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Beauty and the Beast
#1
Because I am an excellent husband (occasionally) I took my wife.

It looked great and the sets were fantastic, and Emma Watson is very pretty.  They clearly were making the minor characters and walk-ons way more ethnically diverse than the setting in Baroque France would logically allow, the first change from the cartoon one notices. Kevin Kline was an improvement over the buffoonish father in the cartoon, and they took time to explain a few things that were ignored in the cartoon (like how could she possibly put the Beast on the horse, although it still seemed a stretch for the horse to carry him IMO). They made Le Fou overtly gay instead of just implicitly, which made more sense for his devotion to Gaston. I actually found the songs a bit boring since I knew them all already (except for the two new ones added, which didn't make much of an impact). I found that live action made Gaston much more creepy and evil and less of a caricature.

Overall I'd recommend it. Take your ladies if they have a yen for it.
the hands that guide me are invisible
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#2
I liked it too but with reservations. Emma - I watched her grow up and polish her acting chops - the worried eyebrows, the indignant petulance, the exasperated denial - now she's developing her fine neck muscle articulation which I find quite engaging. Belle = Hermione - the ballroom gown reveal at the staircase top was identical to HP (HP factor 2 btw - the Emmas). The big numbers felt more broadway than the cartoon. Did not care for Beast or Gaston. Beast was uselessly cgi - given the look, prosthetics would have served better. Gaston just fell flat for me - I feel ya on the creep factor KB but o think I prefer the caricature. Kline was good - luv his work - he'll always be Otto to me. It was the ultimate Disney death as everyone checks out and the transformation reminded me of Shrek. The sword fights were disappointing too. All that being said, it had some fine moments. Emma played the library scene well enough to remind me of my experience of Trinity's long room. There were some satisfying additions to the cartoon. The controversial gay scene was funny - ironic that it drew so much ire because it's really short, easy to edit out and given the underlying psychology of the tale overall (worst case of Stockholm syndrome ever) so dismissible. My bottom line is that I'm so attached to Cocteau's version that all others are bogged down in that wake.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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