Even better than the original. Complainers are off base.

Rating: 9/10 (17 March 2017)

About the only thing about this version that was not as good as the old one is Beauty and the Beast in the closing credits. It was so excellent to see actual humans rather than animation performing the parts. Emma Watson was surprisingly strong acting and singing the part of Belle. The beast played by Dan Stevens was more humorous but less comical and more believable than the animated one. All the performances were quite good. Sure Emma Thompson was not quite as wonderful as Angela Lansbury, but was still very good. Luke Evans played an excellently despicable Gaston. I liked all the directorial choices and every change made from the original was an improvement. Masterful job Disney in updating this classic.