A remake that was well done

Rating: 7/10 (5 April 2017)

As much as it pains me to see movies being remade, I find that I am able to give Disney a pass for this. I thoroughly enjoyed Beauty and the Beast . I have been a fan of Emma Watson's, since first watching the "Harry Potter" series several years ago. It is evident she is not a strong singer, but her singing was pleasant enough. I think I doubted Disney's decision to cast her as Belle, but after seeing the movie, I feel as if those doubts have been put to rest.
I also thought the rest of the casting was well done. Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey fame was great as The Beast (in this version, he even gets to sing a song) and Kevin Kline was great as Maurice, Belle's father. Emma Thompson never fails to impress me. She was one of the people I was extremely glad was cast in this film. She did Angela Lansbury proud. Josh Gad (Lefou) is perhaps most famous for portraying the lovable snowman, Olaf, in Disney's 2013 animated film, "Frozen" (although I knew him mainly from the raunchy Broadway show, "Book of Mormon," but that's a story for another time). Luke Evans (Gaston): I am not as familiar with him; the only film of his I've seen is "Dracula: Untold." He was pretty good as well. Ian McKellen and Ewan McGregor were wonderful as usual. The one I was impressed with the most, was 6-time Tony winner Audra McDonald. I have been a fan of hers since the year 2000 when I first watched Disney's "Annie", and she never fails to amaze me with her consistency and overall talent. Her voice was, by far, the best in the movie.
The cinematography and special effects were obviously all there. When you get a huge company like Disney behind a product, they naturally have all the money and the resources available to make the best quality motion picture in the technical aspects that they want.
Give this movie a try, it was truly beautiful.