Not special

Rating: 7/10 (9 April 2017)

This is a Disney movie for young girls. I'm in the wrong demographic for this movie. Still I thought I might see it, because Disney movies are meant to appeal to all.
I thought the first part was fairly slow and I almost fell asleep half way through. It picked up a little, but not enough.
The movie is highly stylized and lacking in realism, which is not surprising, I suppose. We're in the world of ancient fairy tale, Disney fantasy and CGI. But there were many places where I found myself having to accept some contrived aspect that I didn't really want to accept.
But then every so often the director showed us some beautiful animation, and the movie magic was there for a bit.
The music and story didn't inspire me or even interest me really.
I thought the whole anthropomorphic furniture/household thing was over done.
I had a hard time with the "beast" character. I mean, yes, he was half man half mountain goat (or whatever he was supposed to be) but he wasn't exactly a repulsive creature. He had muscles, strength, courage, hair, good looks, intelligence, education and sensitivity. This movie might have been more to the point if the beast had been truly hideous and unattractive. So I didn't really buy into the central moral dilemma of the movie, ie that a man-goat is hideous and that a human girl would never have feelings for a man-goat, or more importantly, that looks don't matter. Have I missed the point somehow?