Disappointing and Forgettable

Rating: Null/10 (21 October 2017)

I was looking very much forward to what they would do with this movie because I enjoyed the original so much and I wanted to see it brought to life with the CGI available today. I ended up pretty disappointed with the movie. It IS pretty beautiful, but not as spectacular as I had hoped.
The first scene (the opening narration) was pretty good, but once we got to the village with Belle, I just felt like something was off. The set looked like just that: a set. I couldn't get into the movie because it looked like a fantastically made theater set but NOT like a real place. I don't remember having the same problem with the sets in the castle, but because the village scene really set the mood for the rest of the movie, it really sticks out in my mind.
I agree with those who think Emma Watson was not a good choice. I don't have anything against her and rather enjoyed watching her in the Harry Potter movies, and in my opinion she LOOKS the part quite well, but I started having doubts about her when all the promotional materials came out because she just seemed so cold and expressionless compared with the cartoon version. I thought certainly there would be more range of emotion in live action, but I just didn't see it. She never seemed very angry, nor very happy, nor very surprised... just very bland. If I hadn't had the original Belle to compare her to, I think I would've found her to be not very likable at all.
The various servants of the castle are one of the most memorable parts of the cartoon movie. They are highly expressive in their movements and "facial" expressions. I get that it is MUCH more difficult to do that in a live action film because they have to look like they could be real objects -- too much expressiveness could easily wind up looking too cartoonish. But it turned out to be a shame for this movie because it was too hard to engage with so many of the characters.
I agree with those who found Luke Evans as Gaston to be the best part of the show acting wise, though the writing of the character was, again, better in the original because it starts with Gaston as an amusingly arrogant boor - nothing more - and then he slips into a true "evil villain" at the end. Here, Gaston seems more aggressive from the beginning.
The songs that I remember so well from the original movie were lackluster here. I didn't think they were terrible, but they were not nearly as "fun" in this one.
All in all, I am glad I didn't see this one in the theater. I might watch it again a time or two, at least while it remains on Netflix, but I don't see myself making any extra effort to see it again otherwise.