The First Disney Remake to Feel Mostly Pointless

Rating: 5/10 (23 March 2017)

Disney's latest money-printerI mean live-action remakehas most everything we all love about the 1992 animated opus: the magical romance, the fun characters, the beautiful art direction, and possibly the greatest collection of songs in Disney's impressive canon. And based on the first weekend box office, audiences are more than happy to be guests in this world again. The problem for me is that everything they love here, they love, or would love, in the much superior original. Instead of taking a new approach to their property (i.e. Cinderella, Jungle Book), Beauty and the Beast is essentially a moment-for-moment remake with some hit-and-miss additions. So you already know the story: girl is imprisoned by beast, beast learns to love, girl returns love, etc. A couple of backstory facelifts and plot-hole fixes are really the only changes in this update, and they do serve their purpose. Even the romance itself is given a needed expansion, making their love slightly more genuine. However, those additions also further other pressing questions (why did she stay imprisoned for so long?). Also, the titular characters are just plain worse. The normally competent and likable Watson is completely out of her element, opting for a quieter and frankly smugger Belle than the quirky and free-spirited one, and the beast roars uncanny valley like a furry Transformer. On the plus side, the household objects (Lumiere, Cogsworth, etc) have a much better arc, including more than a few funny moments and a surprisingly emotional plight. The question is: are these additions enough to warrant a brand-new movie? I guess if you refuse to revisit the original then they are. Otherwise, they simply aren't.