Tired of musical movies...

Rating: 5/10 (22 March 2017)

Director Bill Condon ("Dreamgirls" - 2006) knows his way around real-life big budget films, however, his current special/visual/CGI effects film is too dark (literally it's in shadow throughout much of the film) to be thoroughly enjoyed by it's primary audience - children. As for the "gay" issue, PLEASE! Guys briefly wearing female clothing and/or a few seconds of two men dancing together does not make a gay film. To Condon's credit, he doesn't change the story much, so if you've seen the animation and the live theatre production (and who hasn't?), there's really no need to see this version. Belle (played by all grown up Emma Watson "Harry Potter") does a nice job, giving her Belle more of self assured female presences. The Beast (Dan Stevens - Matthew from "Downton Abbey) costumes and make-up is terrific, and Stevens' managers to display a nice warm conflict in emotions throughout. On the other hand, Gaston (Luke Evans "Dracula" 2014) is over the top in dialogue and jesters, making his character a Laurel and Hardy team opposite LeFou (Josh Gad "Book of Mormon"). While it's always great to see Kevin Kline on the big screen, his Maurice didn't feel connected to the story, and the "antique" VoiceOvers (Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Audra McDonald and Stanley Tucci) were fun in CGI format, when they transformed back to human, it was all too stagy for my enjoyment. In fact, the big wrap at the end was really the end for me. Maybe I'm just tired of film/TV musicals?