Good visuals in an otherwise flat re-make...

Rating: Null/10 (6 July 2018)

1.5/4
I thoroughly enjoyed Cinderella (2015) and was expecting Beauty and the Beast to do its respective predecessor justice. I'm going to just tell you my personal opinion: It didn't come close. Stick with the cartoon from 1991.
To start off on a positive note, the visuals are absolutely stunning. The cinematography is lush and the set is total perfection. It truly is some of the best eye-candy I've ever seen in a movie (and I've seen a lot of movies ladies and gentlemen). Direction screenplay, and plot all seem to take a backseat to production. My answer to that? Go tour a real castle.
Emma Watson makes for a great Belle, and she's a great misfit bookworm princess. Also, she fits in to the Parisian born theme of the character perfectly, as she is Parisian in real life. However, everyone else is completely miscast, especially Luke Evans as Gaston. The overly cocky and somewhat fun character is simply overly cocky in this movie. How much fun can you have with one mood? Anyone? C'mon, Luke, you aren't even acting like you're interested in Belle at all. Josh Gad is no good as the gay LeFou. With all of the hype and controversy Disney made of LeFou, you'd think they'd do a homosexual character right? Wrong. They never let you forget about his sexual orientation, and they remind you even at times when it's totally unimportant to the story. Gad's character could never develop beyond Gaston's inferior/cronie/admirer.
At the end of the day, this movie felt too true to the original. When you try to mimic and old glory, it never comes out just how you'd want it. Aside from the opening number (the song about how odd Belle is) none of the other songs have a lasting impact. "Be My Guest" was good, but the CGI was ridiculous to me, as they didn't even animate the atmosphere of most of the song. Some songs (like Evermore) have about 15 seconds of screen time, and others (like Gaston) were completely out of wack due to Luke Evan's eye-rolling preformance.
Is this a bad movie? No. Is this a good movie? No. Did it live up to my expectations? No. Is the cartoon better? Yes. Would I ever watch this live-action version again? Probably not.