Beauty and the Beast (2014)

I love this movie so much

Pretty Good

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I should have seen this before the latest Disney version of the tale. It came a couple of years ago, with a wonderful cast and visuals. French cinema is not a great vfx powerhouse. Unlike most of the famous Hollywood mythical and fairy tales originated from Europe, it's rare to see them converted to films in the similar fashion in its homeland. One of the reasons was the international market, to earn back everything they have spent for it, and more. When such projects do happen, sometimes the filmmakers tie up with Hollywood co-production to secure returns. Even if you take this film's worldwide box office, nothing overwhelming. But the challenge they had taken was truly appreciable.That's not it, this is the most redesigned versions of them all I've seen so far. Because I haven't seen any other than Disney's, excluding the modern timeline adaptation like 'Beastly', 'I' et cetera. Yeah, even the Disney's live-action retained original from their animated version, but visually extraordinary. And in here, the story was same, thought told in a different way. The graphics too were very nice, I did not expect that. Despite it is being a fantasy and a children's tale, the contents were more serious. That reveals they were very keen to bring the adults to the screens than the kids. Yet nothing too seriously targeted the grownups like 'Tale of Tales'.Everyone knows the basic storyline of this tale. A recently lost their fortune, a family of six siblings with their father relocates to a small farmhouse. No one other than the youngest daughter, Belle, was happy to be in such nature surrounded place. But one day when her father got into a big trouble, she takes his position and becomes a prisoner in an abandoned castle. Since then she begins to learn about the mystery man of the castle, particularly his past, reason to be ended like that. And following, a twist in the narration leading to the finale, everyone's fate will be revealed.❝Remember... A life for a rose.❞The film was two hours long and well filled with the scenes in it all over. It doesn't feel like we're watching a fantasy film. The colours, costumes, medieval story, misty mountain, all is the major reminder that you are watching a fairy-tale. Though you won't get anything magical from the story right away. Not until the third act. As for the story, from such vastly known tale, you can't expect any major surprise. As I said, some minor changes can be witnessed throughout. But such kind of scale the flick has in all the department, that too coming from Europe makes it a very special.Definitely no to comparison with the Disney's. Both of them were fine products on their own way. But people would compare and pick one when they are based on the same source. That can't be stopped. Disney had created their own brand, aiming for kids. You can find the people who liked both the live-actions. I never knew the original tale, I mean from the original source/text. Those who are familiar with are saying, this is most closest one. But something I did not understand was the Beast was cute furry Beast, just like Disney's. I anticipated something tough physique, hard character, I mean Beast as a real Beastly.Excluding that slight displeasure, I have had no other complaints with the film. I enjoyed it, yet there's another thing which is actually a question rather than a disagreement. The actors did their parts, though I felt the Beast character should have been played by a younger one. Vincent Cassel is a brilliant French actor and he did his best for it. Lea Seydoux as Beauty surely an excellent pick. The direction was good. Cautiously spent for everything in the film. So they have got a fine final product. Most of the people going for it, only keeping in mind Disney. You won't get that Disney's singing, dancing, overall appeal. One must clear off his mind from any great ideas and then only give it a try. Remember, it is not a very good film, but simply a good film.7/10

I have a number of fairy tale films I like seeing just because I'm busy sewing or something and need some motivation. I saw it on Netflix and didn't think I'd like it, but I found myself engaged. I won't go into the entire story because enough people have for those to get the gist of what's it about. I enjoyed the cinematography, the CGI wasn't as annoying as some people found it. This film definitely brings you the magic of an enchanted forest and castle. Again, if you like fairy tales that are a bit dark and enchanting and you need something to pass the time, then this film is for you.Now, what I didn't like was what everyone else found fault with. I didn't see how Belle could go from having such a horrible dislike for the Beast to loving him in the space of a day. There weren't enough scenes that showed a budding relationship between them and then with her getting flashes of his past to see what a jerk he'd been, that's definitely not to going to win him any points. It basically just comes down to a rich, magical dude using things instead of his personal qualities to get the girl.I'd wish Gans had stuck more to the original story where the Beast, in the book, had many conversations with Belle and his well treatment of her and the dreams would have been about the handsome prince (and I don't know why Cassel was cast for the role of the prince because he just didn't fit, which also could have affected the lack of dynamic between he and Seydoux, who I think did fine as Belle). I know he was probably trying to be more "American" by focusing on all the action, but I think too much time was spent on the dreams of the beast's backstory. Also, I would have liked to see more interaction between Belle and the puppy critters. She says they became her best friends but they never had any personal contact at all.However, if you just want to drown in the enchanting scenery and gorgeous costumes, you can forgive the cons.

An unexpected romance blooms after the the youngest daughter of a merchant who has fallen on hard times offers herself to the mysterious beast to which her father has become indebted. Beauty and the Beast is a movie that suffers from boring characters and a story that has been told 1.000.000 times by now and it's getting confusing, boring and bad and this version proves it this is not Disney or that 80's show with Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton instead we have untalented Vincent Cassel as the Beast and Léa Seydoux as Belle who does a nice job after 15 or 20 minutes pass you will start skip scenes for the film to reach it's finale. Plus the cgi was awful this film gets a non recommend without a doubt.

Beauty and the Beast is another proof that French cinematography is on par with current Hollywood blockbusters in terms of CGI and outperforms them in storytelling. It might be wrong to generalize like this, but the previous sentence can't be negated in any serious discussion.Beauty and the Beast is, hopefully, a fairy tale known to everyone. Discussing the script or actors' performance would be beyond the point. The story is retold in a visually perfect manner. Actually, this is in line with movies in which a superhero does the same thing one more time, but with a different lead actor and targeting the audience that was too young to witness the previous installment.The best thing about this movie is the atmosphere. It is indeed a fairy tale, with some passion and some action, but it never becomes sleazy or boring.