Beauty and the Beast becomes a nostalgic hit

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Jordan Hermes, Staff Writer

Disney does it again. Another classic cartoon turned into a live-action production hit theaters on March 17, 2017. “Beauty and the Beast” came to life featuring human characters and phenomenal graphics, with a little twist on the traditional fairytale. I loved almost everything about this movie.

As you probably know, the original “Beauty and the Beast” has household items as characters; a teapot and cup, a clock, candlestick, coat rack, etc. When Disney announced they would be remaking this specific princess story, fans were extremely anxious to see how they would portray these unique characters. I was impressed.

This movie also allowed one to see the household characters in their human form, which I absolutely loved. The household items have a very large role in this movie, helping Belle and the Beast fall in love, so you really start to grow an appeal towards these characters. Each household item has a very different personality as well, which allows many different people to relate and fall in love with these fictional characters.

The story line was extremely similar to the animated version, but the new film added some scenes and songs to make the movie come even more alive. I would have preferred less singing, but seeing the recreations of the original songs from the cartoon was pretty awesome. The musical scene where Belle is sitting in the dining room and the household item characters put on a performance for her, “Be Our Guest,” was just incredible. The creativity they had for that song and the decorations of that scene blew me out of the water. It was definitely my favorite part of the film.

All the graphics in this film were amazing. Everything was so detailed, vivid and realistic. Disney used a lot of animation and digital editing for this film, they had to since everything in this story is extremely fabricated and fictional. Even though this is a fairytale and the scenes are magical, the graphics were so particular that everything seemed like it could happen in real life.

In this movie, Gaston and his partner in crime, Lefou, played a much bigger part, if you are comparing it to the cartoon. Especially Lefou, who has a very flamboyant personality that stands out, and makes this film a little bit of a comedy. Lefou has a bigger voice, his opinion is genuinely known throughout the movie and he always knows right from wrong.

I think Lefou’s personality standing out more was a nice touch to this story, being that it is 2017 and the traditional standards are not as demanding anymore. Yet his character did not take away from the tradition of this movie either. He was a perfect balance to the modern twist on this fairytale.

Now let’s talk about Belle. Some of the hype of this movie coming out was that actress Emma Watson played Belle. Also known for her performance as Hermione from the “Harry Potter” films. Personally, I thought they could have found someone better for Belle than Watson. Watson is an extraordinary actress and artist. She did very well playing the personality of Belle, but I would have liked to see Belle played by someone more radiantly beautiful.

Watson is a good-looking female actress, but she is average. Belle, like all Disney princesses, is supposed to be glowingly gorgeous. I never felt like that about Belle in this movie, even when she entered in her iconic yellow ball gown. I could not help but think that Watson did not look that much different than her scene from “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire,” when she came down the Hogwarts stairs for the ball with Viktor Krum.

Overall, this was a fantastic remake of a traditional Disney fairytale. The details of the scenes were astounding, the household item characters coming to life were nothing less than incredible, and the actors did a remarkable job becoming a fictional character. If you are a Disney fan, this is a must see film.

Jordan Hermes is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]