Tropic Sprockets / Beauty and the Beast

By Ian Brockway

Bill Condon (The Fifth Estate) faithfully helms this live action version of the beloved Disney classic with brilliant color and verve. Light and playful but having an ample amount of action, this version is nothing less than a fluid animated film come to life as if through the process of magic.

All the characters are here, lovingly cast with humanity and spirit: Belle (Emma Watson), the princely beast (played by the ubiquitous Dan Stevens), the arrogant Gaston (Luke Evans), Maurice (Kevin Kline), and Gaston’s sidekick, LaFou (Josh Gad). The film has the texture of a musical epic and indeed the familiar songs by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice are just as vibrant and rousing as you would expect.

Here we are in the cursed Prince’s castle once again, and through the lens of live action the castle takes on a shaded streak, a bit like Castle Dracula. All is not so Gothic however, (and one should expect this) the trappings of the castle owe more to a Fabrege egg than Bram Stoker or the illustrations of Gustave Dore once echoed to great effect in Jean Cocteau’s spectacular “La Belle et la Bête” from 1946. As in the animated film, we have a medley of “living” objects. There is a candlestick, Lumiere (Ewan McGregor), a clock, Cogsworth (Ian McKellan), a harpsichord, Maestro Cadenza,  (Stanley Tucci), a wardrobe, M. Garderobe (Audra McDonald), and a teapot, Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson). These chattering items give the film a pithy irreverence, though after the initial surprise of a fretting candlestick who is very funny, your senses become somewhat adapted to the animated fun and you know what to expect.

The joy comes in the form of the authentic and human prince / beast who bears something of the actor Jean Marais while still retaining the Disney cuteness. One glance at his leonine and dreamy snaggle-tooth, surrounded by an abundance of velvet fur will have you entranced. Paired with the freshness of Emma Watson’s Belle, the two make a perfect star-cross’d couple.

Evans and Gad have a glib and entertaining chemistry and both are 3D cartoons. Gaston is the real Beast, all macho swagger, ego and insincerity. Gad seems to have the most fun in the film, as he preens and unabashedly prostrates himself in front of the vain and self-trumpeting Gaston. He knows that this fool is all airy muscle and pomp, yet LaFou persists. The thrill is in appearances.

“Beauty and the Beast” remains true to the original. Although it is clearly for younger audiences, it is fiercely unapologetic in its kiitsch and adults will have several opportunities to titter.

The only slight drawback is the prince himself. His bestial form is so lively and poetic that seeing his bland and bleach-blond alter ego gives a slight sinking feeling. Yet perhaps this is the film’s message: Let us celebrate our inner monsters while we can. Not since 1946 has this quasi-lion with the horns of a ram seemed so melancholy or so endearing.

Write Ian at [email protected].

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