Can Disney’s live-action remake possibly live up to the original?

Well who’d have thunk it? Bill Condon’s retelling of the 1991 Disney classic is actually… fantastic. Huh.

Going into the cinema, I can’t deny I felt a degree of reluctance. I had agreed to go with some friends, but from the trailers and a nostalgic loyalty to the 1991 original, I really wasn’t expecting much. Indeed earlier in the day, Mark Kermode said on his film review show (with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 5 Live) that he enjoyed the new Beauty and the Beast, but while he was watching the live-action remake, he wished he was at home watching the animation.

I sensed that would be a fair summation.

Indeed the first 15 minutes – where it limply wonders through the motions of the 1991 animation – supported that general feeling of meh-ness.

Though after watching the whole film, I’m afraid I really must disagree with Dr Kermode’s review. This is a fantastic film. No, it doesn’t rival the original – it complements it.

Side note on the first 15 minutes; the opening narration is duplicated almost verbatim aside from a really weird inflection in the final line. In the original, the words “for who could ever learn to love a beast” are spoken with a certain mystery and foreboding. The only way I can describe how it’s read in this film is by comparing it to the line, “and Mars’ warring spirit rams… into the atmosphere!” from Lady Gaga’s GUY (I need my lil’ monsters to back me up on this).

Musically, this film lacks the punch of the original Beauty and the Beast. Emma Watson – who is utterly convincing as Belle – has a pretty signing voice, but it’s not nearly as powerful as that of Broadway star Paige O’Hara, who voiced Belle in 1991. I’d echo that sentiment across all of the covers of the original songs – all performed perfectly well and still really enjoyable – but lacking in that Broadwayesque gusto.

While all of the songs from the animated classic are included in this film, there are also a couple of additional new ones, all of which are very good. New song Days in the Sun is featured prominently throughout the score, demonstrating some of the film’s own identity. Even the Beast (Dan Stevens) gets a solo, and its really rather good.

Narratively, Beauty and the Beast is as compelling as ever. In a story almost universally known (and indeed cherished), I struggled to imagine how much this film could hold my attention – given that I’ve seen it so many times before.

Yet that’s precisely what it does. A few subtle (and a couple of overt) additions to the story help ground the characters of this live-action remake in the “real” world, while also going a long way in raising the emotional stakes of the movie. It took a lot for me not to cry in the theatre, and when I listened back to one track in particular from the soundtrack on Spotify, and recalled the associated scene (and in particular a couple of lines), I was gone.

Tragic details are added to Belle and Maurice’s backstory – with Maurice coming off more as the tortured artist type than a bumbling (but sweet) klutz in the original. Gaston – now a former military captain – is more of a limp thug than the town hero, and he misses the glory of his war days.

Josh Gad’s Le Fou has been drastically reimagined, now the much smarter confidant of Gaston – who he is also secretly in love with. Remarkably, Disney managed not to make Le Fou an offensive gay caricature in this film, and the publicity around one of their first mainstream gay characters far outweighs the significance of it on his character.

Though not too much time is spent reinventing the wheel in this film. It doesn’t hold your hand in establishing characters – it assumes you know the nature of Cogsworth and Lumiere’s friendship, for example. Indeed a lot less time is spent with the CG characters – presumably because as this was being branded as a “live-action” film there had to actually be some live action.

I could go on, but to really get this movie, you have to go and see it. If you love the 1991 animated classic (and what kind of monster doesn’t?) then you will absolutely enjoy this film. No, it’s doesn’t hold up musically. No, the enchanted characters at the castle aren’t as prominent. Indeed no, not even Belle herself dominates the screen time.

But this film has buckets of charm, is steeped in atmosphere, and ramps up the emotion in a big way.

In the future, when the urge to take in this story arises (as if often does – it really is a favourite), I’m going to be faced with a tough decision in which DVD to put in the machine – and that is the best review anyone can give this film.

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