Beauty and the Beast. Directed by Bill Condon. Starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. Rating: 8 (out of 10)
Beauty and the Beast may be a “tale as old as time,” but how to modernize the beloved 1991 animated Disney film presented a quandary for filmmakers.
The original film has been criticized for a plot that’s s a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome: a young woman held against her will until she falls in love with her captor. A tricky obstacle for the film’s star, Emma Watson, a vocal voice for young feminism.
The new version, then, includes a few tweaks in an attempt to make Belle a more active participant in her incarceration in the castle. But these are gently added – this is a fairy tale, after all -- and Watson emerges as a clever new heroine, seemingly born to wear the yellow frock and play the role of Belle.
A bookish beauty, Belle spends sunny days in her hamlet tending to the needs of her beloved father (Kevin Kline) and brushing off unwanted advances from the town boor, Gaston (Luke Evans). After a transgression by her father lands him in lockdown in a nearby gloomy castle, Belle goes in search of him and pleads for his release, consenting to a trade and thus becoming the prisoner of the hideous Beast (Dan Stevens, Downton Abbey) who lives within.
All the castle is under a spell, the formerly self-absorbed young man turned into a Beast and all his servants transformed into household objects befitting their former job descriptions. As in The Jungle Book, BATB relies heavily on the interaction between actors and computer-generated characters. Rather than shying away from the challenge, the new film gives these secondary players (including Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson, Ian McKellen, Stanley Tucci, among other notables) a lot of screen time and an amped-up emotional stake in their plight. The computer-generated effects are superlative, seamless; it’s saying a lot when you’ are near tears over the fate of a teacup.
The spell can only be broken if someone falls in love with the castle’s owner in his beastly state and time is running out. Ever so slowly, friendship turns to love and Belle finds herself yielding; the Beast’s impressive library collection doesn’t hurt, either.
Those savvy Disney execs did the math, realizing that they could capture not just the new crop of fairy tale fans, but also their parents, who were weaned on the 1991 original. Because of this, the remake follows carefully in the footsteps of the original, and Watson is an inoffensive and effective Belle.
There are scores of Disney animated films in the vault just waiting to be mined and hewn into live-action hits, as 2015’s Cinderella, two Alice in Wonderlands, and The Jungle Book proved. What’s next? Snow White? The Little Mermaid? Disney distributes Studio Ghibli too, meaning that a live-action Spirited Away is not outside the realm of possibility.
Certainly, this is a pretty film with easy endings: the villain gets his due, the town mob is easily converted, and Belle’s love interest gets a serious upgrade. But we’re all in the mood for a little magic, and Beauty and the Beast has it in spades.
