Tale as Old as Time? Not by a long shot.

Rating: 6/10 (16 March 2017)

It's hard not to spoil a story that we have known for 26 years but I will try. Let me start by saying that my hopes for the movie were not the highest in the world, but it was actually pretty good, better than expected.
The live-action feature manages to flesh out a few things from the animated version, it wants to blend the Disney cartoon and the fairy tale of old and it achieves just that with barely no effort. It is also to notice that Emma Watson gives a tremendous performance as Belle and Dan Peters tho a CGI character for almost the entire movie makes a lovable beast. Emma Watson personifies the beauty in the inside and the outside, you can really tell that she put all her effort into honoring this timeless story.
The supporting cast was terrific, the songs we know and love will draw you to tears but the real diamond in the rough here is Josh Gad as Lefou. Not only was he amazingly funny as Gaston's sidekick but he was also his own person and the character with more personal growth of the entire cast, this could very well be his movie.
However, what kills the enjoyment as I had feared was Luke Evans' performance as the antagonist Gaston, he was more of a cartoon than the actual cartoon version from start to finish, a cliché scene after scene not believable as a person, not even as a cartoon character. It was a poorly written character and a horrible performance, I was by the end either wishing I could watch the same movie with a different Gaston or that he hadn't even been there. Some tongue in cheek moments are also cringe worthy and manage to kill the make belief of the story.
Countering the good with the bad I have to say with a clear conscience that I rate this 6 out of 10. Sure, it is enjoyable to be seen once, maybe twice... but it is not at all remarkable, nor is it timeless. There is beauty in the film, just not enough to counter all the beastly choices the filmmakers made. There's nothing there that wasn't there before.