First Impression: Beauty & The Beast (2017)

First Impression: Beauty & The Beast (2017)

The live action Beauty & The Beast has been a topic of constant conversation since the teaser trailer was released 9 months ago. The excitement has been building and building with every little glimpse of the movie that I got with the official movie trailers since then. I was nervous and excited to see the film as Beauty & The Beast is a Disney classic (the 1991 release is one of my favourite titles from Disney) and I hoped the live action instalment wouldn’t tarnish my opinion of the film, as animations don’t always have a smooth translation to live action. However, Disney surpassed every expectation I had for this film. I can safely say that the 2017 instalment of Beauty & The Beast is now one of my favourite Disney films of all time.

The actors were able to portray the characters effortlessly and brought their own unique twists to the characters. Josh Gad played the role of Le Fou and I thought he was hilarious throughout the whole movie. There were times throughout the film where he was serious but I felt it was never out of place with the personality that Le Fou was known for in the 1991 film. Emma Waston was the perfect actress to play Belle. She played the role confidently and successfully and delivered a stellar performance, she never faltered. Dan Stevens took on the role of the Beast which must have been easy as he spent most his filming days in a grey onesie and stilts to make the CGI effects easier in editing. Nevertheless, his performance was amazing and he brought a new side to the Beast that wasn’t previously seen in the 1991 title. The only critique I have about a member of the cast is Emma Thompson’s attempt at playing Mrs. Potts. I feel like she was trying too hard to match Angela Lansbury’s voice acting in the iconic role as Emma’s accent came across as a bit too Cockney for Mrs. Potts. As she is an English actress I think she could have been a bit more natural when it came to the voice acting for the film.

The script writers were amazing when writing the new script for Beauty & The Beast as they kept the key elements of the original film that made us fall in love with it but changed it enough that it gave us a new insight to the characters and their backstories. They changed certain elements of the enchantress’s curse to benefit the plot of the story, which didn’t impact the overall plot of the film significantly for better or for worse. 

The score was better than ever! The original team reprised their roles for this adaptation and I’m grateful they did. Their work flowed seamlessly from the 1991 film and added in extra verses into all the beloved songs we fell in love with 26 years ago. There were also some unexpected surprises when it came to the score of the film but writing it here would include some serious spoilers so you’ll have to wait till you see the film to figure it out. The only thing I found annoying with the songs was that, in most of the numbers, there was a drawn out pause for some CGI effect or useless choreography. The musical numbers don’t need a pause multiple times during the songs and I don’t honestly know why they would feel the need to include them.

Overall the movie is spectacular. There are very few ways to describe the magnificence of the film in a review. I highly recommend it to anyone who is reading this and if the 3D option is available in your local cinema take advantage of it! It's family friendly and a great excuse to see it if you have kids.
Disney managed to take a beloved classic from 1991 and re-invented it in a subtle but powerful way, securing it a place within our hearts for another 26 years at least.

First Impression Rating: 5/5