Beauty and the Beast
Mar. 17th, 2017 09:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWe went to see Beauty and the Beast last night! (I think this is the first time I've been to a movie premiere since... the third Lord of the Rings movie... wow, that was a while ago.)
IN ANY CASE, I loved it; it's beautifully made, beautifully crafted, the brooding castle and the charmingly picturesque provincial town (would 100% live there if only the townsfolk weren't such jerks) and Gaston's ludicrous Disney Bad Guy costume - his boots! his swishy red coat! - and Belle's blue and white costumes, and her home with her father and their odd little automaton workshop. How does Papa Belle make a living by making automatons in this backwater? I feel there must be an inheritance he's spending his way through.
And the acting was top notch, too. Gaston was clearly have a great job chewing up the scenery - the tavern scene is amaaaazing, I think they must have had tons of fun shooting it - and I liked the character work they did with La Fou, who clearly sees that Gaston is a jerk and yet is so used to following him around everywhere that he can't seem to break the habit even as Gaston's jerkiness gets more and more pronounced.
(As a side note, I'm annoyed by the way the outrage mill went to town on Gay La Fou and then - as reviews made it clear the movie handled that well - switched the outrage over to Belle's ball dress, because God forbid we should allow a major movie to come out without being outraged about something before it even hit the theaters. This is manufactured outrage on the same level as right-wing complaints about "Happy holidays" and whether Starbucks red cups are Christmassy enough this year.)
But back to the movie! I was worried about how they would deal with Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts and all the other servants-turned-inanimate-objects - that looks fine in the animated movie, but would it look silly in live action? But I thought they looked lovely, and I also loved the gag where Belle is trying to get the hang of this castle and picks up her hairbrush and is all "Hello, what's your name?" and the others are all, "That's a hairbrush" - sounding a bit concerned, like is she losing touch with reality? - and Belle, embarrassed, swiftly puts it away from her.
I thought Emma Watson made a splendid Belle, too. I'm not sure she has great range as an actress, but what she does, she does extremely well, and dreamily rebellious bookworm Belle is clearly in her wheelhouse.
Also the library lived up to my hopes and dreams, which is clearly the most important part of any Beauty and the Beast adaptation.
I also had a great idea for a Beauty and the Beast retelling where the father character refuses to send his daughter to the Beast, because really, and also his horse doesn't get back to town to show Belle where her father's gotten because... it was eaten by wolves maybe... or perhaps the father was riding a bicycle?
Anyway, for a while the Beast mopes because obviously a pretty young girl is his only hope of breaking the curse, but eventually he starts to spend more time with the old guy and of course they fall in love, and the Beast learns a salutary lesson about how people can be beautiful inside even if they have gray hair and wrinkles.
IN ANY CASE, I loved it; it's beautifully made, beautifully crafted, the brooding castle and the charmingly picturesque provincial town (would 100% live there if only the townsfolk weren't such jerks) and Gaston's ludicrous Disney Bad Guy costume - his boots! his swishy red coat! - and Belle's blue and white costumes, and her home with her father and their odd little automaton workshop. How does Papa Belle make a living by making automatons in this backwater? I feel there must be an inheritance he's spending his way through.
And the acting was top notch, too. Gaston was clearly have a great job chewing up the scenery - the tavern scene is amaaaazing, I think they must have had tons of fun shooting it - and I liked the character work they did with La Fou, who clearly sees that Gaston is a jerk and yet is so used to following him around everywhere that he can't seem to break the habit even as Gaston's jerkiness gets more and more pronounced.
(As a side note, I'm annoyed by the way the outrage mill went to town on Gay La Fou and then - as reviews made it clear the movie handled that well - switched the outrage over to Belle's ball dress, because God forbid we should allow a major movie to come out without being outraged about something before it even hit the theaters. This is manufactured outrage on the same level as right-wing complaints about "Happy holidays" and whether Starbucks red cups are Christmassy enough this year.)
But back to the movie! I was worried about how they would deal with Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts and all the other servants-turned-inanimate-objects - that looks fine in the animated movie, but would it look silly in live action? But I thought they looked lovely, and I also loved the gag where Belle is trying to get the hang of this castle and picks up her hairbrush and is all "Hello, what's your name?" and the others are all, "That's a hairbrush" - sounding a bit concerned, like is she losing touch with reality? - and Belle, embarrassed, swiftly puts it away from her.
I thought Emma Watson made a splendid Belle, too. I'm not sure she has great range as an actress, but what she does, she does extremely well, and dreamily rebellious bookworm Belle is clearly in her wheelhouse.
Also the library lived up to my hopes and dreams, which is clearly the most important part of any Beauty and the Beast adaptation.
I also had a great idea for a Beauty and the Beast retelling where the father character refuses to send his daughter to the Beast, because really, and also his horse doesn't get back to town to show Belle where her father's gotten because... it was eaten by wolves maybe... or perhaps the father was riding a bicycle?
Anyway, for a while the Beast mopes because obviously a pretty young girl is his only hope of breaking the curse, but eventually he starts to spend more time with the old guy and of course they fall in love, and the Beast learns a salutary lesson about how people can be beautiful inside even if they have gray hair and wrinkles.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-17 08:17 pm (UTC)And while it makes sense that many would accept the substitution of a pretty daughter... what if the daughter wasn't a marriage prospect?
no subject
Date: 2017-03-17 09:52 pm (UTC)Although honestly I also think it would be fitting for the Beast to have to learn to see the beauty in a girl who has hideous burn scars on her face or something like that. Breaking the curse by falling in love with a beautiful kind-hearted maiden in the flower of her youth is far too easy on him.
But, in any case, clearly the father in this version doesn't want his daughter punished for his own crime. He'll be the prisoner, thank you very much, even if all the household appurtenances try to turn him out (convinced as they are that only a maiden can break the curse).
no subject
Date: 2017-03-17 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-17 08:13 pm (UTC)I'd read it.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-17 09:38 pm (UTC)