I love this movie!

Rating: 9/10 (29 July 2017)

When I heard that Emma Watson and Dan Stevens had been cast in the two lead roles, I was really excited to see the finished movie. And it absolutely didn't disappoint. Firstly, it seems as though it's cool to say that the animated 1991 version is better - after all, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, right? But I watched it again recently, to get a true comparison, and this new version knocks it clear out of the park, in every way - music, acting, story-line, characterisation - all are, in my opinion, superior. There are 3 new songs in the movie, and they all absolutely add to the story and our understanding of the characters and their motivations. All of the leads (including the "animated inanimates", about whom there was little publicity but who are mostly A-List actors) are perfect in their roles, and not one of them doesn't ring absolutely true. Emma Watson strikes a wonderful balance between girl and woman, and Dan Stevens is somehow able to make us feel empathy with the Beast, even at first meeting, by conveying how tormented he is. Later as the Beast relaxes with Belle, we see his humanity resurfacing more and more, and somehow it IS perfectly conceivable that Belle could love him. I also found Luke Evans' characterisation of Gaston so much better than 1991's Gaston; here, we see the character's arc from arrogant, conceited (but not actually bad) pin-up of the village to enraged, scorned suitor who turns to evil when he doesn't get what he wants; this is in contrast to the one-dimensional character we see in the 1991 film. Both Evans and sidekick Le Fou (Josh Gad) bring real wit and humour to their roles, and as a bonus, Luke Evans' singing voice is truly fabulous! Speaking of music, the soundtrack is really lovely; all of the leads (including those not recognised as singers) bring skill and feeling to the songs they sing, and for me, Emma Thompson's "Tale As Old As Time" is truly beautiful - I greatly prefer it to Angela Lansbury's rendition. Naturally, this is, at its heart, a fairy tale, so some suspension of disbelief is necessary. And there are a couple of plot holes (how did they get through editing?! They're the only reason I didn't rate the movie a 10 out of 10) Emma Watson's extensive experience in acting for green screen (in the Harry Potter franchise with all of its special effects) is evident in her relaxed and realistic interactions with Lumiere, Cogsworth, Lumette, Mrs Potts and Chip (in their non-human forms). And the final ballroom scene is sumptuous but more than that, absolutely joyful. For me, this movie begs the question: if Disney had had access to the effects and CGI that are now commonplace in movie-making, would he ever had made all the fairy tale movies he did as animations, when real people can rouse so much more empathy and feeling in an audience? I know I am not the only person who had a tear in my eye at the scene where the servant characters finally lost their humanity and became (albeit temporarily) the inanimate objects they had inhabited. And Belle's tears over the body of the Beast were heart-rending and utterly believable. Overall, for beauty, gorgeous music, laughter and just a wonderful romantic tale with a happy ending, this movie is hard to beat.