Magical, but had a lot to live up to.

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2017)

"Beauty and the Beast" was a fantastic movie altogether although it had a lot to live up to. The original version of the film captured the hearts of millions and is arguably hard to top. This movie would need to meet or exceed the magic of the original and I felt it only met it.
The music is amazing - of course! - especially with the new songs written for the film. The actors do their best to portray their beloved counterparts while bringing a fresh revival to each. Most importantly, this movie just gives you more. The story is new and the visuals are exquisite. This movie does lack, however. Disney could have done more for the story to make it unique. The story in itself felt rushed at times - like we don't already know the essentials! - and so it made it feel just a bit less magical.
Even though I feel Disney went above and beyond to help answer questions and give us more to the story that was lacking from the original, we leave with different questions that I wish could have been explained. Now, as for the live-action portrayal in general, Cinderella was better - granted, it set the standard for these remakes - because there was no standard other than having Disney not mess up a classic. Here, everything was on the line, and Disney did admirably, but overall just couldn't quite make a perfect 10/10 movie for this Disney enthusiast.