I saw the film on Wednesday....decided to do a 3D showing which I enjoy.
As a whole, it was a enjoyable 2 hours.
However, for me it was similar to most of Disney's recent films over the last few years in that it was beautiful to look at , but not much below that pretty looking surface.
I was expecting a little more....but this is a fine movie to see at least once.
Things I really liked about it -
The costumes.
The set design
The cinematography
Beast's big musical song ' Evermore'
Further insights into the characters back stories.
Whenever the film strayed off the well beaten path of the familiar animated feature.
The enchanted storybook concept
Lafou, Maurice, Gaston, Beast.
Things I didn't really like -
The recycled lines directly lifted from the animated feature...word for word.
Some of the odd CGI performance capture animation done in a few scenes with Beast.
Editing / staging choices
While I did like the film, I think a part of me was expecting it to be more emotionally charged then it was.
I went in to see the film spoiler free and purposely separated it in my mind from the animated film to try to avoid comparisons.
That was difficult, exspecially with so much of the script and even scenes directly copied from said animated film.
The animated film had far more emotion involved between the characters, particularly Belle and Beast, then I saw in this live action version.
A lot of times it just seemed like they were going through the paces, assuming the audience is already familiar with the 91' feature.
Hard to put my finger on it....but that was my impression.
I just wasn't feeling the 'enchantment' factor and getting swept up in the story.
That was surprising in a way, as this is a tale perfectly suited for that.
But something was missing for me.
It was glorious to view in 3D though.
The set design, castle exteriors and interiors, and gorgeous costumes made for some beautiful eye candy.
But...not a lot of depth underneath that.
Would I see it again if opportunity arose..?
Yes, I would.
It was not a 'one and done' like so many recent Disney related films have been to me over the last few years.
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