Live Action Disney Adaptations - Nostalgia Run Amok?

Rating: 6/10 (1 May 2017)

The question is exactly what do we expect from these Disney live action remakes of classic animated films? Only you as a viewer or original fan can fully answer that question.
I will however at least from my point of view attempt to gain a perspective given that we've been presented with three straight remakes, Cinderella, The Jungle Book and in this instance Beauty and the Beast.
With each of these instances there's arguments to be had in relation to whether the original is an absolute classic, whether the film has enough material to flesh out an extended live action feature or even whether just on principal remaking Beauty and the Beast, a film that's universally adored by critics and audiences alike whether this's even a project that should be attempted.
Lets focus on a couple of these aspects, I'll admit that I had intermittingly seen parts of the 1991 animated feature and was very familiar with the songs but had never watched the film from beginning to end until literally two weeks before seeing this years live action adaptation so on one hand I don't have the baggage of twenty years or more of preconceptions for what the film should do in its live action guise, however seeing both the film versions within the space of two weeks does come with the advantage (or maybe baggage) of being able to see things in a more mirrored perspective which with this film in particular was a fascinating thing to behold.
On the point I've just made I'm going to go down the road of them recreating those scene moments with an accuracy which to many a fan I'm sure was pure delight to simply see an exact mirrored scene only with a live action cast, the opening Belle musical sequence is the quintessential example of this with every aspect pretty much identically replicated to a precision that I've not quite seen on this large scale, yes we saw similar things like it in their Cinderella adaptation a couple years ago but that film was so short with plenty of potential to improve and to mould into something that isn't exactly a clone of it's animated counterpart, however I would say that it didn't completely work for Cinderella and also in respect to The Jungle Book Jon Favreau it would appear did want to go beyond what the Disney animated feature did and made it certainly a more cinematic experience type of film that although yes had nods to said animated film but did have ambitions beyond those Disney constraints.
To carry on that point I will simply go onto what I deem to be the films greatest strength and unsurprisingly it is the musical sequences of which the film lives and breaths off of, the question then becomes what exactly are we enjoying about these sequences because haven't we already seen and heard them? Yes and no is my unsurprising conclusion to this question, to focus on two songs in particular 'Gaston' and 'Be Our Guest' these are impeccably entertaining songs in their own right so why did these work even better in this format? I suppose it's down to the physical theatrical performance involved in recreating them, specifically Gaston as so much of the song is for a comedic effect that is only amplified with the performance song and dance piece that it is, in respect to Be Our Guest the visual treat that the animated film created again here is amplified to a splendiferous visual treat that only a creative more physical form can lend to the sequence.
What also must be said is that when talking about this more theatrical performance and the positives it brings it's also hugely reliant upon the individual actors involved and with Gaston in particular Josh Gad, Luke Evans and that whole ensemble are what gives that sequence the strength it has, also the vocal performances of the Be Our Guest voice cast is impeccable, equally when we're talking about the opening Belle sequence the same rule is applied, yes the song is adequately performed by Emma Watson, but it's hard when clearly we've heard this song performed by a more than superior singer and given that the opening is most certainly a scene for scene recreation of the animated feature the startling contrast of such qualities are much more keenly and therefore negatively noted by the viewer.
I'm clearly going into many specifics that a normal reviewer would not do but I'm trying to find out exactly what it is about these remakes that we clearly flock to see as an audience, as this is part of a more broader film debate given in other areas of the film world we've experienced films like Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, films that overly rely on the audiences nostalgia for the past film products in order to positively survive, yes that's an extremely harsh statement to make but given that Beauty and the Beast regularly just recreates exact scenes from the past film the point I'm trying to explore is exactly at what point does a remake or nostalgia kill or make a film that is in front of you.
In respect to this years Beauty and the Beast adaptation, my overall reaction was one of differing feelings, there were the joys of those particular musical moments being recreated, but equally I was unsure what exactly the film generally was bringing to the table as a project, the film does add some scenes to the fray for further context for main characters and there was two extra songs, however I particularly thought that although they did the film no harm I didn't think 'oh isn't it really good they've included that' So overall an inconclusive reaction from me and I'm going to continue to have this debate with myself but I do believe that a more capable group of film reviewers/writers might be able to more articulate an argument.