Maybe it’s Emma Watson’s #goals fluffy brows and natural beauty, but it’s most likely her sweet yet strong demeanour that had me loving the modern, live-action remake of Beauty and The Beast from her first scene.
I’m not sure what I was expecting TBH, in fact I tend to find that low expectations are the best way to approach cinematic adaptations. But I can tell you that I was pleasantly surprised at how familiarly the plot stayed true to the 1991 OG. Even if I did have high expectations, something tells me I still would have loved it.
Thanks largely to the considerable advances in CGI, it is a whimsical and enchanting take on the “tale as old as time”. And the star-studded, musical cast of Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans as Gaston, Ewan McGregor as candelabra Lumière, and Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts, don’t hurt either.
IRL, Emma Watson is a game-changer, rule-breaker and trailblazer for women’s equal rights. I mean, you’d be foolish for ever thinking she’d take on a role that goes against her full-on feminist beliefs. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that her character, while restrained, could very well be Disney’s version of a timeless nasty woman.
While we all know the story, the directors have appropriately brought some details up-to-date. Instead of an inventor, Belle’s father, Maurice is an artist. The provincial village in which Belle lives is more diverse in race and sexual orientation. And the villagers who are strongly anti-education are swiftly shut down. In fact, one of my favourite messages comes from seeing Belle and The Beast fall in love over Shakespeare and Austen – something that gently reminds children, and adults watching alike, that reading is so damn cool and attractive, as is intelligence. A message we, at Miss FQ, 100% stand behind.
As Josh Gad, the actor who plays Gaston’s sidekick Le Fou, said so poignantly of the film’s soon-to-be-iconic gay moment, in an interview with People, it is “subtle but incredibly effective.”
A statement I wholeheartedly agree with – in all respects of this magical movie.
The Beast charmed Belle and the film charmed me. 2017’s Beauty and the Beast is a fantastically modern, feminist Happy Ever After.
Beauty and The Beast is in cinemas in New Zealand from March 30th.
Tickets are on sale now.
