Nice to look at, and listen to, but not engaging

Rating: 3/10 (21 March 2017)

Frankly, this new live-action version of "Beauty and the Beast" was one of the bigger disappointments in recent memory, eclipsed only by how much I disliked "Kong: Skull Island" just last week. There is so much apparent hard work showing on screen and audibly, with gorgeous costumes and a beautifully-orchestrated and performed musical score (the orchestra's part in it), but it barely registered for me as an engaging, exciting, vibrant, or touching film--the exact opposite of the pure, exhilarating joy that was the all-animated "Beauty and the Beast" this is being compared to. I love musicals, have since I was a kid, and paid extra to see this new live-action version in a large-format theater known for great sound and picture near me--and it was a huge waste of money at nearly $15 a ticket. I found myself studying the costuming and just listening to the orchestral score to pass the time, and lamenting the CGI-animated Beast's walks, leaps, and dancing, as it was so herky-jerky it felt like old stop-motion animation throughout (which, ironically, was somehow more effective in its obviousness). There is so much more to complain about, but I'll stop here--just know that I wanted to love this film, wanted to be transported the way musicals sometimes do transport audiences so well, and ended up fidgety and bored, checking my watch to see how much longer it could possibly be.