Beauty and the Beast

well i am PLEASANTLY SURPRISED @ THIS REMAKE. I went in ready to cringe because I am done with Emma Watson as a person. also the south-england-ness of her accent rubs me up the wronnnng way. it reminds me of skinny blonde girls called Julia who have ponies and 200+ likes on their skiing cover photos. anyway lol, bout this film. Beauty and the Beast is a good weird fairytale to its core, n all of its dreamy nightmare energy surfaced in live-action. it feels stark and daylight like the aesthetic of that annoying musical everyone loves (les miserables. the one with anne hathaway n guns). it’s like beauty and the beast has graduated n started wearing eyeliner, a balanced n disneyfied Pan’s Labyrinth.

they secured the same songs ofc, and I'm glad the new ones sit easily alongside the old. the songs r sweet but they have some much needed moodiness n doubt. its nice. and I wanted to make Beauty n the Beast this week’s review to commend the set design, costume department, and special effects; ; ; because image completely declared itself in this film. it was just full, embellished, balanced, and tbh handled in a way that made me get over Emma Watson’s auto-tuned singing. They tried their best with her ability to sing but in a ‘spanish fresco restoration botched by amateur’ kinda way, it didn’t quite make the grade. So image felt closest, often more than narrative. like ~ There’s a moment where gold leaf flutters down from the chandeliers and ceiling air to pattern the skirt of Belle’s yellow finale dress n it happens tenderly and slowly, as tho the directors deliberately made that become its own moment. The same can be said for the Be Our Guest number, like thank u. It reminded me of Fantasia or The Lion King’s Can’t Wait To Be King: all symmetry and colour. That sequence jets magic animation fiction into ur eyes and it makes Belle’s human presence on screen feel like an intrusion. i guess it’s a cute nod to the original production n the film’s first life as cartoon. because the story of beauty n the beast is in (my) (western) cultural imaginary, its likely i could let the action move low like a current and enjoy the colour of the water n shape of the waves instead. drop myself into it like fancy hot chocolate.

I do die that they got Ewan McGregor to play Lumière rather than getting an actual French person like, c’mon that is embarrassing and unfair when you’ve already awkwardly anglicised the entire story. Gaston was good but his sidekick stole the show. Ya it was good, funny, dressed up. i was sometimes sat there thinking, wow i cant believe she is marrying a lion bear. wow i cant believe sir ian mckellen is a clock. wow i’m 22 and i’m low-key crying in the odeon. but it was good n if you like the first one don't worry about this take (✿◠‿◠)