If you liked the first one...

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2017)

Chances are you will like this one too.
As a fan of the original I was nervous they were going to go way overboard and make it a shell of the animated version, however they showed a lot of restraint in most of the changes, and to be honest the additions were actually improvements.
Ever wonder why the villagers have no idea there is a castle within eyesight? If the villagers actually like Gaston? What happened to Belle's mother? What Belle and the Beast actually had in common? This film answered all those questions.
Some reviews mention the CGI is distracting but I didn't find that, it actually greatly enhanced some of the more visual scenes like 'Be Our Guest' which was great in the original but even better in this version.
The major flaw in this film is Emma Watson. Her facial expressions are often out of sync with what is actually happening in the plot, and the extraordinary tendencies and personality referred to by the other characters are more heard than seen. Les Miserables also made the same mistake by casting someone who couldn't sing in a musical and let them get way overshadowed by the people who could sing.
Other than that it was 20 minutes too long, but most movies are.