LogFAQs > #883621561

the first disney beauty and the beast was one of my childhood movies. i was never nearly as attached to this one as i was to aladdin or the lion king, as it was more of a girly movie and the quippy humor was sidelined to boring adult male characters. phrases like 'provincial life' didn't really hit the mark for me, either.

over time, i've come to appreciate it a *ton* more, and beyond just enjoying a romantic story. short encapsulation: as a kid it's funny when one of the guys' eyes pops out as gaston bites him. but i didn't necessarily appreciate the irony that it's during a wrestling match, and people are ostensibly praising gaston for fighting dirty.

anyway, i watched this about five days ago, and i found all the familiar story beats, great songs, and the lean running time extremely comforting. many of those visuals are downright majestic. it was everything i expected, and i loved it.

i watched the 2016 version last night, mainly because i'd just seen the original and i figured it would be brainless. i liked it far less, but i'm not sure how much of that is tied to nostalgia and how much to the limitations of the movie itself.

unorganized list of thoughts:

* upping the movie from 90 to 130 minutes felt like a colossal mistake. like, what the fuck? i'm never rewatching something that long (front to back) that was done better, shorter.

* didn't care for any of the new songs. the beast's final one was alright, but it sounded like a knockoff of 'belle' that desperately wanted to - and probably should have - turned into an actual reprise.

* i imagine what's done with gaston is controversial. he's already hilariously over-vain in the 1992 edition, but for some reason he was beloved. the 2016 version is far more reluctant to endorse gaston's bullying. lefou is shown to have a moral compass (despite that gaston doesn't physically abuse him here), and in the showstopping song, the pub needs coercion before backing gaston wholeheartedly. i'm much more comfortable with the original interpretation, but maybe that's just nostalgia.

* the CGI mainly looked awful, and it already looks dated. (keep in mind that i don't have a problem with CGI in movies like tobey macguire's spider-mans.) the scenes with wolves are insanely cringe-worthy, sad to say. far, far worse than the animated version. and good lord that final battle with gaston was awful. i guess it was deliberately made less violent? but why does that mean the beast has to jump around like he is spider-man?

* belle is the movie's biggest triumph. she becomes a more proactive player, devising her own plans for escape, and generally articulating her likes and dislikes more strongly (she shuts gaston down more directly and less 'cleverly' than in the 92 version, which probably reflects how our expectations have changed in female role models).

* the beast is made more of a literate soul, and it gives you a lot more common ground off of which you can see their relationship grow. the stuff with belle's mom also aids this... but in the end, it all makes the movie longer, and as someone who just wanted to hear the best songs, that thread at least was a net negative.

* one sequence in particular i wish had been preserved - more of the beast's being puffed up by the servants before he initially approached belle. i thought it was a humanizing touch that was lost. he gets a lot more development later, but the early stuff counts. i suppose that the net effect is to make belle even more sympathetic - i remember hoping in the 1992 version that belle would appreciate the beast's efforts.

possibly more thoughts to come. what did you guys think about these points?
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness