Good except for the auto-tuning

Rating: 8/10 (25 September 2017)

This visually splendid live-action remake of the Disney animated classic is for the most part, an excellent film. It's a little darker than the original, the CGI is first-rate, and Dan Stevens is a terrific Beast.
The songs are still fun (although the title song is used like a club to repeatedly beat the audience into submission) and the magic is still there (although I would still give the edge to the original). And Be Our Guest is still tremendous fun (also, it's about 95% animated). There is comedy, tragedy, romance; all that good stuff.
Unfortunately, Emma Watson can't sing.
Once upon a time when Hollywood insisted on casting non-singing stars for their box office appeal they dubbed the singing. It was a good system. Alas, B&B's producers made a much worse choice; they auto-tuned Watson. And it is painful.
My fear is that a generation is coming of age who will consider auto-tuning perfectly acceptable. Perhaps musicals will eventually be entirely made up of famous non-singers. But for those of us who grew up before autotuning started earworming it's way into popular entertainment, this is pretty painful.
As for her acting, Watson isn't a bad Belle, but I wouldn't say she was the perfect actress for the part. She's kind of forgettable here. And that just adds insult to injury. Audrey Hepburn was dubbed in My Fair Lady, but at least she really nailed the part.
There are also a few lapses in logic that I'm not sure were in the original. And I can't help but feel that if the Beast was being taught a lesson for judging people by their looks, wouldn't that lesson be more effective without the most beautiful girl in the village being part of the equation?