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Finally rented this last weekend. Wow, was this sucker long! Enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, but at the risk of making a very bad pun it doesn't hold a candle to the original.

Still don't like the character designs of the enchanted objects. Ugly. Creepy, even. But I suppose that's about all we can expect with the need to make them photo-realistic to blend into a live-action film. Personal preference, but I much prefer to see the type of caricature that animation provides.

It was entertaining to watch Belle unfold in live-action. I enjoyed Evermore. I was seriously zoning out during Be Our Guest and the title song.

I liked how they tied in Maurice "stealing" the rose like in some of the original versions of the story. I also I liked the way Belle took her father's place this time around. The scene in which the Beast demanded that Belle join him for dinner fell flat for me; the animated version still puts me on the edge of my seat.

I was surprised they allowed the reveal of Gaston's true nature so early on. In the original, of course we always knew he was a baddie, but didn't know he was the monster of the film until Belle literally spelled it out for us. Enjoyed the concept of what happens to the enchanted objects as the last petal falls, but it didn't really touch me.

To be fair, I'm sure I previously mentioned in this thread that I was a starry-eyed teeny-bopper when the original film swept me away in the theater. I was a young, but life-long Disney fan experiencing the pinnacle of the renaissance unfold right before my very eyes; what an exciting time that was! And I'm far from being an elitist when it comes to "tampering" with a film; I actually enjoy the special edition with Human Again more than the original theatrical cut.

Regardless of whether or not they felt the need to make Le Fou gay (and in the process, make a huge deal out of it), Josh Gad owned that role. And throughout the endless layers of CG, new sequences, new songs, new backstories ... Le Fou was actually what made the film for me. I love that he has a conscience, and I love his new lyrics in Kill the Beast. I actually rewound that part just to hear his line again.

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This is a little silly and doesn't make any logical sense, but I couldn't help but picture Maurice as an older Pheobus who had lost Esmeralda to the plague ...

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I agree with about all of your sentiments. Especially the enchanted objects and how this film is hardly as good as the original. But I don't like "Human Again" in the original, lol, that's my opinion.

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I saw the French 2014 Beauty and the Beast and I liked it a looooot more than Disney's live-action version. I enjoyed it more. Disney's is bigger and deeper with a more developed relationship between Belle and Mr. Beast but I found the French one to be more emotional and beautiful. I felt more for the characters. It's more alive. I think both Disney versions are better than it, but it's magical. It did get good reviews in France, I just found out.

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Finally received my Blu-ray copy of the movie. The slipcover is beautiful, even more so in person. Sadly, I cannot watch it right now, as I'm going on vacation, and I have lots of last minute stuff to do, but I'm seriously so excited and happy to finally own it.

I haven't watched it since I last saw it in the theater.

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I'm glad you liked this version. It's on Netflix now in the US anyway....of course they put it on after I purchased it myself. I still prefer Disney's storyline, but I think the live-action movie is gorgeous and better than Disney's live-action in many things such as the ballroom scene (it's magical in the 2014 one and forgettable in the 2017 one) and especially Belle's costumes. Belle has such gorgeous costumes in the 2014 one and I don't think that can be said about any of Belle's gowns in the 2017 one except for maybe her last one.

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It did so many things better, including, to me, the acting, the deaths, and the profession of love at the end and the Beast's transformation. I guess the ballroom dance was better there too. I think all the dresses in the 2014 one were great except the red coral reef fiasco Belle had at the end. And actually, I like all of the costumes in the 2017 film except the yellow one. But I like the yellow one more than the 2014 red coral reef one.

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Lol, I actually liked her red one but mainly for the color because of how bright it was. The design maybe wasn't as good as the others. For 2017 Belle, her peasant costumes were ok but I hated how the pink/winter one was basically the same but in a different color. I expected a more regal gown or at least a fur-lined cloak (it could be faux fur since I know Emma Watson wouldn't wear real fur).

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Oh. I guess I liked everything about the 2014 red one except the coral reef things sticking out of it. I acually loved Belle's red dress in the 2017 one. It wasn't a copy of her blue one, I would say. I wouldn't have minded a princess gown, but it did go against this iteration of the character.

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A collector's edition box set (that includes the animated film) will be released in Japan on October 04, 2017.

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That's gorgeous. Japan always gets the best Disney merchandise. They have wonderful box sets for The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and The Lion King too.

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The Disney Studios Awards website has launched. Disney is submitting for consideration the songs "Evermore" and "How Does a Moment Last Forever", and also the film for Best Picure. Here's the full list of categories:

http://disneystudiosawards.com/beauty-and-the-beast

^They should have submitted "Days in the Sun" as well. It's such a beautiful song. You can never know what the Academy may select so why not send all of your eligible songs and give them an equal chance? Personally, I prefer it to "How Does a Moment Last Forever".

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I completely agree, that would be the fair thing to do. I'm always upset when they leave some songs out of the competition. For Coco, they've also submitted only "Remember Me" by the Lopezes and none of the songs from the other composers.

I also prefer "Days in the Sun" to "How Does a Moment Last Forever", but the two submitted songs are the ones that also got pop versions, so I guess Disney had decided to campaign for them since the beginning.

Me too. I hate it when Disney pulls crap like that. Franco/Molina wrote most of the songs in Coco and Disney couldn't even bother submitting a single one of them? They might as well spit in their faces and tell them their songs are so bad they don't deserve to even be considered. It's just so insulting and disrespectful.

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Disney already started campaigning for some of the categories.

‘Beauty And The Beast’ BTL Artists On Tackling Their First Disney Musical
http://deadline.com/2017/10/beauty-and- ... 202183194/

‘Beauty And The Beast’ VFX Supervisor Kyle McCulloch On Vast Array Of On-Set Visual Cues Used To Aid The Actor
http://deadline.com/2018/01/beauty-and- ... 202230099/

‘Darkest Hour’ & ‘Beauty And The Beast’ Production Designer Unlocks Familiar & Foreign Worlds
http://deadline.com/2018/01/darkest-hou ... 202273053/

Director Bill Condon Talks About His ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Production Team
http://variety.com/2017/artisans/produc ... 202609288/

Production Designers Bring to Life Past and Future Worlds
http://variety.com/2017/artisans/awards ... 202626503/

‘Darkest Hour,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and More Costumes Take Viewers on a Journey
http://variety.com/2018/film/awards/osc ... 202697803/

Stray from the look of the animated 'Beauty and the Beast' for the live-action film? Not on her watch
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/en ... story.html

Oscars 2018: The Design Team Behind ‘Darkest Hour’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’
http://www.indiewire.com/2018/01/oscars ... 201916395/

Dressed for Success—Costume Designer Jacqueline Durran Brings Beauty to the Oscars
https://d23.com/dressed-for-success-cos ... he-oscars/

How 'Beauty and the Beast' Costume Designer Used Modern Feminist Touches for Belle's Attire
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... re-1086399

Interview: Jacqueline Durran on Finding the Right Yellow for Disney’s Live Action Beauty and the Beast
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2017/11/18/i ... uty-beast/

For Your Consideration: Sarah Greenwood on Designing the Lavish Sets of Beauty and the Beast
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2017/11/18/c ... uty-beast/


Interview: Alan Menken on Beauty and the Beast and Writing Those Magical Disney Songs
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2018/01/01/i ... ney-songs/

Composer Alan Menken on making revered classic ‘Beauty and the Beast’ fresh for a new audience
http://www.goldderby.com/article/2018/c ... view-news/

Alan Menken writes the songs that make Oscar sing
http://behindthelensonline.net/site/int ... interview/

Oscars: 18 Best Original Song Contenders Speak, From Nick Jonas to Questlove
https://www.thewrap.com/oscar-best-song ... bareilles/

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I wish the costume designer would speak about how she wanted to create a traditional historical gown for Belle's ballgown, but Emma Watson forced her own prom-style design onto it because she had full creative liberties when it came to the dress.

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It would be really amazing if this movie was nominated for and/or won Best Picture. I would be happy if it happened to a Disney fairy tale with great production design, mostly good costumes, and a certain amount of good plot and characterization, but I would be upset if it happened to what I think is such a bad film.


I didn't know all that! I just thought Emma asked to have say in the dress and Jacqueline Durran happily agreed. No wonder that dress looks...blech.

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I honestly don't believe this film would win, especially since the animated film is far superior and that didn't win. And more than that, I wouldn't want it to win either. I do hope though that Evermore wins Best Song since I really loved that and wouldn't mind seeing the Disney animators insert it into the film. I miss the days when they did that.

Yeah, back when the film was still fresh on people's minds, tumblr was full of how Emma Watson had created the dress and was receiving either a lot of love or hate. I am firmly in the hate camp. Gave me another reason to detest her casting, which is funny because I was actually quite satisfied with her playing Belle when she was first announced. Little did I know that she would ruin the dress, force changes onto the character to "modernize" her, and fail to effectively sing and act. On top of it all, we have to hear the wonders of how she refused to wear a corset for the film and how that becomes her so enlightened, nevermind that some women might actually like wearing a corset, but somehow that would make them less progressive.

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I had my suspicions about her having a lot of clout with the dress but didn’t know it was fact ! Is that why it looks so much like Hermione’s Yule Ball dress which I believe she ‘helped’ design too ?