![]() ![]() ![]() Condon, who once focused on gentle biopics about sexuality and intimacy ( Gods and Monsters, Kinsey), has since become a purveyor of lavish ridiculousness ( Dreamgirls, Twilight: Breaking Dawn), and there’s many a moment in Beauty and the Beast where he’s trying to have fun. I sat up straight in my seat at this hilariously sumptuous sight, something right out of the court of Louis XIV. The prologue, told as a series of stained-glass vignettes in the animated film, has been turned into an extravagant ball scene, with the posh, entitled Prince (Dan Stevens) raging the night away with his courtiers. That’s mostly because Condon and the screenwriters Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos have added in several soupçons of backstory and a few extra songs, just to give things more of a blown-out feeling. But this 2017 edition of Beauty and the Beast feels particularly egregious, in part, because it’s so slavishly devoted to the original every time it falls short of its predecessor (which is quite often), it’s hard not to notice.įor a film that feels like a shot-for-shot remake at times, Beauty and the Beast is also surprisingly long, running a hefty 129 minutes to the original’s 84. There’s nothing particularly outrageous about retelling or reimagining these stories. The recent Disney remake formula is a simple one: Take a beloved animated tale (say, Cinderella or The Jungle Book), cast some big-name celebrities, and then dial the opulence factor up to 11, turning a film everyone remembers into a grand, if somewhat hollow, homage for a new generation. Here is a film that truly only has eyes for the 1991 Beauty and the Beast unfortunately, this reverence makes for a far unholier union. ![]() It’s perhaps no wonder, then, that Bill Condon’s new live-action remake is also a swooning romance. The studio’s 1991 film remains arguably the greatest of its animated works, somehow managing to adhere to a rigid musical formula while injecting atmosphere, deep characterization (especially for its heroine), and beautifully written, funny, and intelligent songs. As such, it was virtually tailor-made for Disney. The centuries-old fairytale of Beauty and the Beast is a story of transformative love, and of learning to see someone’s inner beauty, that ends in a blessed matrimony with a handsome prince. ![]()
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