Beauty and the Beast - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Beauty and the Beast

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Disney has been making a killing recently by reimagining many of their animated masterpieces and translating them to live action. Some of them, like Maleficent, are a bit dodgy, but others like Cinderella and The Jungle Book were exquisitely done and stood upon their own two feet. It was only a matter of time until they decided to do one of their crown jewels. An animated film that has the distinct honor for being one of only a small handful of animated films to ever win Best Picture at the academy awards. When I first saw the teaser for Beauty and the Beast I was heavily intrigued, as the story (both in written original form and Disney’s wildly different animated adaptation) is one of my favorite fairy tales of all time. I love the black and white French version, as well as the 2016 version with Vincent Cassell (which Shout Factory did a magnificent job on), but I’ve seen Disney’s 1991 animated version so many times that I can practically quote the movie from memory almost as accurately as I can Star Wars: A New Hope. HOWEVER, the full-on trailer had me a getting a little bit nervous. The music, the words, the locations. It all seemed like they were trying to just copy the animated film word for word. Still, I stuck it out and waited till theaters when I could make up my own mind, and I have to say…………my fears were both realized and proven wrong at the same time. Elements of the story are most certainly different in the film, but there are also ENORMOUS portions of the movie that feels like it was a word for word lifting of the 1991 film’s script.

We all know the story of Beauty and the Beast. It’s a tale as old as time (sorry, couldn’t help it), filled with a magical castle, a monster hidden within, and a lovely young maiden who comes to thaw the heart of stone and reveal the beauty underneath. Young Belle (Emma Watson) is a fish out of water in a little out of the way French village. She’s got her nose stuck in a book and dreams of living life outside of the simplicity of the little village. Not to mention the fact that she doesn’t really fit in anywhere in the town. Her father, Maurice (Kevin Kline), is a brilliant inventor from Paris who has moved out to the country after his dear wife passed away and the two are just trying to live in peace and quiet. While most of the town thinks the girl is a bit odd, a strapping ex-soldier named Gaston (Luke Evans) has his eye on the prize. That is, he wants to marry Belle as she is the only girl in town who doesn’t fawn over him (the classic symptoms of a man who wants what doesn’t want him so that he can conquer her).

One day Maurice heads out into the forest to deliver some of his goods and gets hopelessly lost, only to stumble across an old abandoned castle that seems to magically appear. Taking shelter in the place he soon finds himself taken prisoner by a monstrous beast (Dan Stevens under a LOT of CGI and prosthetics), and Belle is forced to go out looking for him. Upon finding her dear dad locked away in a dungeon, the loving daughter trades places with the old man in a shocking twist of fate. As with all versions of Beauty and the Beast (otherwise jokingly referred to as Stockholm Syndrome the Movie), Belle soon finds herself in a game of cat and mouse with the Beast, wherein she and he inevitably start to form a bond that deepens as the film goes on, only to be interrupted by a simple moment which starts a chain reaction ending with Gaston and the Beast going head to head.

Now, with as popular as the 1991 Disney film was you can be certain that one of the biggest things that people will be doing is scrutinizing how it is different and similar to this new adaptation. Strangely enough there are some really cool and unique differences to the film. Gaston (Luke Evans) is no longer a dopey oaf with the physique of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and LeFou (played by Josh Gad) has more depth than just the moronic sidekick. The same thing goes for Kevin Kline’s portrayal as Maurice. Instead of playing the character for laughs as it was in the animated film, he’s much more sympathetic and realistic with how he is considered “crazy” in the film. Certain characters like Cogsworth (Ian McKellen) and Lumiere (Ewan McGregor) are given subtle nuances that have them take on a life of their own while still being true to the original (or at least original DISNEY film, as there are some serious deviations that both Disney films have from the source material). I also liked the use of the rose as the inciting incident instead of just having the Beast be a ticked off monster who takes the old man for coming around the castle. A little nod to the original fairy tale while still keeping tradition with the animated movie. The same thing can be said about the enchantress. She’s given a whole life of her own, with motivations and deviances that explain a lot of things regarding the old castle and WHY the townsfolk don’t remember having a giant castle with a prince living just a few miles outside the border of their town!

At the same time, those differences are at odds with the desire of the powers that be to make it just as magical as the original. A desire that manifests itself by pretty much copy and pasting most of the 1991 flick and just shuffling the pieces around a bit. The songs are all almost IDENTICAL to what we grew up on , and while that is not entirely bad in and of itself, the scenes themselves and the dialog are literally just word for word lifting of the script from our memories. I could actually predict almost every line of dialog just by looking at a few scenes and realizing that they were just carbon copying what came before. Everything from the west wing of the castle, to Gaston trying to woo Belle, to the Beast confronting Gaston are all basically mirror images of their animated counterparts, but sadly without the intensity and emotional resonance that we had with that one. While I applaud the sumptuous visuals that the film has to offer (it’s one of the most visually gorgeous Disney films I’ve ever seen) I just couldn’t shake the feeling that it didn’t seem to have any real identity of itself. The movie couldn’t really figure out whether or not it wanted to be a carbon copy remake of the original, or whether it was striking out on its own and forging new territory. A decision that left it feeling rather “middle of the road” at the end of the day.




Rating:

Rated PG for some action violence, peril and frightening images




Video:

One thing the movie EXCELS at is being a complete and total stunner for picture quality. Disney does a fantastic job with their Blu-rays (although I’m still waiting for them to adopt 4K UHD, as this would be a perfect film to highlight the format), and Beauty and the Beast is no different. The Disc appears to be literally as perfect an image as you could hope for, with glorious looking CGI landscapes that stand out as being some of the most visually resplendent fairy tale backgrounds I’ve ever seen. The detail is incredible, whether it be the live action costumes with individual fibers and folds visible on the characters, to the luscious CGI characters like Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts. Colors are all over the place, ranging from golds and reds and blues, to soft navy’s and deep shadows that just radiate depth and deep black levels. I’m usually overly sensitive to CGI and live action blending together and the seams that appear as a result, but Disney did a fantastic job at blending all of the digital elements with the reality of the human world, creating a surreal looking image that is marvelous to behold.





Audio:

While we STILL don’t have an Atmos track from Disney (grumble, moan, whine), they continue to impress with a stunning DTS-HD MA 7.1 track that is simple drool worthy. The classic music is brought to life with a robust and invigorating track that just pulsated with energy at every turn. The little stringed bits intertwine with the impressive weight and spaciousness of the castle’s old and creaky tone, as well as the more vigorous points in the film (such as the famous “Gaston” song in the bar, or the ending battle between the villain and the Beast). LFE is deep and guttural, but never over cooked and too hot. Instead keeping very much restrained until necessary, and then unleashing with a deep ferocity. Dialog is crisp and clean, with Dan Steven’s modulated voice carrying the most impressive depth to it. Surrounds are active with the copious quantity of songs coming through loud and clear, coupled with the little sounds that come from a big, echoey castle. Simply put, an INCREDIBLE track that is about as close to perfect as one can get.






Extras:

• Enchanted Table Read – Join the cast for the movie's elaborately staged table read, complete with singing and dancing to live music, set pieces and more.
• A Beauty of a Tale – Explore the process of transforming a beloved animated film into a new live-action classic.
• The Women Behind Beauty and the Beast – Emma Watson introduces several of the talented women in all aspects of production who helped bring this enchanted tale to life.
• Making a Moment with Celine Dion – Celine Dion shares what it's like to sing "How Does a Moment Last Forever" – and be a part of the legacy of Beauty and the Beast.
• From Song to Screen: Making the Musical Sequences – See what goes into making some of the best-known moments from Beauty and the Beast:
• Deleted Scenes
• Extended Song: "Days in the Sun" – Learn more about Beast's childhood in an alternate version of this beautiful song, introduced by director Bill Condon.
• "Beauty and the Beast" Music Video – Award-winning artists Ariana Grande and John Legend perform a moving version of this iconic song.
• Making the Music Video – Go on set to capture the magic as it happens in Ariana Grande and John Legend's "Beauty and the Beast" music video."Beauty and the Beast"Disney Song Selection – Jump directly to all your favorite songs and sing along with the movie.

Final Score: ​

Beauty and the Beast is a strange film that is both stunningly unique and overly familiar at the same time. I was pleased with the general outcome of the movie in many ways, but also disturbed at the strange desire to copy the original TOO much (almost like they were trying to play it safe like The Force Awakens did in order to bring in the same audience who adored the original so much). Still, the movie is very much entertaining and I liked many of the casting choices for the film. Josh Gad was perfect as LeFue (while we’re on that subject, the internet made a HUGE deal about LeFue supposedly being gay, and while that subtext is in the movie, it’s one of those things that unless you were clued into the fact that he was written that way, you’d never even notice because of how he is “the fool” of the movie and his actions fall well within those boundaries as well), and Luke Evans was impressive as Gaston. Dan Stevens does a decent enough job with the Beast’s dialog (despite being layered to death under CGI), but my only real complaint with the casting comes down to one person. Emma Watson. She’s horrible miscast and the film only strengthens my opinion that she plays the same character over and over. It feels like Hermione a magical castle instead of a Patronus you might say. Is it fun? Yes. Is it great? No. But it’s still worth taking a look at if you enjoyed the 1991 animated version or not.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Josh Gad, Kevin Kline
Directed by: Bill Condon
Written by: Evan Spiliotopoulos, Stephen Chbosky
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD M 7.1, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Studio: Disney
Rated: PG
Runtime: 129 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: June 6th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Decent Watch

 

[Michael Scott]

and thanks to Disney we have some great special features videos to share with you as well

 

[Todd Anderson]

Disney is stocking the cabinets with a ridiculous amount of material for vault runs. Hard to believe this smash hit isn't getting a 4K/Atmos treatment right out of the gate.

I'm sure we'll have this in the rotation for summer movie marathons (my kids and their friends)... I know it was popular when it hit the theaters amongst those groups!

 

[Jon Liu]

You know what's also sad, North America is not getting a 3D release for this (as of yet, but unlikely at this point).

Applies only to hard core 3D fans, like me, I know, but just at least I can pre-order the region-free UK version!

I would definitely love to see this film in 4K, as well, but I think 4K will be coming soon enough for Disney-owned titles.

 

[Michael Scott]

it MIGHT come out in 3D... remember The Jungle Book released the 3D copy almost 6 months later than the 2D release

 

[Asere]

I saw this one at the theater with the family and did enjoy it. I will be buying it especially because my daughter really likes this movie.

 

[Jon Liu]

it MIGHT come out in 3D... remember The Jungle Book released the 3D copy almost 6 months later than the 2D release

If I recall though, Jungle Book 3D was announced that it was coming at a later date. I think similarly, SW: The Force Awakens. Beauty and the Beast doesn't have anything announced at all either...

I could be wrong. Either way, I will have my 3D of this regardless

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I really like Jungle Book... cool movie... but I just can't bring myself to do this one. Nope.... ain't gonna do it.

 

[Michael Scott]

Jungle Book is one of my favorites, this one was ok, but it was more of a case of trying to play it TOO safe and it ended up just copying too much from the original Disney film