LeFou Finds Prince Charming

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2017)

Beauty and the Beast, a tale as old as time. A long beloved and somewhat controversial fairy tale that not everyone was willing to see made live. Disney is still at the beginning of their phase of remaking classics into live action films, with Beauty and the Beast being the third (I believe) that is just a remake as opposed to a new take, after Cinderella and the Jungle Book. Everyone knows the story: a prince (Dan Stevens) is cursed to be a beast until he finds true love, and an opportunity arises when a smart, different girl (Emma Watson) enters his castle. The new, evolved story answers some questions that the animated version left open ended, like what happened to Belle's mother, what happened to Beast's parents, and more details about the enchantress's magic on the castle. The Beast is earned some sympathy with a backstory, yet is it also covered why he got himself cursed, being a selfish, rude prince as opposed to just an orphaned eleven year old turning an old lady away at the door. Belle is evolved to be a modern woman in an olden time. She is the inventor, instead of her father, who is an artist. She attempts to teach a young girl to read, which the village sees as absurd and unnecessary. She actually gives the village a reason to despise her. She is also more headstrong and determined, trying to escape when captured at first.
The move itself is dazzling and charming. From the very beginning, the sets and costumes are to be admired. It captures you in a fairy tale. The musical scenes are cartoony yet beautiful, simply an animated world come to life. The castle and its inhabitants are a display of the talent in the design team behind the movie. It takes a bit of getting used to, with Cogsworth and Lumiere redesigned into more elegant furniture pieces, and Mrs. Potts and the Wardrobe looking nearly unrecognizable from their previous designs. Seeing the beast more humanized was weird and I am not sure if it was the right choice. It kind of eliminated the whole 'looking past horrifying' when he was basically just a large, hairy man with horns.
The movie allowed time for Belle and Beast to actually know each other and become friends and form a relationship before they fell in love. Beast is also a bookworm in this version, already having the giant library as opposed to just getting it to win over Belle, leading to a more genuine relationship. The performances were cartoony, as to be expected. They are portraying animated characters, so everyone knows their acting would be a bit, well, animated.
If you are either avoiding or praising this for it's "exclusively gay moment" featuring Josh Gad's character, LeFou, I wouldn't hold your breath. LeFou, Gaston's little friend, is obviously infatuated with him. This is mostly for comedic purposes, however. Later in the movie, when the villagers are storming the castle, the wardrobe puts three men who are attacking her in dresses. Two of them go screaming, while one is very happy dressed up like that. In the finale, him and LeFou are ballroom dancing together for a split second. If you blink, you miss it. LeFou also gets redemption after Gaston turns him away one too many times. A few new songs are added to the new version to fit in new parts of the story. Obviously not as good as the original songs, and largely forgettable, however.
As someone who loved the animated movie and princess Belle growing up, I was happy with the remake. It captured most of the same magic and made me smile. If you're upset that this 'remake theater' is what Disney has chosen to do, that is fine, but do not regard it as a bad movie just because of that.