A Missed Opportunity

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2017)

***SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW THE STORY***
CASTING
I liked Emma Watson as Belle, she's a fine actress and a good source of eye candy and was well cast in that role. Belle's father, on the other hand, played by Kevin Kline, was by far the weakest link in the cast. He was a poor decision to play that part and I don't think his character was written very well either. The actor who portrayed Gaston was absolutely wonderful, and although I don't care for that character in the animated version, I really enjoyed him in this movie. However, as much as I like Josh Gad I don't think he was a very good choice to play LaFou. Along with not being so well written I thought LaFou was kinda cringey in some scenes.
PLOT
I'm happy to say that the live action movie fixed most, if not all, of the plot issues I hold against the animated feature. For example, instead of having the beast begin hitting on Belle as soon as he takes her prisoner it is now portrayed as a secret collaboration by the servants to get their master together with Belle, one which the beast initially resists. This works SOOO much better, imo. However, many of the scenes are woefully underdeveloped. The wolf attack scene, for example. The beast gets a couple of bites and we're supposed to believe he's incapacitated for days? And the scene where Belle chooses to take the place of her father was not done well. It's a critical plot point but they seem to rush through it. Most egregious of these errors, though, is the handling of the climax. When the last rose petal falls and Belle thinks the beast is dead, we as the audience are caught up in the emotion of it all. She kneels down next to him and then the camera cuts to show what's going on in the rest of the castle. By the time they get back to Belle and the fallen beast my emotional investment in the scene had waned considerably. It's a travesty and a sign of poor direction or scriptwriting or both.
CONCLUSION
I did enjoy the film, warts and all, and I like it better than the animated version, however, I think it was a real missed opportunity. It could have been magnificent in the hands of better filmmakers.