Let's Watch a Movie – Beauty and the Beast

Fonte Immagine

Since the day I saw the first trailer on Youtube, I thought “I need to watch this!”. Disney delighted us with a new version of one of their most famous animated movies, Beauty and the Beast, dated 1991. In the new version, acted by true people and not cartoons, names like Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline and Josh Gad pop up. The costumes, the atmospheres and the music are all taken from the animated movie, and whoever lived their childhood letting the video recorder basically eat the cartoon video tape, like I did, will feel the need to watch this movie, as the nostalgia will be overwhelming!

The story is the classic one we all know by heart; Belle (Emma Watson) is a girl who dreams of a life full of adventures, far away from the little, provincial town she lives in. Her dad is an original inventor, who often comes up with odd ideas and the funniest objects. One day, he needs to go to town to sell some of his new inventions, but he losts the path, and finds himself nearby a dark castle. He enters, and seeks for help, for a place where to stay the night and get warm by the fireplace. Suddenly, a huge best arrives (Dan Stevens), and The poor Maurice runs away, extremely scared. Before leaving, he takes a rose from the beast's garden as Belle asked him to bring her one on his way home. But this gesture enrages the beast even more, and he kidnaps Maurice, closing him into a cold cell.

Maurice's horse comes back alone, and Belle understands something's wrong. She follows the path her dad took, and finds the castle. She also faces the beast, and asks the monster to take her and free her dad instead. The beast accepts. From this moment on, Belle realizes that the castle is enchanted, and the objects surrounding her are alive: the chandelier, the clock, the tea pot, even the wardrobe. The castle is under a spell of a powerful magician, and only if the best falls in love with a woman, who loves him too, the spell will be broken.

It is an absolute pleasure to see again the images of the cartoon I loved so much as child back on the screen. The actors are dressed with costumes inspired by the animated movie, and Emma Watson with the gold gown wore by Belle in the famous scene of the dance is absolutely stunning. CG and makeup also did a very good job in transforming Dan Stevens into the Beast, and giving live to objects with human features like Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs Potts, Chip.

But the true gem of the whole movie is, according to me, the music. All the songs are the original ones sang in the animated movie, with the lyrics slightly modified (for copyright reasons, maybe), but that doesn't change their catchiness. Bonjour and Stay with Us still are the best ones, according to me.

So, despite the movie not being that great pearl or masterpiece of the new millennium, I really enjoyed watching it, cause it brought me back to my childhood, and I found myself singing with the characters, and feel that feeling of pleasure and happiness that only Disney can give us.