Last Monday, our second and final weekday of Spring break, we went as a family to see Beauty and the Beast. Peter was annoyed that we were taking him away from videogame time, but the other three were excited. I was cautiously optimistic. I had read several reviews, listened to the soundtrack, knew both the original animated version as well as the Broadway production, so I felt I knew what to expect.
How were my expectations met?
I will start with the biggest disappointment: Belle's voice, her singing voice to be exact. I knew this going in since I'd heard the music and the heavy use of autotune (shudder), but I somehow thought seeing it would help distract me. It didn't. Her acting was fine and I was pleased that she was playing a character different from her iconic Hermione, but the singing crushed my soul a bit.
The biggest positive surprise? The Beast! My goodness, Dan Stevens was fantastic. His performance was big enough for his character but subtle enough to make him compelling and relatable, especially since it was largely a motion-capture performance. I had been curious about this casting choice when I first heard it. Matthew Crawley as the Beast? Really? But now I understand.
I won't give any spoilers for those that haven't seen it, I'll just say there were some plot differences in this version that I appreciated, elements that made the love story more believable. Sadly, I thought the secondary characters were rather underutilized, especially Ewan McGregor and Audra McDonald. Seriously, if Audra McDonald is in the cast, give her a full song to sing! The sets and costumes were quite lovely.
The kids all loved the movie, Peter even admitted that he was glad he had joined us. Bryan didn't love it. I guess I was somewhere in the middle.
Have you seen it? What did you think?
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