DHKR: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Rating: 5/10 (23 March 2017)

TL;DR version: This is probably going to be one of my most conflicted reviews I've ever written. On the one hand, I get to talk trash about another live action remake from Disney. On the other hand, it also has a lot of things going for it that I could even consider it to be a huge improvement to the disaster that was Cinderella (2015). Please keep in mind this is also after some time of recollecting the film and comparisons to the 1991 animated version, so take this review with a grain of salt.
With that in mind, let's get on with it.
This movie does not exactly do the original justice by any stretch of the word. Many parts of it unfortunately felt as if it was more of a hollow shell of what it could've potentially been, and that's probably the worst thing going for it. Well, there a three parts to why it does not stand to the original, and one of which might not affect your viewing pleasure, or displeasure.
One major problem was mostly in regards of how it tries to lengthen the story and how it also somehow drains it of what made it so good in the first place. It's pretty much a word for word, copy-pasted version of the animated movie, just with extra bits and songs added in to lengthen it's runtime. In many cases, it didn't really work out, and it gave me some flashbacks of Cinderella (2015). Songs that were added in this case were executed poorly to the point where it felt as if they were added in mere days before release. There was, however, a good use of added time where it did seem to work in a shocking emotional gut punch, but it's small compared to the unfortunately lacking remainder of the story it leads to.
Another problem, which was actually a variable, was the use of 3D. Seeing this in an IMAX theatre, 3D glasses and all with everything going on, it is enough to make you nauseas. Whether it was the scene involving a snowball(which, spoiler alert, was the only reason it was probably released for 3D, no joke), or just how most of the film was just moving all over the place in speed, that might make give you a small migraine at best, and close to getting you sick Worst Case Scenario. this is only with the 3D version, so if you were to go to the movie, I would probably recommend seeing it in 2D.
The third and probably the worst problem going for it was the look of it. It's a beautiful looking movie, don't get me wrong, but it's still chuck full of some of the worst looking, uncanny kinds of CGI I had seen. It tries to make these figures as realistic as possible and have them look somewhat human as well. In some cases, it looks OK, like with Lumierre, and maybe Cogsworth. In others, it was downright scary to the point where i wouldn't recommend this to young children.(Chip STILL creeps me the heck out!) Outside of CGI, the Beast's look was pretty underwhelming as well. Rather than a menacing monster, it looks more like a guy in a furry body suit. It's impressive, and props to the designers for making him look as real as he could, but all I see is more of a thin, brown version of Asgore Dreemurr from Undertale rather than the Beast as most would probably recognize.
It's sad. At first, I really thought this was going to be a good film, which it still can be at many times. Characters are pretty much the same from the original, and it dosen't bastardize Belle like the other Live Action movie did so with Cinderella, and it actually made her a bit more dynamic here. Gaston is still the braggart, womanizing hunter, if a little toned down, and the Beast is also still the kind of broken-hearted monster that learns to love. All of it is still there. However, when stacked up to the original, I honestly can't see any real contest. It has good moments, and it has terrible ones, but overall it's more of a sad, underwhelming film that had great potential.
C-Ranking, 2.5/5 Stars.