An eloquent, classic romance renewed

Rating: 7/10 (30 March 2017)

26 years after the classic Disney film was released, Bill Condon directs Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
This film was absolutely stunning. I sat and watched my childhood on screen with real people for the first time in my life, and I am not ashamed to admit I shed a tear once or twice. I grew up watching Emma Watson as Hermoine, so seeing her on screen as my all time favourite Disney Princess was highly emotional.
The cinematography in this took my breath away. Every frame of this film was stunning. The cinematography was beautifully done. The costume designs were so expertly done, they all looked like they were direct from the animated film. The casting was done so stupendously it was like the original animations had just stepped out of the film and began waltzing across the screen.
The only two qualms I had were

It seemed to take Emma Watson a while to warm up to singing. It was very rough in the first song of the film, and then she seemed to get better as it went along.

The pacing of the film seemed quite rushed. I understand they were pretty much copying the original animation, but I feel like it could have been paced out just that little bit better. I felt a little out of breath watching it, whizzing from one point to another.

Those qualms aside, this still took my breath away. It definitely deserves the hype it got. This was a wonderful retelling of such a classic tale. I hope that this generation of children may enjoy this as much as I enjoyed the original growing up. They deserve a movie like this, full of love, hope and romance. And of course, the age old moral, don't judge a book by it's cover.