So I don't necessarily think Beauty and the Beast was a bad movie per se. At least, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the other live action remakes thus far. However, I also don't really have a single kind word to say about it, either, so...

One of the things that stood out most to me is just how insincere this movie felt. It features a pretty diverse cast, and yet it almost comes across as if it's diverse solely for the sake of being diverse, and not actually diverse in a way that feels genuine and organic. It sorta reminded me of that conversation we had on here a while back (I forget which thread), where Irish was pointing out this false bravado in purposefully diversifying films just to say that they did so, even if it doesn't actually fit the film in question for whatever reason. That's the feeling I got throughout here, and it just felt like the cinematic equivalent of patting yourself on the back, and came across as borderline masturbatory, which really left a sour taste in my mouth.

That said, they did indeed go all the way with making LeFou gay, and I gotta say, it totally served the character, and was one of the few new things this movie did that actually worked out really well.

As for Gaston, Luke Evans was fine, though there came a point in his song that just didn't ring the least bit true with him in this role, when we get to the part where he's singing about how many dozens of eggs he ate to become as big as he is. Except, Luke Evans honestly isn't all that big a dude. Hell, he doesn't even look the least bit bigger than any of his lackeys. They shoulda either changed the lyric, cast someone else, or have him really buff up for the role. But other than that snafu, he was fine, I felt.

Speaking of the songs, I dunno, but I couldn't help but feel they all felt like cheap knockoffs, like a cover band performing classic tunes and adding just a hint of their own flare to it, but not enough to warrant a full release. Like, these versions will never match the originals, and they all just sound a bit off. But in addition to all of the classics from the original, there are a couple of obligatory "we want a Best Original Song Oscar" songs, one of which is sorta meh, though the other, sung by the Beast, is actually pretty decent, and probably the best song in the film. That all said, I did find it curious how, despite this film's increased runtime and inclusion of new songs, "Human Again" still somehow didn't make the cut even in this version of the movie.

There's also a lot of very weird editing decisions all throughout. Like, right from the beginning, when they show the movie's title, it's like it just sorta appears, then very abruptly goes away, like they just really placed absolutely no emphasis on it at all and just wanted to rush right into the movie. I know that's a small thing, but it stood out in a way that doesn't in most films, and I just found it instantly jarring, and that's a feeling that would continue with a number of this movie's editing choices.

Like, a number of scenes end with an awkward fade to black, as if they didn't really know a smooth way to transition to the next scene. And then their choice of final shot is especially bizarre. We see a shot where Belle and the Beast (in human form) are dancing with one another, surrounded by others who are also dancing. But then we abruptly cut away to the human forms of the Wardrobe and the Piano, as they finish singing their song, then just as abruptly cut to credits. I know, again, not a big thing, but something that still stood out as especially odd and jarring.

And speaking of odd, I have no idea how this film looks and feels as cheap as it does, especially with Disney behind it. There's no way the budget was that low. And yet, this whole movie looks cheap as hell. The sets all look like cheap movie sets, and none of them look the least bit real or lived in at all. And the effects all just feel real lazy. We already were well acquainted with Mrs. Potts' painted on face from the trailers, but I didn't realize just how lazy Lumiere's design was, too. For the majority of the movie, he's literally just a tiny golden man, with legs and everything. This, despite the fact that, when he briefly becomes a full candle at the end, he looks nothing like that design throughout. Did they just not want to animate him hopping around? I dunno, but it was just very odd, and again, really jarring.

And when all of the transformations back to their human forms does happen, my god is it done in the cheapest way imaginable. Hell, most of them happen off camera, as we cut to reaction shots of people witnessing the transformations happening off screen. Others, we'll see them in their inanimate object state, then as the camera begins to pan upwards, they're just suddenly human. Like, fucking wow, you couldn't afford to actually animate any of the transformations, or even do like they did in the original and have them, like, "whoosh" back into their human form? So lazy, and so cheap, you'd hardly know this was supposed to be a big budget movie.

And Gaston's death similarly feels muted here. When he battled the Beast in the original, it felt like a scene straight out of the fiery pits of hell itself. But here, he just sorta falls and dies, just something that kinda happens, like, "oops", and then he's gone. Blink and you missed it. Again, what the hell? It's like they put as little effort into it as is humanly possible.

But otherwise, outside of a handful of added scenes and those aforementioned new songs, this is indeed about 90% a shot for shot remake of the original. Which isn't bad, necessarily, though I did find myself oftentimes just wishing I were watching that movie instead. They did include a handful of minor touches that do address a couple of small nitpicks that have been pointed out over the years from the original though, such as when Belle asks the Beast to stand up so she can help him back to the castle after the wolves attack him. So small little touches like that I liked throughout.

One more thing that I noticed here was just how creepy the love story between Belle and the Beast actually feels, a feeling, mind you, that I never really got while watching the original. And I dunno if it's because that movie was a cartoon, and had a more fairy tale feel to it that worked more appropriately in that format or what, but here, yeah, all those arguments about Stockholm syndrome really stood out here in a way that never felt like a big deal in the animated version. I dunno, maybe it's because this was live action, just I constantly found myself asking, how creepy as hell would a similar story like this be if the Beast were just a human holding her captive and trying to woo her all the while. We don't ever really think that while watching the movie though, because it is what it is. But man, something about the way this version plays out just got my mind wandering there, and it gave me the creeps.

But anyways, all in all, like I said before, though I don't really have anything nice to say about it, it's still technically not awful. I'd still probably say that this is the "best" of these live action Disney remakes, though that's both not really saying much, and yet says absolutely everything. Really, this little experiment of Disney's just really isn't working at all. Because thus far, all of these movies have sucked, and I'd really like it if they would just stop now before they fuck up any more than they already have. Just, please, stop.