Beauty and the Beast. That is all that I have heard about for the past few days now. And frankly, I am not as happy as I had hoped to be and seeing everyone else jump around in joy is getting on my nerves.
Ok, let me explain a bit that sure, the story of Beauty and The Beast has many flaws and it has been the subject of many feministic articles and how it did not portray a healthy relationship and whatnot.
And you know what, maybe they all are right, maybe not. But that does not stop me from enjoying this movie and saying without any shame that this movie has been one of my all time favourite childhood movies.
This and Lion King are ones that I can probably rewatch again and again and never get bored of.
That is perhaps why I was quite looking forward to the reboot of sorts of this film in a live-action setting. The fact that the main protagonists are human and well sort of human and unlike Jungle Book, which was entirely CGI work, this one still has a good amount of actual people in it, was a good thing for me as it would truly be live action that way.
But after watching the trailer… sigh, I would have to say that all my hopes and excitement for this film have died away. I will probably still watch the film just because I am a masochist perhaps, however, at the moment I am just done with this movie.
What Exactly Is The Difference?
Um… Disney, one question, what exactly is different in this movie?
So listen listen my dudes, but one thing that just instantly jumped out at me after watching the trailer was that Every. Word. Was. Taken. As. It. Is. From the original film. And not just words, but even the actions and movements, everything was the exact same.
( No, I am not ashamed that I know everything about this movie so well)
It almost seems to me that they have simply taken the old animated version and just made that with live actors.
I mean sure, no harm in taking the essence, but they could at least have tried to do something different?
Be it Cinderella which although followed the concept, was still a bit different from the animated version or Jungle Book. Oh and what about Maleficent, which took the most drastic route and changed the character and story only making Maleficent out to be the good one?
So could they really not have done something different with this new Beauty and The Beast? I mean, they could have still kept a few iconic scenes, but at least created a new script?
The Magic Is Not There
Aahhh.. ok, so this one might seem a bit unnecessary to some of you, but I just did not feel the same magic as with the animated one.
This is where I feel that animated movies win over live action ones. With animation, you have the power to create the exact things you want. And you can take a few liberties when creating, which might make the characters a little unrealistic but it sort of gets the point across.
You cannot do that in live action. And I feel that that magic, that otherworldliness is sorely missing from this film.
Second, I think I might just get a little hate for this but, Emma Watson, why?!!
She does not fit the Belle character, and I do not mean that she is not demure or shy or feminine enough. Belle was none of that.
The problem is with the fact that Watson looks too modern and from what I saw in the trailer, looks a bit ill-fitted for such an old-timey character. And second, her dialogue delivery and the British accent, um… no.
Signing off I would just say that, I truly truly truly hope that Beauty and The Beast blows away all my bad opinions I have of it and does a wonderful job. But at the moment it only feels like Disney is out of ideas and has grabbed on the next best money making scheme which is turning their hit animated movies into live-action ones.
Image Credits: Google Images
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