'Beauty and the Beast' Movie Review

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   Beauty and the Beast is directed by Bill Condon, and it stars Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, and many more. It is a new live-action film based on the classic 1991 Disney animated film of the same name. You all know what Beauty and the Beast is, so let's just get into the review.

   The new Beauty and the Beast may not be as good as the original animated film, but it is still an extremely enjoyable film to watch. Despite not being on the same level as the 1991 film, this film still has a sense of that Disney magic to it. It has a few flaws throughout it, but overall it is still a film that I would recommend seeing. For the most part, it stays pretty faithful to the animated film, but it does offer a few new things here and there. 
   One of these new additions comes in the form of original songs. This film features all of the classic songs you remember from the animated film, but it also features four brand new ones. These new songs are good enough in the film, but they aren't on the same level as those of the original. That is, all of them except for one. The song sang by the Beast, "Evermore", worked extremely well, and I've even found myself listening to it a couple times since seeing this film. The new versions of "Be Our Guest" and "Gaston" are also a lot of fun. 
 There are a lot of visual effects in this film, which would be expected with a film that takes place in a Beast's castle full of talking furniture. These visual effects weren't great. There were a couple times I found myself looking at the Beast and thinking "Yeah, that was definitely made on a computer". Also, there's a scene early on in the castle where it was very apparent that they were using a green-screen.  There weren't any times in this film where I found myself in awe at the visual effects. Across the board, they were decent at best. 
   Emma Watson plays the role of Belle in this film, and Dan Stevens plays the Beast. They both worked very well together. That being said, while watching this film I never saw Belle. I always saw Emma Watson as Belle. Watson didn't disappear into the character very well at all. She gave a fine performance, but it wasn't amazing by any means. Dan Stevens as the Beast, on the other hand, was fantastic. The Beast was created through a mix of large body suit worn by Stevens and motion-capture technology, and Stevens was able to add a lot of depth to this character though his body language and voice inflections alone. The Beast had a large physical presence to him, yet Stevens was able to convey the gentleness of the character very well.
    One of the standout performances in this film was Luke Evans as Gaston. I was one of the few people that wasn't sold on him from what we saw in the trailers, and he ended up being one of the best parts of the film. He embodied the vanity and persona that come with that character. There were a couple things they did with that character that I wasn't expecting, but Evans performance was what made it believable. In contrast to Watson's Belle, Evans disappeared into his character, and that's a large part of what made him so great. 
   The rest of the supporting cast also did great jobs. All of the miscellaneous household items in the castle were cast perfectly, specifically Ewan McGregor as Lumiere and Ian McKellen as Cogsworth. McGregor's Lumiere was probably the biggest surprise to me in this film. Similar to Evans's Gaston, I wasn't fully sold on this casting before the film, and then he ended up being one of my favorite parts of the film. His voice is almost unrecognizable as Lumiere. In fact, one of the people I saw the film with didn't believe me after seeing it when I told them that McGregor was Lumiere.
   Overall, I thought the new Beauty and the Beast was pretty good. It wasn't quite on the level of the original animated film, but it was still a lot of fun to watch. If you're a huge Disney fan, you'll love this movie. Aside from "Evermore", the new songs in the film weren't great, but the new renditions of the classic songs were wonderful. Emma Watson was decent as Belle, but the best performances come from Luke Evans as Gaston, Dan Stevens as the Beast, and Ewan McGregor as Lumiere. This isn't going to be a Best Picture nominee by any means, but it was still a very enjoyable film.
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7.5/10

   So what did you think of the new Beauty and the Beast? Did you enjoy the new songs? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter. It really helps! Don't forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts!

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