into this was Luke Evans, and I have to say he was as great as the rest. I feel like I’m going to over-use the word, but I
loved the design of the castle/ballroom and all the little additions they made, like Belle being outright compared to a spinster-beggar, Belle being put in her place for teaching a girl to read a sentence, Belle assuming Beast must have cursed his servants, Beast lobbing a snowball at Belle in "ST," and Gaston deciding to help Maurice when he comes to the bar and then declaring Maurice mad to protect himself after he attempted to murder him. I liked that Maurice and LeFou were both much more competent. The wolves were well-done. And after all the brouhaha over Belle being an inventor, it wasn't pronounced in-film at all; when she hands her father the correct part before he realizes he needs it was cute.
I liked that Gaston (and the village)’s ridicule and disdain for the spinster/beggar woman was compared to Beast’s rejection of the beggar woman at the beginning by her being the same woman—essentially pointing at the village's own lack of moral character. Honestly, the intro was perfectly-done; I especially loved Stevens’ face once the Enchantress revealed herself and how angelic she looked (and how that whole moment felt like some kind of biblical test to see if anyone present had any compassion for all their extravagance/decadence—echoed later by Beast calling his curse “damnation”). And I actually didn’t mind that they made Beast’s castle a place of eternal winter. 1.) For how gorgeous the transformation of the castle is at the end as the returning rays of the sun touch the top downwards, and 2.) Because it makes Belle’s golden dress seem more significant as a color choice (and that’s considering the animated film already used its colors to particularly effect, carried over here).
The fight scene between Gaston and Beast was better than the animated film, imo. The fact that Gaston had a gun made it more climactic, I guess? Btw, I like that they kept some of the horror touch from the original film; the wardrobe and the piano creeped me out. I kept expecting the wardrobe to eat Belle alive in the early scenes.

And the fight scene between the mob and the furniture was much more disturbing to me knowing how easily all the characters could be slaughtered. I mean, it should be there in the animated film, too, but something about it being live-action made the possibility more prominent (plus, that part of the animated film is much more comical). Watching the characters die at the end was tear-inducing and at the same time nightmare fuel, particularly Mrs. Potts dying in distress and Chip flying midair.
My only gripe with the movie is one I had before seeing it and that’s the Beast’s CGI. It worked in the first half when the character was full-on villain (although he did at times remind me of Krampus when he was in the snow and jumping all over the place), and not so much in the second half when he was meant to be changing into a good person. The nose was probably the part that kept it from working fully, although the lips were a little odd, too (overall, the effect was that he reminded me of the Goblin King from The Hobbit films). Too bad we didn’t get to see more of Dan Stevens, but he definitely did the most he could with his screentime at the beginning and end. He looked sort of like a sex god there at the beginning the way he was lounging on his throne.
The only other odd thing was when Belle and Beast go to Belle’s old home. I didn’t mind the story addition—in fact I’d say it was one of the key scenes where the two characters cement their connection to each other in this film—it’s just I found the scene a little odd because they transitioned next to Gaston in the village when it would’ve been less confusing to show them reappearing in the castle first. Also odd was how they paired up all the characters from the film (LeFou, the Wardrobe, Mrs. Potts, even Cogsworth) at the end, although I was confused by Mrs. Potts' shared look with Maurice at the end?
As for Emma Thompson, I thought she did decently with the title song and I’m glad she got the final line of the Audra McDonald version that ended the film. “Days in the Sun” was fine and I liked Belle’s lyric there about a “change in me.” I’m not too bothered about other songs from the musical being cut, but upon seeing the film, I believe “A Change in Me” could’ve been included and it would’ve worked perfectly, tbh. I loved that they use the same music for “Home” twice as score throughout the film. The only musical number I was disappointed by was “Be Our Guest”—largely because I consider it the best after Lansbury’s ballad in the original, and it just did not have anywhere close to same impact, no offense to McGregor (who I thought was wonderful as Lumiere). On the part about singing, it goes without saying that none of the singers equaled their animated counterparts except Josh Gad, but that’s what I expected back when this film was first announced years ago. That’s just what happens with live-action musicals. *shrug* But everyone was serviceable and I enjoyed the music. If I had to rank the performances by how much I enjoyed them: Something There > B&tB (Audra McDonald) > Evermore > Belle (reprise) > Gaston > The Mob Song > How Does a Moment Last Forever? > Days in the Sun > Belle > B&tB (Emma Thompson) > Be Our Guest.
I’d rank the remakes as this:
1. TJB/B&tB ~ Objectively, I’d give the edge to TJB, but B&tB has my heart. I thought both had small points here and there I’d criticize, but were mostly perfect.
2.
Maleficent ~ A lot of clunkers in this film—the christening scene particularly, but also the opening with child Maleficent—but I liked more about the film than I disliked. I liked nearly all of the cast.
3.
Alice in Wonderland ~ I wouldn’t quite go so far as to say I liked the film, but I love HBC’s and Hathaway’s performances.
4.
Pete’s Dragon ~ Objectively, I’d say it’s probably better than Alice, but I found it a bit dull and by-the-numbers at times.
5.
Cinderella ~ I loved HBC here and Madden as the prince; Blanchett looked absolutely gorgeous throughout even if I found the film’s stepmother to be confused and unsatisfying—which I don’t blame on Blanchett, she does what she can with it—and Lily James as Cinderella was probably my least favorite take on the character of any rendition I’ve seen of the story except Brandy in the ‘90s R&H.
6.
Alice Through the Looking Glass ~ Same as the other
Alice, only adding that I loved Time, but I thought the story was a little too inconsequential and heavy-handed.
* My mom loved the film, but she thought Emma was perfectly cast back when she was first announced. For what it’s worth, she also thought Emma’s voice was perfect for the movie (high/pure—autotuned, I know, but she didn’t care). She knew Evans more than I did and thought he and Emma were the standouts. She didn’t recognize Gad as Olaf until I told her afterwards. She did say the only other person she could’ve seen as Belle was Natalie Portman if she wasn’t older and she thought the guy who played the Huntsman in
Snow White and the Huntsman would've been a good Beast, too. I couldn’t help thinking that with the way this film points out Belle’s possible life as a spinster that Disney could’ve made the film work with an older actor like Portman, but I’m happy with Emma.
taei wrote:Did everything after the curse seem predestined? I felt like Agathe being a character kind of made Belle and the Beast's relationship sort of happen inorganically? Agathe just happened to live in the town where all the characters dwell in; she just happened to nurse Maurice back to health in the woods; she just happened to be at the castle during the invasion scene; she just happened to be there when Belle declares her love for the Beast. It's as if she planned for everything to happen, like she knew the Beast will eventually meet Belle, or she picked Belle to be the one who changes him. Also, she could've spoken up for Maurice in the tavern, but she didn't (even though the townspeople wouldn't have believed her, but still). Did anyone else feel this way, or is it just me? I hope I'm not sounding too crazy haha.
I felt the same way. I couldn’t help noticing the character never speaks to Maurice or in the bar with Gaston either, I believe? She only speaks to Beast at the beginning when he’s being tested.