Stick with the original

Rating: 4/10 (19 March 2017)

OK, so the animated 1991 version is my childhood. Some of my fondest memories ever, is watching the VHS tape with my younger brother. So, maybe I shouldn't have gone to see this remake, but I felt "I have to, I mean how bad can it be?"
In all fairness, it wasn't horrible. But, if it urges me to write my first review here, it's not good.
First of all, I liked Emma Watson more than I thought I would. The surroundings were very pretty, Luke Evans did a good job as Gaston, some of the new songs were quite nice, but that's about it.
I was really excited about the supporting cast, I mean it's Kevin Kline, Emma Thompson, Ian McKellen etc. But they didn't do much for me.
I appreciate that they wanted to embellish the story and the musical numbers, but they just tried to hard. I didn't like the new arrangements in the music, they changed too much for no reason.
I was underwhelmed by the CGI, I expected more from that hefty budget.
I really disliked the way they did the ending. When the beast is "dying" and Belle is by his side, it's the most gripping moment in the original. In this one, we see him and Belle, she is crying, I am tearing up, and then...they CUT AWAY. We all of a sudden see Lumiere and Cogsworth and the rest of the "household staff" coming to life, and then they come back to Belle and the beast and she tells him that she loves him. Totally anticlimactic. I lost all emotion, and I just don't understand why they did that.
When the beast is finally himself again, we see them dancing, and all of sudden, in this romantic scene, they feel the need to add a joke. Belle says something like "How would you feel about growing a beard?". Totally uncalled for.
The ending was just nowhere near the original in it's emotion, beauty and grandness, and the same goes for the movie as a whole.
Stick with the original, that's all I can say.