La La Land flatness and just too long.

Rating: 6/10 (25 September 2017)

Finally caught up with this on DVD today, I also caught up with La La Land this week and both left me with the same feeling of flatness. Something just didn't work, there were nice songs nice scenery, etc but no joy, no light in Belle's voice and no light in her eyes. I felt that in the very first song in the village she came across as a complainer, and a bit of an "I'm too good for these peasants" feel, rather than just the restlessness of the original Belle. It was unfortunate but this impression tainted the way I responded to her for most of the movie. I also couldn't believe the flatness of her reaction to the Be Our Guest song; where was the amazement, the joy etc, she just came across as "oh this is nice". I also felt it inappropriate of Disney to introduce a homosexual element to the story, this is a film for kids for goodness sake, get over yourselves and your agendas and stick to great storytelling and let our children enjoy their childhood without your issues getting in the way. But there were some very enjoyable moments, the snow fight, the library scene, the dance and the final battle between villagers and the castle crew were all very good. I just wish they'd found a different actor to play Belle and left out some of the junk and cut the length down, it was just too long for kids.