Worth It: “Beauty and the Beast”

By Olivia Fries-Farr ’19

Walt Disney Company’s “Beauty and the Beast” — the new live-action feature film based on Disney’s original animated feature classic — is, in my opinion, a beautifully crafted film.

I went to see the film at the vintage Vista Theater in Los Feliz with my Mom.  I want to see the movie again, and again mainly because the cast is very likeable.  I fell in love with the
household furniture characters.  The sets and costumes were spectacular.  I felt nostalgic watching the film.  The live-action was not an exact copy of the animated feature which I like and there were some great new twists on the original characters that made the movie more interesting and memorable.

The film, that came out earlier this month, directed by Bill Condon, with the screenplay written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos, is based on the original work Beauty and the Beast (1756) by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont and is amazing and well done. The stars of the film are Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as The Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Josh Gad as Lefou, Kevin Kline as Maurice, Hattie Morahan as Agatha – Enchantress, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Nathan Mack as Chip, Audra McDonald as Madame Garderobe, Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, and the continuing list of actors in the many character roles is massive.  

The film is produced by Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman.  The executive producers are Don Hahn, Thomas Schumacher, and Jeffrey Silver. The amazing music score by Alan Menken and costumes by Jacqueline Durran are perfectly stunning. It was very interesting to see how the costumes differed from the original animated version. In the original film, there is only so much intricacy and detail that can be portrayed through animation, but in the live-action version, Belle’s costumes come to life. The beautiful yellow dress, for example, during the famous dancing scene was so beautiful on actress Emma Watson and fit the background perfectly.

Furthermore, after doing some research, I found out that a lot of effort was required on behalf of Dan Stevens, the actor who played the Beast. In the shooting of the movie, Stevens had to wear an extremely heavy costume in addition to incorporating special fabric that would work with added CGI effects that would be created during the editing stages.

Overall, the detailed costumes, the familiar songs, and the beautiful sets made this a film that I highly recommend.

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Bamboo Rating: 10

Trailer Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Nl_TCQXuw

Favorite quotes:

Lumiere: Look, a girl!

Cogsworth: Yes, I can see it’s a girl, you fool!

Lumiere: What if she is the one?

Belle: Hello?

Belle: Have you really read every one of these books?

Beast: No, some of them are in Greek.

Beast: I am NOT a beast!

Cogsworth: Someone turn me back into a clock please!

Belle: How would you feel about growing a beard?

Beast: Growls.