Has Its Shortcomings, But Is Still a Faithful Adaptation

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2017)

The overall look of this movie is fantastic. Everything from the production design, to the costumes, to the character design is flawless. Director Bill Condon did a masterful job working with all the different departments in order to capture the look of the original film. That may sound like an easy feat, but it really isn't. Not only did they have to capture the look of it, but they had to capture the feel of it as well, which they did in spades! I was immediately whisked away into the world of the animated film, which is a high compliment. I think a lot of the technical aspects of the film are what really shines. The CGI works, for the most part. I'll talk about the Beast in a minute, but I thought the CGI for Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and all the other appliances were top-notch. Not only did they look great on their own, but they blended well with the real world. Nothing stood out as looking fake when they interacted with Belle, which is more than I can say than with the Beast. But I'll get into that later. The songs were also perfectly recaptured. From the choreography to the cinematography, these scenes were flawless. All the songs, from "Belle" to "Gaston" to "Be Our Guest", were excellently realized, and effectively translated into live action. You can tell Condon put a lot of time and care into making sure they worked, and he absolutely succeeded in doing so...