Beauty and the Beast (2017) Movie Review

Caitlin McKeand, Co-Editor in Chief

The 1991 Disney movie Beauty and the Beast has always been considered a classic. Now, in 2017 a new rendition has come to light as a live action movie. Emma Watson and Dan Stevens are the main leads with Bill Condon as director.

Walking into the theater, I can’t say I expected much (other than being able to see the love of my life Emma Watson). I wasn’t sure if I would find it weird or not that the story is that of a girl falling in love with an animal man in live action. Needless to say, my mom told me I was overthinking it. As the movie went on, all I could think was how much CGI did this require? How much of what I’m looking at is greenscreen?

My attempts to cover up my disgusting coughing sort of ruined the vibe for me, so I couldn’t fully get into the movie, but what I could get into was Belle’s hair in live action. So good.

Speaking of things that were iconic: the yellow dress. When Belle came down the stairs I actually couldn’t breathe. The dress wasn’t heavy enough that it had no motions, but also wasn’t light to the point of whooshing too much (I don’t know if that was coherent but). My favorite part was then she ran/galloped off in the dress and jumped off her horse in front of the townspeople. Gosh, she looked so majestic. The woman coming to save her dad (and looking very good while doing it).

Mild spoilers?:

When the last petal fell and all the servants people started turning to inanimate objects, slowly being unable to talk, chip unable to see his mother before he “died” and vise versa. It got me. Not in a sobbing way, but more in that melodramatic one-tear-rolling-down-the-cheek kind of way.

In any case, I felt the movie was beautifully done and was very aesthetically pleasing. Props to them and I hope to see Emma in more movies.