Remaking classic animation characters into larger than life has become Disney’s favorite hobby and now it’s the turn of the classic fiction "Beauty and the Beast" to take the toast. Emma Watson has lived a fairy tale all her childhood in HP movies, now its time for her to step into a larger fantasy involving Adult romance and what better than a musical can catapult her beauty into fame. The 1991 classic won the hearts of many for one thing, the love in spirited musical harmony, if you are a kid from the 90’s and a major animation buff, you are sure to have watched, relished and played along the wonderful cartoonish experience. Now with major technology adoption into the movies with motion capture ruling the cinema, its no challenge to mix fantasy and real life characters, Beauty and the Beast is a perfect example of extensive usage of CGI.
A beaming Emma Watson plays Belle, the gutsy villager who encounters the Beast (Dan Stevens), a prince who has been cursed by an enchantress to live out the rest of his days in this outrageous physical form. Initially held prisoner by the Beast in his permanently freezing castle, Belle gradually falls for this lonely creature – whose only chance of lifting the spell is to find true love. Director Bill Condon and his creative team were faced here with a daunting task: replicating with modern-day, 3D-looking CGI what appears so deceptively easy to achieve with hand-drawn animation. You can see the heavy lifting, which makes this Beauty a magnificent sight indeed.
We all know the story of Belle, lovely maiden bookworm imprisoned by a short-tempered beast in an enchanted castle filled with singing. However, screenwriters Evan Spiliotopoulos and Stephen Chbosky bring in some unique twists that bring a somewhat problematic story into this modern era. That growing affection is the strongest element of the film, thanks largely to Dan Stevens’ amusing and engaging motion-capture work as the brooding creature who slowly opens himself up to renewed human feelings and vulnerability. Love being the core of the movie has been depicted beautifully, thanks to the visuals and amazing BGM, it brings life into the love.
The lead actress, Watson, showed beauty throughout the film and her singing voice was moving just about short like how we imagined Belle to be. Stevens, meanwhile, played Beast better than his prince form where he did not stood out and almost seem forgettable. Beauty and the Beast is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s not as good as the animated film, but on the other hand, the artistic design is pretty spectacular. Stanley Tucci is utterly wasted, but Luke Evans is as good as Gaston he almost manages to justify the whole endeavor. The Beast is a walking nightmare, it’s not the best and for a moment we think our very own Chiyaan VIkram would have done better.
Beauty and the beast is a classic adaption, no doubts there but there are snippets which could have been better like Emma’s singing or rather the believable version of it and the erratic Beast. BnB scores on many aspects with music, grand CGI orchestration, visuals and sound setup.
Verdict : Go for the magical experience
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