beauty and the beast movie review essay

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Performance Critique Essay (Movie Review)

What is being attempted, how well has the attempt succeeded, was the attempt worth-making.

The story begins with one stormy night when an enchantress curses a vain Prince and turns him into the monstrous Beast (Joey Webster). The only thing that can break the charms is the love of a young woman. Many years later, a maiden named Belle (Devin Jennings) gets into his enchanted palace as a prisoner and falls in love with the Beast. However, a hunter from Belles’ village named Gaston (Brandon Herron) wants to murder the Beast, but love triumphs and the Beast is converted back to the human body. The environment of the venue may be characterized as a comfortable theatre hall full of spectators from the age of six to 65 and older. People were dressed in casual and dressy clothes. I had a program, which provided brief information on the play being produced, the timeframe, and the theater details. I did not have any expectations.

The production was rather eye-catching and successful: costumes, music, and singing. The play of actors was outstanding and coordinated, namely, they worked in collaboration to create crowd scenes. The actress playing Belle and dressed in the blue dress with the white apron was quite convincing and true to life, showing her smart outlook and kind heart as well as the vibrant voice, thus touching the viewers’ souls. The Beast’s character may be noted due to his sensitivity and attempts to be a gentleman for Belle. Since he wore the mask, the Beast expressed his feelings and emotions through voice and posture that aligned well with his image. To keep the attention of the audience, the actor playing Gaston used the entertaining mimics and voice to create a caricature. Gaston, who acted as the antagonist of the main character, also used laugh and mannerism simulating a brave man, yet his image was comical. He was dressed in black boots and pants along with the red shirt with the gold collar. The actors applied a full range of expressive means, including voice changes, mimics, laugh, posture, etc.

Design elements were elaborated thoroughly – spectators observed alive candlestick, teakettle, and duster – the servants of the Prince. The stage props were detailed, but simple, thus allowing them to focus on the characters. The costumes were creative and colorful. They were chosen considering the epoch and the genre of the play so that viewers have the opportunity to be involved in the story as if they were the participants. Throughout the play, lightning was dim and bright. At some points, it was like a spotlight on one or two characters of the play. It was primarily used to emphasize dramatic effects in such scenes as the Beast’s transformation, the night before Belle’s caption, and so on. The orchestrated lightning helped to achieve the perfect sound during the whole play to make every word and every scene meaningful. The set was designed masterfully and changed accordingly, making the perception of the play more easy and full. As for the director, it is possible to note that he delivered a resounding play and succeeded in unleashing the great power of the fairy tale.

The deportment regarding this play is admiration and the desire to view it once again. The atmosphere was welcoming and pleasant. I felt that I participated in some scenes, especially in the climax – the struggle against Gaston and other villagers. There were competent actors, who played outstandingly, attracting my attention to tones, emotions, and any important details. My favorite part is when Belle meets the alive yet unanimated objects. The only recommendation I can provide concerns the main actress playing Belle. Even though her role was performed well, it seems that there was some restraint in her actions. For example, when the Beast was angry, it would be better if her fear were more persuasive. Nevertheless, I would pay upwards for this spectacle and recommend my friends to visit it.

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IvyPanda. (2024, January 29). Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Performance Critique. https://ivypanda.com/essays/disneys-beauty-and-the-beast-performance-critique/

"Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Performance Critique." IvyPanda , 29 Jan. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/disneys-beauty-and-the-beast-performance-critique/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Performance Critique'. 29 January.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Performance Critique." January 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/disneys-beauty-and-the-beast-performance-critique/.

1. IvyPanda . "Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Performance Critique." January 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/disneys-beauty-and-the-beast-performance-critique/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Performance Critique." January 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/disneys-beauty-and-the-beast-performance-critique/.

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Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Revels in Joy and Enchantment

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By A.O. Scott

March 3, 2017

To quote a lyric from one of the songs in “Beauty and the Beast,” “there may be something there that wasn’t there before.” The familiar elements are all in place, of course. It’s “Beauty and the Beast,” for goodness’ sake: a tale as old as time, a song as old as rhyme and all that. And there are inspired flights of nostalgia as well, visual evocations of the predigital glory of Busby Berkeley , Ray Harryhausen and other masters of fantastical craft.

But this live-action/digital hybrid , directed by Bill Condon and starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the title roles, is more than a flesh-and-blood (and prosthetic fur-and-horns) revival of the 26-year-old cartoon , and more than a dutiful trip back to the pop-culture fairy-tale well. Its classicism feels unforced and fresh. Its romance neither winks nor panders. It looks good, moves gracefully and leaves a clean and invigorating aftertaste. I almost didn’t recognize the flavor: I think the name for it is joy.

This was by no means a foregone conclusion. The reanimation of beloved properties — to use the grim business nomenclature of Hollywood — often leads to hack work and zombie-ism, as old archetypes are shocked to life and arrayed in garish, synthetic modern effects. That might easily have happened here. Look (I mean: don’t look) at the horrors that have been visited, in recent years, on Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz. And even if Disney had done a more convincing upgrade, on the model of last year’s “Jungle Book,” a new “Beauty” could have offended fans of the 1991 animated feature simply by existing. That movie, a high point of the ’80s and ’90s Disney revival, is close to perfect. What singing teapot would dare to challenge Angela Lansbury?

The only possible answer is Emma Thompson, whose Mrs. Potts is joined by other household objects with the voices (and, briefly, the faces) of movie stars. Stanley Tucci and Audra McDonald are the excitable harpsichord and the operatic wardrobe; Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellen are the suave candelabra and the anxious clock. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is the lissome feather duster. Young Nathan Mack is Chip, Mrs. Potts’s son. Their singing and banter is so vivid and so natural that you almost take for granted that they appear to be mechanical objects clicking and whirling in physical space, sharing the frame with human characters.

Movie Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’

The times critic a. o. scott reviews “beauty and the beast.".

“Beauty and the Beast” is the live action re-telling of the animated Walt Disney classic. In his review A.O. Scott writes: This live-action/digital hybrid, starring Emma Watson, is more than a flesh-and-blood revival of the 26-year-old cartoon, and more than a dutiful trip back to the pop-culture fairy-tale well. Its classicism feels unforced and fresh. Its romance neither winks nor panders. The most dazzling visual flights are matched to the best of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s songs. There are a few moments where the digital seams show, and you’re aware of the cold presence of lines of code behind the images. Most of the time, though, you are happily fooled.

There are a few moments — a climactic high-elevation fight scene that looks like every other climactic high-elevation fight scene; a chase through the forest involving wolves — where the digital seams show, and you’re aware of the cold presence of lines of code behind the images. Most of the time, though, you are happily fooled. More than that: enchanted. The most dazzling visual flights are matched to the best of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s songs. “Be Our Guest” in particular is a choreographic extravaganza that enfolds decades of Disney history (all the way back to “Snow White” and “Fantasia”) in contemporary cinematic craft.

But the tradition of Disney features, both live action and animated, rigorously places spectacle in the service of plot. The audience needs to be, by turns, reassured and surprised, guided through startling and suspenseful events toward a never-in-doubt conclusion. The new “Beauty and the Beast,” written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos, smoothly modernizes — and to some degree sanitizes — a story with a potentially thorny psychosexual subtext, a tale of male animality and female captivity. He’s a beast and a prince. She’s his prisoner and his therapist. It’s a little kinky if you stop to think about it, and also (to use a more responsible word) a little problematic.

Variations on the beauty-beast theme are hardly scarce. What else is “Twilight” (the last two movie installments were directed by Mr. Condon)? Or “Fifty Shades of Grey”? “Beauty and the Beast” decisively removes itself from such company by insisting on the heroism and competence of its heroine, Belle, a bookish and ingenious young woman who lives with her father (Kevin Kline) in a picture-book French village.

Ms. Watson, already something of a feminist pioneer thanks to her portrayal of Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” movies, perfectly embodies Belle’s compassion and intelligence. Mr. Stevens, blandly handsome as a human prince, is a splendid monster, especially when the diffidence and charm start to peek through the rage. The awkward business about imprisonment turning into true love is handled smoothly. If you want a hot and haunting “Beauty and the Beast,” check out Jean Cocteau’s version, or the fan-fiction-inspiring television show from the 1980s. This one is chaste and charming.

It’s Disney! Which means there will also be a villain and a comical sidekick, who steal many scenes on the way to their comeuppance. That would be Gaston (Luke Evans), a narcissistic cabbage-stomping former soldier and his adoring pal LeFou (Josh Gad). Gaston is sweet on Belle, and his excitement at her unambiguous refusals makes him the film’s avatar of nastiness. No redemption here. He goes from annoying to evil when he stirs up the anti-intellectualism and xenophobia of a populist mob to serve his own egomaniacal ends. The residents of the castle fight back because their humanity is at stake. It’s just a fairy tale.

Beauty and the Beast Rated PG. Some scary stuff, and some rough stuff, too. Running time: 2 hours 9 minutes.

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Before Disney's 1991 film and long before the Beast started signing autographs in Orlando, Jean Cocteau filmed "Beauty and the Beast" in 1946, in France. It is one of the most magical of all films. Before the days of computer effects and modern creature makeup, here is a fantasy alive with trick shots and astonishing effects, giving us a Beast who is lonely like a man and misunderstood like an animal. Cocteau, a poet and surrealist, was not making a "children's film" but was adapting a classic French tale that he felt had a special message after the suffering of World War II: Anyone who has an unhappy childhood may grow up to be a Beast.

Those familiar with the 1991 cartoon will recognize some of the elements of the story, but certainly not the tone. Cocteau uses haunting images and bold Freudian symbols to suggest that emotions are at a boil in the subconscious of his characters. Consider the extraordinary shot where Belle waits at the dining table in the castle for the Beast's first entrance. He appears behind her and approaches silently. She senses his presence, and begins to react in a way that some viewers have described as fright, although it is clearly orgasmic. Before she has even seen him, she is aroused to her very depths, and a few seconds later, as she tells him she cannot marry--a Beast!--she toys with a knife that is more than a knife.

The Beast's dwelling is one of the strangest ever put on film--Xanadu crossed with Dali. Its entrance hall is lined with candelabra held by living human arms that extend from the walls. The statues are alive, and their eyes follow the progress of the characters (are they captives of the Beast, imprisoned by spells?). The gates and doors open themselves. As Belle first enters the Beast's domain, she seems to run dreamily a few feet above the floor. Later, her feet do not move at all, but she glides, as if drawn by a magnetic force. (This effect has been borrowed by Spike Lee .) She is disturbed to see smoke rising from the Beast's fingertips--a sign that he has killed. When he carries her into her bed chamber, she has common clothes on one side of the door and a queen's costume on the other.

Belle has come to the castle as a hostage. She lives at home with her father, two unkind sisters and a silly brother, whose handsome friend wants to marry her. But she cannot marry, for she must care for Poppa. His business is threatened, and he learns on a trip to a seaport that he has lost everything. On his way home, through a forest on a stormy night, he happens upon the Beast's castle, and is taken prisoner and told he must die. The Beast offers a deal: He can go home if he will return in three days, or he can send one of his daughters. The other sisters of course sniff and make excuses, and their father says he is old and nearly dead and will return himself. But Belle slips out and rides the Beast's white horse, which knows the way to the castle. And the Beast's first words tell her, "You are in no danger."

Indeed she is not. The Beast has perhaps intuited that a daughter who would take her father's place has a good heart. He tells her that every night at 7 he will ask her the same question: "Will you be my wife?" She shudders and says she will never marry him, but eventually her heart softens, and she pities him and sees that he is good. He gives her a magical glove that allows her to travel instantly between the castle and her home (emerging whole from the wall), and there is intrigue involving the key to the garden where his fortune is held. The sisters plot and scheme, but Belle of course prevails. Her father rises up from his deathbed, the Beast sinks into a final illness instead, and when she begs him to rally, his dying words are pathetic: "If I were a man, perhaps I could. But the poor beasts who want to prove their love can only grovel on the ground, and die."

Then there is another death, of the faithless family friend who wanted to marry her, and as his body turns into that of the Beast, the Beast comes back to life and turns into a prince who looks uncannily like--the dead friend. And no wonder, because all three--friend, Beast and prince--are played by Jean Marais . Odd, how appealing Marais is as the Beast, and how shallow and superficial he seems as the pompadoured prince. Even Belle doesn't leap cheerfully into his arms, but looks quizzically at her new catch and confesses she misses the Beast. So did Marlene Dietrich , who held Cocteau's hand during the suspenseful first screening of the film at a Paris studio. As the prince shimmered into sight and smilingly presented himself as Belle's new lover, she called to the screen, "Where is my beautiful Beast?"

Although he made many films, Cocteau (1889-1963) did not consider himself primarily a filmmaker but a poet; he also painted, sculpted, wrote novels and plays, and stirred the currents of the Paris art scene. His first film, the surrealistic "Blood of a Poet," was made in 1930, the same year as Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel's notorious "L'Age d'Or." Both films were produced by the Viscount de Noailles, who delayed the release of Cocteau's after the other film inspired riots (Bunuel wrote of filling his pockets with rocks to throw at the audience if they charged the screen). Cocteau's film included images that became famous, as when a mirror turns into a pool of water, and when a mouth wiped off a painting affixes itself to his hand.

"Blood of a Poet" was an art film made by a poet. "Beauty and the Beast" was a poetic film made by an artist. He made it at the urging of Marais, his lover of many years, who was tall and imposing, with an extraordinary profile and matinee idol looks--a contrast to the skinny, chain-smoking Cocteau, whose months of shooting the film were made a misery because of a painful skin disease that required penicillin every three hours.

Because Cocteau was not sure he had the technical mastery for such an ambitious production, he recruited the director Rene Clement (" Purple Noon ") as his technical adviser; the gifted cameraman Henri Alekan to handle the tricky changes between outdoor realism and indoor fantasy, and the theatrical designer Christian Berard to design the makeup, sets and costumes (his ideas were based on the illustrations of Gustav Dore). The costumes were so elaborate they were said to be "as much as the actors could stand up in." All of Cocteau's thoughts on this process are preserved in his journal, Beauty and the Beast: Diary of a Film, which shows him persevering despite his health. His entry for Oct. 18, 1945: "Woke up with unbearable pain. As I can neither sleep nor walk up and down, I calm myself by picking up this notebook and trying to shout my pain to the unknown friends who will read these lines."

We exist. His film has made us the friends. Watching it again tonight, I felt an unusual excitement. Its devices penetrate the usual conventions of narrative, and appeal at a deeper psychic level. Cocteau wanted to make a poem, wanted to appeal through images rather than words, and although the story takes the form of the familiar fable, its surface seems to be masking deeper and more disturbing currents. It is not a "children's film." Is it even suitable for children? Some will be put off by the black and white photography and the subtitles (brief, however, and easy to read). Those who get beyond those hurdles will find a film that may involve them much more deeply than the Disney cartoon, because it is not just a jolly comic musical but deals, as all fairy tales do, with what we truly dread and desire. Brighter and more curious children will be able to enjoy it very much, I suspect, although if they return as adults they may be amazed by how much more is there.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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"Beauty and the Beast" Movie Review: Analysis of Themes and Visuals

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Early ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Reviews: What the Critics Are Saying

By Will Thorne

Will Thorne

Staff Writer

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It’s a tale as old as time, with songs as old as rhyme, but how does the new re-telling of “ Beauty and the Beast ” stand up compared to its legendary 1991 ancestor?

According to early reviews of Disney ‘s latest edition, which stars Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the title roles, the film has a few thorns and falling petals, which detract from the overall beauty of the rose.

While critics have found some recent remakes of Disney classics, such as “Maleficent” and Jon Favreau’s “The Jungle Book” to be worthy additions to magical world of Disney, others, like “Alice in Wonderland,” have been briskly panned. A major question for reviews of “Beauty and the Beast” to answer is, “Which camp does the film fall into?”

Variety’s Owen Gleiberman :

“Is the movie as transporting and witty a romantic fantasy as the animated original? Does it fall crucially short? Or is it in some ways better? The answer, at different points in the film, is yes to all three, but the bottom line is this: The new “Beauty and the Beast” is a touching, eminently watchable, at times slightly awkward experience that justifies its existence yet never totally convinces you it’s a movie the world was waiting for.”

The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw :

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“This movie is allegedly updating its assumptions to include a gay character…while leaving the heterosexual politics untouched. Beastly ugliness is symbolic of tragic male loneliness even as the imprisoned pretty woman submissively redeems her captor’s suffering. The Shrek twist on this scenario has more of a sense of humour: the woman becomes ugly as well.”

New York Times’ A. O. Scott :

“There are a few moments — a climactic high-elevation fight scene that looks like every other climactic high-elevation fight scene; a chase through the forest involving wolves — where the digital seams show, and you’re aware of the cold presence of lines of code behind the images. Most of the time, though, you are happily fooled. More than that: enchanted.”

USA Today’s Brian Truitt :

“Watson’s singing is shaky early on with the signature Belle, though she settles into her feisty character who has no patience for illiterate brutes like uber-macho town hero Gaston (Luke Evans). Stevens’ Beast is created through visual effects wizardry, but he finds the right balance between the despair of his pre-Belle days and the good-hearted, surprisingly witty dude he later becomes.”

IndieWire’s Jude Dry :

“The film that opens in theaters this weekend remains faithful to its source material, with glimmering costumes and sets that feel like Disneyland. Condon (“Kinsey,” “Dreamgirls”) practically follows the animated film shot for shot, filling in as necessary for added exposition and a few extra songs. At 129 minutes, compared to the original film’s 110, Condon’s version feels overstuffed. It also feels like that scene in the animated original when the servants dress the Beast for dinner with Belle, powdering his face and fluffing his hair until he looks ridiculous and completely out of place.”

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Machine-tooled for sweetness … Emma Watson as Belle with Dan Stevens’ Beast.

Beauty and the Beast review – Emma Watson makes a perfect Belle in sugar-rush romance

Watson star cuts a demure, doll-like figure in Disney’s live-action remake, which features an outbreak of starry cameos and the world’s briefest gay reveal

T he world’s most notorious case of Stockholm syndrome is back in cinemas. Disney now gives us a sprightly, shiny live-action remake of its 1991 animated musical fairytale, Beauty and the Beast, with Emma Watson as Belle, the elfin beauty from a humble French village whose poor old dad (Kevin Kline) is imprisoned by a wicked beast who lives in a remote castle. This is in fact a once handsome prince (played by Downton Abbey ’s Dan Stevens), transformed into a monster by an enchantress as a punishment for his selfishness, while all his simpering courtiers were turned into household appliances such as candles and clocks. Belle offers to be his prisoner in her father’s place. Gradually the grumpy, soppy old Beast falls in love with her and she with him.

Everyone warbles the classic 1991 showtunes by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, and there is a sugar-rush outbreak of starry cameos at the very end, from A-listers who are given full status in the final curtain-call credits. The whole movie is lit in that fascinatingly artificial honeyglow light, and it runs smoothly on rails – the kind of rails that bring in and out the stage sets for the lucrative Broadway touring version.

This movie is allegedly updating its assumptions to include a gay character … while leaving the heterosexual politics untouched. Beastly ugliness is symbolic of tragic male loneliness even as the imprisoned pretty woman submissively redeems her captor’s suffering. The Shrek twist on this scenario has more of a sense of humour: the woman becomes ugly as well.

The gay character is Le Fou, played by Josh Gad — he is the nerdy sidekick to Belle’s caddish and malign suitor Gaston, amusingly played by Luke Evans. But Le Fou’s homosexuality is only definitively revealed as he pairs up with another man in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment at the final dance. Otherwise, his character is no different from the cringing sidekick in the 1991 version; whether Le Fou is the only or the most gay thing about the film is up for discussion, and it is the celebratory and witty connoisseurship of musical theatre in the gay community that has historically kept this genre vital.

Amusingly played … Luke Evans as the caddish Gaston.

Emma Watson is a demure, doll-like Belle, almost a figure who has stepped off the top of a music box; she never gives in to extravagant emotion, or retreats into depression, but maintains a kind of even-tempered dignified romantic solitude. She doesn’t set the screen ablaze, but that isn’t quite the point: she is well cast and it is a good performance from her. There is an entertaining early moment when Belle is irresistibly drawn to wander out into the oddly Austrian-looking French countryside on wings of song, and does everything but spin around on the spot with arms outstretched.

But the hills are alive with spells, and the poor Beast is miserable up in his crumbling castle. He is a bad-tempered old bachelor, yearning to be freed from his mask of ghastliness. (Weirdly, the movie reminded me of Jean-Pierre Melville’s movie The Silence of the Sea , in which the well-meaning francophile German officer, billeted with a French family during the Nazi occupation, earnestly suggests that they might yet find a kind of mutual regard, like the beauty and the beast.) It is a decent performance from Stevens, although as ever with this story, the moment when he is transformed back to handsome prince is a strange anticlimax. Somehow the handsome face is more boring and insubstantial than the great big animal face in which we’ve been encouraged to find something adorable. But it’s an efficient BATB, machine-tooled for sweetness, with flashes of fun, destined to be the centrepiece of a million teen sleepovers.

Beauty and the Beast is released on 17 March.
Beauty and the Beast
Emma Watson
Walt Disney Company
Dan Stevens

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The New Beauty and the Beast Is a Lifeless Re-creation of the Original

Imagine it’s the late 1980s, and you work as an animator at Walt Disney Studios. You’ve been assigned to Beauty and the Beast, a film populated by talking teapots, candlesticks, and wardrobes that’s being pitched as a Broadway-worthy musical extravaganza. You’ve been assigned to design an uppity clock named Cogsworth, and as you sit down to figure out his myriad facial expressions and physical movements, an unshakable thought runs through your head: This is fine, but I just feel so hamstrung by my medium. This guy’s never going to look like an actual clock with a human face. I’m doomed to fail.

You’d be glad to know, then, that Walt Disney Studios has set out to remedy everything wrong with the original 1991 Beauty and the Beast by producing a “live action” remake of the film. Finally, the unfulfilled promise of the original has come to fruition, by reimagining all its fantastical elements in CGI, and keeping them more faithful to real-world physics, I guess because that seemed like it would be fun.

It’s easy to understand the lure of making the ephemeral tangible; it’s what Disney is banking on for a whole slate of planned live-action treatments of their back catalogue. It’s also the basic premise of Disneyland, and the thing that fuels countless enterprising cosplayers. But in the new Beauty and the Beast the word “tangible” is egregiously stretched. After a couple musical numbers, it occurs to you that the film you’re watching is every bit as animated as the original, but it’s somehow turned out less lifelike, despite its considerable technological advantage.

You likely know the story: A spoiled prince (Dan Stevens) is turned into a beast, and all his servants into objects, in a curse that will be lifted if he ever learns to love and be loved in return. A rebellious bookworm named Belle (Emma Watson) volunteers herself as his prisoner in place of her eccentric father (Kevin Kline) who has accidentally wandered onto beastly property. Over time, they grow fond of each other, despite or because of the lopsided power dynamic in their relationship, but they must overcome the most eligible bachelor Gaston (Luke Evans, the only person having any fun here) and a town full of fearful villagers who would rather see the beast’s head on the wall at the local tavern.

Aside from its production techniques, the film has also sought to update its story for today’s social mores. The poor, provincial town that Belle lives in is more diverse and explicitly anti–female literacy (Belle gets her books from a chapel, not a bookstore), effectively turning her defining hobby into a form of high-stakes resistance. Maurice, her father, is an artist instead of an inventor; it’s Belle who’s out there trying to engineer the world’s first washing machine with a horse and a rolling bucket. And the Beast is revealed to be a bit of a bookworm as well. The titular pair bond over Shakespeare, which softens a romance that’s always been a little hard to swallow.

But it doesn’t make up for his face: an eerie, uncanny valley blend of lifelike CGI fur and Stevens’s human eyes, which never seem to really connect with whatever’s in front of them. We see Stevens briefly as a human in an opening ball scene (which, with its powdered wigs and face paint, unquestionably situates the story in the 18th-century twilight of the French aristocracy — more of that would have been fun), but we’re hardly able to get a handle on him before he disappears into the fur. The same goes for his servants, whose features have been minimized supposedly in the name of realism, but in a way that they all end up resembling the plastered visages in Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon .

Emma Watson is the real headliner here, and physically couldn’t have been more perfectly cast. But someone really should have screen-tested her before she signed on — with an actual green screen. There are actors who can conjure up a world around them on a blank soundstage and make us believe in it just with their eyes; Watson is not one of those actors. Watching her sing to the hills during the re-creation of the iconic “Belle (Reprise)” or wander through the ominous ruins of the castle’s west wing (not that one) I found myself distracted, wondering where she thought she was walking when she filmed it, what she thought she was looking at. Her singing voice could stand to add a little oomph , but it’s the least of the problems in a performance that mostly adds up as a collection of charming poses and furrowed eyebrows. But boy, does she look the part.

If only Beauty and the Beast were just a collection of stills, like a fancy Annie Leibowitz spread for some glossy quarterly edition of Disney Adventures. Unfortunately, it’s over two hours long, and is padded out by a hugely unnecessary number of non–Ashman-Menken musical numbers and a pointless detour where Belle finds out what happened to her missing mother. At every turn, the film seems to ask itself if what the original film did was enough, and answers with a definitive “no.” But hey, at least that clock looked real.

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Beauty and the Beast

Where to watch.

Watch Beauty and the Beast with a subscription on Disney+, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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With an enchanting cast, beautifully crafted songs, and a painterly eye for detail, Beauty and the Beast offers a faithful yet fresh retelling that honors its beloved source material.

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Bill Condon

Emma Watson

Dan Stevens

Kevin Kline

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Disney Movie “Beauty and The Beast”

Introduction, reference list.

The notion that physical appearance is used as a measure for ugliness or good look has been used so frequently in the movie world. In many instances, physically unattractive individuals are made to believe that they have a negative impact on people who watch them as far as scariness is concerned. On the other hand, beauty is considered to be the hallmark of attractiveness, with many of the film personalities presented as beautiful having a field day in many aspects of life. Disney films present some of the myths of physical appearance in relation to achieving life’s desires and wants. For example, in the Beauty and The Beast, it could be interpreted to suggest that ugliness and beauty defines how we live. That is, they portray the need for physical transformation to achieve social status. This paper analyzes the film, Beauty and The Beast , in relation to the notion of physical appearance that has dominated our society’s way of life.

Every one would agree with me that fairy tales related to beauty and the beast have been told over and over for many years. When Disney decided to make a movie version for this story, it was just a way of reinforcing a culture that emphasizes on physical appearance as the determinant of success or failure. In the Beauty and the Beast , the main character, Belle is a beautiful young girl who resides in a village together with her father. In her desire to see life in other places, she involves herself in reading a lot of books and written materials with stories of adventure. These literary works take her in an illusionary belief that life is beautiful outside her village. Along this plot is another huge man, Gaston, portrayed as strong. Gaston has developed interest in Belle, and wants to go ahead and marry her, something that the latter is against.

The other characters are the father and the beast, whose interaction suggests an image of mystery and wealth. Belle’s father set out a journey where he encounters a beast living in a mansion with everything that everyone would desire to have for a complete luxurious life. Before Belle’s father left home, his daughter had told him to bring her a rose when he comes back from the journey. The roses are in the Beast’s compound but the condition set by the owner (the beast) is that he either trades his life with a rose for her daughter, something that the daughter had to approve. But being a loving daughter, she could not see her father die and instead decides to go by herself. Trapped with the inability to escape from the beast after meeting some talking objects, she finds it difficult to stay without her father. Father’s effort to rescue her with the help of the villagers hits a snag as they dismiss his allegation of beast’s existence.

Gaston, a village hero who had a crush on Belle agree to help the father in his rescue mission, probably with the hope that if he becomes successful in the process she would agree to marry him. The villagers support Gaston. He is literally popular and everyone would want to see him marry the love of his life. Unfortunately, the beast kills Gaston, turns into a handsome prince and they live happily ever after.

This film clearly presents a fairy tale of beauty and ugliness. In essence, the notion that beauty and ugliness do not match as far as love and relationships are concerned is well reflected in the whole theme. The standard policy presented in Beauty and the Beast is that beauty and ugliness have become the norm for stereotypical judgment in terms of what to associate with. It has become a clear indicator of stereotypical lifestyle in our society. The beast’s physical body transformation that makes him handsome and attractive is portrayed as the reason why Belle has agreed to marry him. According to Shrek, the ability to transform our bodies determines the societal social structure. In fact, this kind of notion is highly entrenched in the society that it influences the way people relate and conduct themselves (Thompson, 2004). In Shrek’s view, people would do anything just to ensure they looked good so as to achieve the social transformation they desire and admire. The Beast desired and admired Belle, and because he had the ability to transform himself, he changes to a handsome prince. This transformation has attracted Belle’s attention and thus acceptance to marry him.

The use of physical appearance as a determinant of social class has been erroneously entrenched into our society. It has become the measure of success, forcing young people to do anything to look attractive. Basically, this kind of notion is entrenched through work of arts found in films and other literary works. Disney movies are just but a few of those films that have portrayed this deep routed culture. It is logical to acknowledge that there are many versions of the Beauty and The Beast , as far as the theme of beauty and ugliness is concerned. It has become an issue that we can see as the source of trauma and dissatisfaction among many individuals who seek physical transformation in order to achieve life’s success. In this version, success is seen through wealth and social status acquisition.

Thompson, J.K. (2004). Shrek, Attractiveness, and Appearance Stereotypes: A Make Ogre Fairy Tale, or Happily Ever After Redux? PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 50 (3), 573- 579.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Beauty and The Beast — Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Movie Analysis

Disney's Beauty and The Beast Movie Analysis

Categories: Beauty and The Beast Fantasy Movie Review

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Words: 985 |

Published: Nov 8, 2019

Words: 985 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Works Cited

Ehrenreich, B. (1989). What I’ve learned from men. In The Norton book of personal essays (pp. 271-276). W.W. Norton & Company.
Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000). Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality. Basic Books.
Fine, C. (2010). Delusions of gender: How our minds, society, and neurosexism create difference. WW Norton & Company.
Halberstam, J. (1998). Female masculinity. Duke University Press.
Hooks, B. (2004). The will to change: Men, masculinity, and love. Washington Square Press.
Kimmel, M. (2017). Healing from hate: How young men get into-and out of-violent extremism. University of California Press.
Martin, J. (2019). From reverence to rape: The treatment of women in the movies. University of Chicago Press.
Serano, J. (2016). Whipping girl: A transsexual woman on sexism and the scapegoating of femininity. Seal Press.
Strinati, D. (1995). An introduction to theories of popular culture. Routledge.
Wood, J. T. (2018). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture. Cengage Learning.

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‘Beauty and The Beast’ Film Review

Decent remake starring Emma Watson and, about time too, Disney’s first gay character

Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty And The Beast doesn’t need to be dazzlingly original. As we’re told in the most famous song it borrows from the 1991 animated film, this is a “tale as old as time”. Instead, what Dreamgirls director Bill Condon delivers here is two hours of premium nostalgia, decorated with the odd modern flourish. Emma Watson, who reportedly quit La La Land for this film , is perfectly cast as Belle, a forward-thinking young woman who feels constrained by the “provincial life” of her 18th century French village.

When her father Maurice (Kevin Kline) steals a rose from a secret castle occupied by a hulking and reclusive ‘Beast’ (Dan Stevens), Belle selflessly volunteers to become his prisoner so Maurice can walk free. In what now feels like a fairytale version of Stockholm Syndrome, Belle sees beyond the Beast’s brutish exterior and begins to soften his temper. If she falls in love with him before the last petal drops from an enchanted rose, a cruel curse will be lifted and the Beast will transform back into the handsome prince he once was.

Most viewers will probably be anticipating the film’s plot developments and heartwarming finale, but Condon manages to inject some genuine threat into proceedings. Dumb hunk Gaston ( The Hobbit ’s Luke Evans) becomes surprisingly menacing when he realises Belle fancies the Beast instead, and gathers a gang of vigilantes to slay him. Though it’s been over-hyped, there’s a subtly revisionist moment where Gaston’s sidekick Le Fou ( Frozen ’s Josh Gad) is revealed as gay.

Condon’s film also benefits from some glorious CGI visuals, but its charm really lies in the voice casting of the Beast’s cursed servants. It’s a lot of fun hearing Emma Thompson fussing and fretting as a matriarchal teapot, Ian McKellen hamming it up as a pompous clock, and Ewan McGregor supplying a dodgy French accent as a scheming candelabra.

Beauty And The Beast is hardly a masterpiece, but it’s not faint praise to say it does its job nicely. Fans of the original won’t be disappointed and many others will leave with ‘Be Our Guest’ stuck in their heads.

Philosophy in Film

A Philosophical Approach to Cinema

Review: Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête, 2014) ★★★½

There have been a number of film adaptations of Gabrielle-Suanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s famous fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast . And though some versions held truer to the original story than others, all of them tell a similar story of Belle, a young and beautiful girl who is forced to stay in the castle of a surly and terrifying Beast who longs for her hand in marriage. While Belle initially spurns the Beast’s advances, she eventually comes to care for him, even as she cringes and recoils from his beastly ways. When the Beast grants Belle her wish to visit her family on the condition that she returns to him promptly, Belle gladly accepts the proposal. However, she is unable to keep her promise, and when she finally does return to the Beast’s side, she finds that he is dying, his heart broken by her absence. As Belle professes her love for the Beast, he suddenly regains his strength and is transformed into a handsome prince.

Christophe Gans’ 2014 adaptation holds true to much of the original story, but diverges at times to allow for more thrilling action and fantasy sequences. Léa Seydoux ( Blue is the Warmest Color , Diary of a Chambermaid ) portrays Belle, and though she has proven to be a very adept and talented actress, her performance as the naïve young girl is underwhelming. The Beast is produced using CGI (and looks something like an upright lion or overgrown housecat), and he is voiced by and eventually transforms into Vincent Cassel ( La Haine , Black Swan ). The film is marketed for a younger audience, though the writing does little to soften some of the darker themes of the story. And even though this is admirable for the sake of authenticity, it doesn’t always work for the sake of modern storytelling. There is very little justification for Belle’s sudden change of heart, and her sudden love for the Beast who keeps her locked away under threat of death is rather jarring considering her initial hatred for him.

Despite the apparent gaps in logic, the story flows smoothly, providing a swift and enchanting introduction to the film: it is told as a story within a story, with Belle retelling her experiences to her two young children. She reads from a storybook, and this fits well with the film’s whimsical aesthetics. Drawings from the book pages transform before our eyes and help enhance the fanciful tone set by Gans’ direction.

Perhaps the greatest part of Beauty and the Beast is the cinematography. As is so often the case with fairy tales, which have been told and retold time and time again, the visual style is what draws the viewer into the story. In this respect, Beauty and the Beast shines. We are transported to picturesque cottages with gorgeous landscapes. Adorable, wide-eyed creatures skitter around the Beast’s castle and provide a softening touch to an otherwise dreary atmosphere. The Beast’s castle looms over the surrounding forest, which teems with mysterious magic, which, though never fully explained, holds up the story, and allows for thrilling chases and climactic confrontations. The CGI, while somewhat cartoonish, is nonetheless impressive and well-executed.

One of the principal drawbacks of the film is that we are never given a close look at any of the characters. They all exist as archetypes rather than unique individuals, and as a result, we are given very little reason to care for their wellbeing. It draws the viewer out of the story when the characters are not believable. or completely two-dimensional, but this is somewhat forgivable considering it is a fairy tale aimed at a young audience.

All in all, Christophe Gans’ version of Beauty and the Beast is exciting to watch, with enough visual spectacle and charm to make up for the lack of narrative strength.

Rating: ★★★½ out of 5

Beauty and the Beast is available to rent or purchase via Amazon here .

Matthew Jones

Matthew Jones is a freelance writer who has written for dozens of local and international businesses, in addition to his publications on film and philosophy. To see more of his writing, check out his Medium page or personal website . If you like Philosophy in Film, be sure to contribute on Patreon !

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Review by David Wallace Great Movie Essays Patron

Beauty and the beast 1946 ★★★★½.

Watched May 31 , 2018

David Wallace Great Movie Essays’s review published on Letterboxd:

"Beauty and the Beast," also frequently referred to as "La Belle et la Bête," expresses ardent Jean Cocteau’s appetite to direct a fairy tale movie that would work even better for adults than children, a rare beast among those types of films where singing and dancing are incorporated to attract the younger audience. Cocteau, however, isn’t willing to let his surrealist art and poetic visuals do all the talking, or at least initially anyway. After the opening credits are written and erased on a blackboard with chalk by the director himself masquerading as school teacher to the spectator, a clapperboard is snapped to assign the film’s incipit and Cocteau immediately hijacks the scene with a decisive veto, like a director yelling 'cut' at a scene he isn’t entirely satisfied with. A scrolling intertitle is shown onscreen, written by Cocteau, pleading with the audience to suspend their disbelief and accept the following extraordinary events as they would through the purity of childlike innocence. This breaking of the fourth wall became fashionable later in French cinema with primarily the work of Jean-Luc Godard, but this movie’s Brechtian approach is not to distance the audience from an immersive experience; rather it is a rallying cry to surrender themselves to the movie’s logic when accepting the invitation. At one point the damsel in distress asks her captor: ‘Do such marvels really exist?’ and even without Cocteau’s statement to take the movie for what it is, the audience does find themselves fully involved with the subtle enchantments and primal repressions. It is well known that Stevie Nicks wrote her ballad of the same name, inspired by viewings of Cocteau’s picture and that song too has layered meanings, posing a question mired in simplicity but that on reflection is considerably perspicacious: ‘Who is the beauty?’ For we presume the character named Belle conveys the beauty of the title.

It is also known thanks in large part to the journal he kept while filming this picture that Cocteau was in great pain with a variety of skin illnesses including anthrax, impetigo and eczema. Cocteau writes: ‘My face has become an itching carapace of cracks, scabs, gulleys. I must forget this mask and live underneath it with all my strength.’ This creative torment runs parallel with the Beast of the story, also cursed with looks that are described as hideous. I feel this is one reason why this is the best filmed version of the tale, with Cocteau getting under the skin of the Beast through a symmetrical compatibility, understanding truly and deeply how difficult it is to persevere with daily life based on a flawed outer appearance alone, never mind the physical pain he suffered. Cocteau’s depiction of the Beast (Jean Marais) is a character of gentleness, sage and obedience. He seems fully resigned to his eternal curse of living as a creature, but he has a lingering hope that a maiden might see past his looks and fall in love with the poetic soul behind the mask. This links him again with Cocteau, who as well as being a filmmaker was also a poet, and when we read the poetry contained in his oeuvre we don’t condemn it because it was written by a man whose face temporarily was so unattractive that he had to resort to wearing black paper over it in public, but of an artist who kept his creativity flowing despite personal suffering. The pain was excruciating and the paper would help soak up the oozing fluids and provide a slight relief, but unquestionably Cocteau’s confidence and self-esteem crumbled and the veil was also a more manageable solution to the task of having to the face the world discreetly.

There is a telling moment in the film when the imprisoned Belle (Josette Day) begs the Beast to grant permission for an activity and the Beast is upset, not because of the request’s content but due to her need to request. He is the one who should be taking orders in his mind, because even though the dynamic is that she is his prisoner, ultimately she is free to leave at any time, as the Beast is powerless to prevent it. He is so lonely in his vacuum of self-esteem. Even as he relinquishes all his powers and advocates copious splendour to her there is merely the small possibility that she will become attached to the ravishing kingdom’s allure. He bows down to her and she strokes his head like she would an animal, and that is precisely how she describes the Beast. I think of John Hurt’s anguished cry as the titular character in David Lynch’s "The Elephant Man" here: ‘I am not an animal! I am a human being.’ He seems momentarily flustered by this announcement, perhaps because he had hoped to conceal his beastly urges in her presence and assume the role of human being. She is aware that he is hiding behind his possessions to distract from his ugliness and unassailable self-hatred, but there is no mocking in her tone, rather a hint of compassion. In a similar way, a reader might watch the movie and think that the filmmaker camouflaged his private struggles and kept them hidden behind the final art product, and we evaluate it regardless of whether the artist looked superficially like a 'monster' during production. The Beast may have propositioned a number of women before Belle’s arrival and if that is so then he has streamlined his approach to how he communicates with the prisoner in a way to make her feel safe in his world of entrapment. If Belle is the first victim then it is admirable that he does not throw tantrums at her responses of rejection. He is self-effacing and insecure. When Belle faints on her first sighting of him he carries her to the bed and looks closely at her face (safe in the knowledge that she can’t see him) but the spectator sees him in close-up from the beauty’s vantage point. When she awakens and is in close proximity to his face he retreats frantically, informing Belle that she must not look him directly in the face. He sensitively tells her that he will only bother her once per day, which might be an unintentionally cunning strategy for boredom can stem in idleness, and absence could indeed make a heart grow fonder.

The original tale of 'Beauty and the Beast' has been freely adapted and modified over time, but some notable consistencies remain fixed like the maiden’s father (Marcel André) being the individual who stumbles upon the Beast’s property and picks a rose that his daughter had asked as a memento, resulting in her taking his place as prisoner of the Beast out of remorse for the request. The parallels to Persephone's abduction to the underworld by Hades are apparent. Cocteau also provides Belle with the original tale’s two cruel sisters (Nane Germon and Mila Parély) and a profligate brother Ludovic (Michel Auclair), the latter of whom is constant ridiculing these two women’s frivolity even though he is also prone to spending beyond the family’s means. Cocteau positions another character into the scenes depicting Belle’s home life - a friend of her brother’s who is very much an infatuated suitor for Belle rather than either of the delusional sisters. There is an interesting framing tactic involved in our early sightings of this man known as Avenant, as we are denied access to his face with camera shots constantly of his back, like when he and Ludovic are firing bow and arrows with one attempt landing inside the sisters’ bedroom, and when the twosome come down the stairs to summon their servants Avenant has his back turned to the action. On one level this indicates his lack of interest in these women, but it is also a pivotal set-up for our first interaction between him and Belle. She is kneeling on the floor scrubbing and he approaches her from behind, proceeding to persistently compliment her as the great beauty of the family. Having been rose to her feet at Avenant’s insistence, he holds her body behind an arrow so that his chest is locked firmly with her back and there is no easy exit from the hold. The actor portraying Avenant (Jean Marais) is the same person portraying the Beast, and this initial encounter between the two will be somewhat duplicated in an interaction at the Beast’s castle.

What purpose does the doppelgänger arc serve in the film’s structure other than as a way for Cocteau to allow his actor a reprieve from the heavy make-up and costuming that was required for the Beast? Unlike in some versions of the story, the male suitor for Belle is not a wholly reprehensible human being and he actually represents a very appealing alternative to the soulful Beast. Avenant might refer to himself as a ‘wastrel’ but he is not obnoxious or chauvinistic, treating Belle with affection beyond her gorgeous aura. When he tells her that even the floors she has cleaned now mimic a mirror admiring her looks he means it wholeheartedly, but his male gaze transcends beyond lustful attraction for he has deep concern for her welfare. He has taken it upon himself to free her from the shameful existence she has found herself in this family system, slaving away and doing the vast majority of the work. He can’t feign pleasantries with the two sisters and even strikes out at one of them. Why will Belle not yield to his advances and accept the marriage proposal? The answer she gives is that she does not want to leave her father, and when we see how the other siblings abuse the love of the father it isn’t difficult to appreciate how empty the father’s life would be without Belle’s presence every day. No doubt Belle has a more meaningful love for her father than her two sisters, though is it possible she is latching on to his ill-health as an excuse rather than plainly stating she is not ready to commit to a marriage? When we think of how the Beast will later endear himself to Belle in the hope of matrimony, the spectator might be inclined to think if only he were easier on the eye she might accept, yet through Avenant, the double, proves that even if blessed with great looks and a caring persona that might not be enough to win the heart of Belle. Avenant has his own insecurities and takes the Beast’s competition as genuine cause for concern rather than a laughing matter, sensing that Belle is falling in love with the man in the lonely castle. ‘No, Avenant, I’m fond of him. It’s not the same thing,’ she explains. The spectator questions just what exactly the internal beauty of Belle requires from her suitor, and whether her outward looks are a veil for a wicked heart that revels in evading male attention, but surely there is a more practical explanation for her aloofness.

Cocteau does a marvellous job of creating the Beast’s ravishing castle (or chateau) as a complete and separate new world, where time does not appear to operate like the exterior world, as if upside down with day and night interchangeable. When the visitors enter the castle, the walls are completely draped in darkness and the ramification is of no wall seeming to exist. As Belle ascends the interior stairs all the viewer can see are the actual steps, giving the illusion that were Belle to slip and fall she might plunge into a timeless and eternal black hole. Other ingenious folkloric beauty ideas Cocteau conjured up for the miscellaneous detailing include: the candelabra with rotating human arms that can turn themselves when required, and the unsettling array of human head effigies (exhaling smoke) that look like actual people trapped in stone. These statues could be prisoners of the Beast but they do not cry out for help to visitors, but radiate peculiar facial expressions. The shift of location, despite appearance, substitutes chaotic disorder in Belle's home sphere for a peaceful reverie state. Having sacrificed herself to provide freedom for her father, Belle develops a tenderness for the Beast as she senses the goodness beneath his outward appearance, who in turn demonstrates civilised care for his trapped prison based on an unrequited longing that will never be fulfilled. The father, meanwhile, can now add this trauma to the headaches caused by his persistent debt collectors, and by those emanating from the other offspring who are more interested in exploring their beastly desires than in caring for his wellness. They are no doubt aggrieved that the fatal rose was lifted for Belle, but none of the requests from the 'ugly sisters' of the family (jewellery, dresses) were obtained.

Consider a moment when the Beast breaks his vow to only see Belle once per day, by entering her bedroom on suspicion that she might not be there and he is proven correct. As he looks upon the empty bed, a female head is stares smiling directly at the pitiable Beast. If ever there was a time to say that a smile can confuse someone then this scene demonstrates the theory effectively. The way Belle enters the castle is evocative too, with Cocteau using giant white curtains (which recall the large white sheets on the washing line at her home) blowing inwardly from a strong wind - or other unknown force - as she hovers down the passageway. The action is dreamy and adds to this magical quality imbued within the location, and there is a strange non-diegetic sound heard frequently, as if the wind or the effigies are howling at the action inside the castle. The 1991 Disney animation was certainly inspired by much of Cocteau’s castle aesthetics, although instead of creepy candelabra they transformed it into loveable candlesticks. These personified items of the Disney version take major liberties against the original myth's source material, but Cocteau himself visually expanded upon the literature. One major difference in the two films is the initial portayal of the Beast. Cocteau strives to enforce the chateau's gentle resignation, for Belle's father is treated with courtesy as he arrives during the night and is treated as a guest, despite the Beast remaining in seclusion. It is only the next morning when he lifts a precious rose from the property that this Beast aligns with the Disney proxy, resorting to a monstrous declaration of a death penalty.

The Beast has access to powerful forces and he relays to Belle the five forms of objects that provide him this entity, and one wonders how much of the castle is soaked in a magical force that might be controlling Belle’s planned aversion to the Beast. For instance, when Belle dines at the table at 7pm for the first time, the Beast enters the room from a door directly behind her chair, recalling Avenant’s earlier approach. Watching this sequence with the sound turned down is illuminating in the way Belle’s facial expressions change, and much could be inferred as to what her face is signifying. The Beast remains behind her as he speaks for he does not want her to see his image, and he holds the chair as he asks the inevitable question of her hand in marriage, as he will every night until either she accepts or one of them dies. Does his presence and touching of the chair affect Belle’s unconscious? The look she radiates when he enters the room could be that of a frightened victim wary of being violated from behind by her tormentor, but it also in a way looks like Belle is experiencing some unknown pleasure as he advances, as if she is enjoying the pursuit by her admirer, perhaps in spite of a better judgement. Is this all magical supernatural control of her body by the Beast, or is Belle fighting to repress her hidden subconscious shadow like the similarly pseudo-named heroine from "Belle de Jour," who couldn’t bear to let those close to her know about these deep obsessions? As another lyric from Nicks’ ballad suggests: ‘There is no beauty without my beast.’ It is common wisdom to think that the Beast is the only one of the duo with repressed feelings from a fear of rejection, but Belle’s repression is at least partially evident. In the film’s closing scene after the Beast’s transformation, she even looks disheartened that her Beast is no more.

After this first marriage proposal rejection at dinner, Cocteau cuts from the image of Belle seated with her head tilted into hands with the Beast leaving behind, to a shot of Belle sneaking quietly down a corridor. She peers around the corner and the camera holds steady on her visage as she reacts expressively like a silent movie star at what she is observing. The spectator is prevented alignment to her glimpse, but it is apparent by her quick turn of pace to a hiding position behind a statue that she is spying on the Beast. If at this point she was truly dejected by being held captive from her father and despised the animal who had forced upon her this solitude, why is she creeping around the castle for a sighting? The tenuous impression is that she finds something about the Beast captivating, and if repelled by his outward appearance there is an irresistible force drawing her towards him. Cocteau asked us to follow the child’s example of accepting that a Beast should have smoke rising from his hands after slaying a victim without wondering why it should make sense, and so we do go along with the bizarre side effect. However, the advantage to engaging with the movie as an adult is that the unspoken communication between the two is readily apparent in moments where a child might accept the spoken words as veridical. For example, when Belle tosses the Beast one of her personal towels to clean himself of the blood amidst the smoking hands, the Beast demands her to close her bedroom doors immediately for he can’t bear to witness her prominent seer. Yes, the Beast is ashamed to be caught in the natural instinct of his beastly inclinations however an adult will note how the Beast is also suppressing his desire to pounce on Belle sexually. Likewise, when his quick-thinking casts a magic spell of a gift for Belle, the spectator might suspect that this quick reveal of his gift is symbolic for his sexual climaxing. However, even the youngest child viewer will pick up on the contradiction of Belle’s scornful call to remove the Beast from her private area when it is juxtaposed by a lingering camera shot of Belle immediately touching the jewellery and gazing longingly to her unseen Beast on the other side of the door. Consummation is happening in the silence between words.

One of the five items that hold the Beast’s power is the magic mirror that he has placed inside Belle’s bedroom, and this allows her to see the world she has left behind and when it shows her father bedridden, Belle has no choice but to return home to care for him on the promise that she will come back in one week. This is reminiscent of how he allowed the father to evade a death sentence on the good faith that he or a daughter should return in three days. The Beast selflessly relinquishes all of his powers to Belle in a sign of his complete trust in his female companion, but consider that he informs Belle he will die if she does not keep the promise because without his powers he will grow weaker. Belle may not reciprocate his love, but she thinks far too highly of his existence to allow such a fate. This is slightly manipulative on the Beast’s behalf but the sheer resigned tone of his diction suggests that he is ready to accept death over the absence of Belle. When she leaves using the magical glove she is instantly transported to her childhood home, where the place has been strip-mined of nearly all possessions - an overt metaphor for the father’s lost spirit among childish beasts who have abused their familial status - and is met by a far greater manipulation on the behalf of the sisters, and even Avenant and Ludovic conspire against her back to rid her of the Beast’s tormenting prison, even as the spectator notes how much happier she seems in that magical realm, ignoring the relationship with her father. Technically Belle could put the glove on at any moment and visit the Beast sporadically during the week, but her sisters’ actions propel unfair feelings of guilt about leaving them and their dad. Cocteau keeps the Beast mostly out of this section of the film, except for a harrowing segment where he silently staggers around, lightly caressing the items and objects in which her scent persists.

If the Beast was certain of Belle’s return out of concerned toleration for his continued living, there is much confusion among viewers as to his certainty of the doppelgänger’s influence in the form this return should undertake. For in this gestation period where Belle deliberates over her choice with much bias from those around her, could the Beast have planned what ended up occurring? By gifting Belle the five magical tools he was also dropping them into a shark tank environment where at least one of the family would demand answers to the spellbound acquirements and wish to steal them from Belle. This is indicated with humour during a scene in which a sister covets the magnificent pearls and Belle removes them from her neck believing, a little sarcastically, that they would look better on the sister anyway, but the exchange is proven impossible. In this way when Lodovic and Avenant use the Beast’s magical white horse to ride to the castle, they shift from not believing in magic to being so absolutely gung-ho that they don’t hesitate on whether the sudden appearance of the horse was a bamboozling set-up. Maybe the Beast knows that he needs more than simply a female to fall deeply in love with him to break the curse, and that he requires a male substitute to take his place as the Beast. Avenant wishes to know if the Beast speaks like a human being or is something alien. ‘Yes Avenant. Like you or I,’ replies Belle warmly. Like you or I.

The story is left deliberately open-ended, yet earlier when the Beast asked Belle if there was a young, attractive man who had asked for her hand in marriage and she responded affirmatively with the reveal of the suitor’s name as Avenant, notice the Beast’s perplexing reaction. Before sprinting away his chest seems to be causing him great pain, perhaps the murmurs of the heart are now pounding like fierce tremors. Whether the Beast is aware of his doppelgänger is not known and really all we are told is that he is a friend of Belle’s brother, but not necessarily since childhood, nor why he should be living in such close proximity. Rider is the French definition of the Avenant name and a lot of theories could be speculated over, and a favourite of mine is that Avenant is the tulpa of the Beast, created through his magical powers, as a decoy to plant the seeds and bring Belle to the real persona. When the movie concluded with Avenant performing his function as the disposable tulpa in the tale, the two alter-egos reunite and we are left with this movie’s Prince Charming now finally divulged. A little too charming indeed, as his acrobatic contortionist act rubs Belle the wrong way and the spectator is left wondering if this improvement is little more than a skin-deep cosmetic fix. Film critic Pauline Kael believes viewers will sense what has been lost in the transformation. This could be true of other cinematic fairy tale adaptations, but the happy ending usually prevents us from agonising over the Beast’s metamorphosis. Here we lament significantly and, as legend has it, a famous movie star (Greta Garbo) summed it up best when she watched the film during its original release, screaming in the cinema for her beautiful beast to come back. I imagine our scintilla of disappointment is rooted in our humanism for a love that is blind and not shackled to the expectations of society.

Jean Cocteau went on to make only a few more movies, but all are highly thought of works cherished by many filmgoers. These include: "Les Parents terribles" (1948), "Orpheus" (1950) and "The Testament of Orpheus" (1960). If you are interested in surrealism and the dream logic that can exist within the film medium, Cocteau’s body of work is a must-see on the bucket list. If you are a fan of the excellent Disney animated version of "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) then it is worth seeking out Cocteau’s film, for even younger children can enjoy it as the subtitles are minimal and very easy to read. Older children will also appreciate a Beast who doesn’t look like the one posing for photographs and signing autographs at Disney theme parks, putrefying the kayfabe authenticity of the animated portrayal. Older children may also appreciate the differing opening narrations, as the Disney voice-over explicitly spoils the nature of the curse at the centre of the allegory. Cocteau refrains from revealing such information until the last few sequences, leaving us to speculate upon the Beast's condition. Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve was partly inspired to create the original fairy tale based on her knowledge of a real world counterpart - the true story of Petrus Gonsalvus and hypertrichosis. Modern science allows us to diagnose and understand the condition, unlike the 16th century contemporaries who treated the individual as a werewolf outcast. Cocteau might have felt he and Gonsalvus were kindred spirits as the filmmaker hid his visage from the cruel gaze of others, perhaps sighing with relief that he was not born in an earlier century where his embarrassing skin disorder would have been assessed as putrefaction.

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Movies have different ratings depending on the intended viewership audience. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rates movies as a G, PG, PG-13 or NC-17. This is mainly to help parents determine which content is acceptable for viewership especially for small children. According to the MPAA, a G-rated movie is a motion picture that contains nothing in theme, nudity, sex, violence, language or matters that may offend parents who may have younger children watching the movie. The rating means that the MPAA does not approve the movie only that it is fit for general audience as it contains no strong language, nudity or use of drugs and violence is minimal (or is completely absent). This paper will critique the G-rated movie Beauty and the Beast.

The movie of interest here is the Beauty and the Beast. The Movie is very popular especially in American children. The movie was produced in 1991 by Howard Ashman as the executive producer and Don Hahn as the producer (Common sense media). Walt Disney produced the animated movie Beauty and the Beast. The movie is about Belle who is a free-spirited girl residing in a small village with her eccentric father. Belle is being pursued by an arrogant hunter named Gaston. After his father goes missing, Belle starts to track him but she finds herself held prisoner in a castle by Beast. With time she finds herself and Beast becoming closer which does not auger well with Gaston.

The movie contains 3 instances of violence. The first instance is when fierce wolves attack the main characters, the second is when there is a big fight and there is a character who wields a knife but falls to his death and lastly when the people of the town decided to kill Beast when he had an angry outburst (Common sense media).

The movie has subliminal bad language and no vulgar words are loud enough to be noticed. Therefore, language here is not applicable. As earlier as 6 years of age, parents have reported that their children do imitate what they see on TV but imitation may vary greatly depending on the child’s cognitive development. At the ages of 6-11 years, children become very active and will show to imitate aggressive behaviors after viewing violent scenes on screen.

The movie contains only one sexual reference. The only instance is when Lumieer flirts with the French maid comically. According to the moral hierarchy, children as early as those of 10 years of age will judge moral dilemmas according to intentions of the perpetrator. Therefore, children as young as 10 years (and in some cases lower than 10 years) will try to imitate sexual scenes they watch on films (Common sense media).

The storyline of Beauty and the Beast creates a story that contains characters that surpass the stereotypes. An example of this can be taken from Belle (Beauty) who is a stereotypical Hollywood heroine with her small and beautiful long hair whose main important thing (or so she thinks) is to take care of and nurse important men (Beast and her father). As shown earlier, the movie departs from the origin folktales in many ways. Some of the characters push through the normal stereotypes. Although a woman, Belle is very intelligent as well as being strong. We usually know women as ‘weak’ characters but Belle reads constantly and more than any other character in the movie, she saves more lives by fighting with the wolves. She is shown clubbing the wolves with a stick leading to the town people describing her as strange and funny due to her strength. This is one sure way of the town people reinforcing the stereotype (Wynn). The movie generally creates stereotypes first before they eventually kill them. Thus the movie creates a mixture of stereotypes creating both good and bad show for children. For example women are shown to be just that, women, while they are also shown to be even better than men in their own game (Wynn).

There are some instances of kindness in the movie Beauty and the Beast. Belle is shown when he learns of other kindness to her father but she overstays her time due to enticements by her sisters. Belle is show to be very caring especially to her father and to Beast.

It is vital that parents understand a movie’s rating before they can let their children watch the movie. The movie Beauty and the Beast is a nice movie for children to watch but parents need to understand that the movie’s initial ferocity may scare some children. Scenes like where Gaston hunts and stabs one of the characters may be emotionally intense for them. But for those kids, who are mature enough to watch feature-length movies, then the movie is just but one of the best that they can watch due to its originality, production quality and even its intelligence. The movie is intended to entertain but not educate kids but kids will find taking some important lessons on appreciating others for not what they look like but for what they are (Common sense media).

Generally, the G-rated movie Beauty and the Beast is good for children and especially for bigger children although smaller kids can be guided by their parents when watching the movie. The movie is an ultimate makeover with positive language.

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"Beauty and the Beast" Movie Review

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Beauty and the Beast movie review (2017)
This "Beauty" is too often beset by blockbuster bloat. Advertisement. The familiar basics of the plot are the same as Maurice, Belle's father ( Kevin Kline, whose sharp skills as a farceur are barely employed), is imprisoned by the Beast inside his forbidding castle for plucking a rose from his garden and Belle eventually offers to take ...
Beauty and the Beast': Movie Review
Beauty and the Beast': Movie Review. Topic: Cinema Words: 210 Pages: 1. The beautiful, but swaggering Prince Adam was punished for arrogance and exorbitant pride. The sorceress cast a spell on Adam and his entire castle. The handsome Prince turned into a terrible furry monster, and his faithful servants became household items: utensils ...
Disney's Beauty and the Beast Performance Critique Essay (Movie Review)
Many years later, a maiden named Belle (Devin Jennings) gets into his enchanted palace as a prisoner and falls in love with the Beast. However, a hunter from Belles' village named Gaston (Brandon Herron) wants to murder the Beast, but love triumphs and the Beast is converted back to the human body. The environment of the venue may be ...
Beauty And The Beast movie review (1991)
Directed by. Gary Trousdale. Kirk Wise. "Beauty and the Beast" slipped around all my roadblocks and penetrated directly into my strongest childhood memories, in which animation looked more real than live-action features. Watching the movie, I found myself caught up in a direct and joyous way. I wasn't reviewing an "animated film."
Review: 'Beauty and the Beast' Revels in Joy and Enchantment
"Beauty and the Beast" is the live action re-telling of the animated Walt Disney classic. In his review A.O. Scott writes: This live-action/digital hybrid, starring Emma Watson, is more than a ...
Beauty and the Beast movie review (1946)
"Blood of a Poet" was an art film made by a poet. "Beauty and the Beast" was a poetic film made by an artist. He made it at the urging of Marais, his lover of many years, who was tall and imposing, with an extraordinary profile and matinee idol looks--a contrast to the skinny, chain-smoking Cocteau, whose months of shooting the film were made a misery because of a painful skin disease that ...
"Beauty and the Beast" Movie Review: Analysis of Themes and Visuals
Once upon a time in the enchanting world of cinema, a tale as old as time was brought to life on the big screen — Beauty and the Beast. This iconic Disney classic, known for its captivating story, enchanting characters, and memorable musical numbers, has been reimagined in a live-action adaptation that captures the hearts of both new and nostalgic audiences.
Film Review: 'Beauty and the Beast'
Film Review: 'Beauty and the Beast' Disney's live-action remake of its 1991 animated classic, starring Emma Watson as a pitch-perfect Belle, is a sometimes entrancing, sometimes awkward ...
'Beauty and the Beast' Reviews: What the Critics Are Saying
According to early reviews of Disney 's latest edition, which stars Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the title roles, the film has a few thorns and falling petals, which detract from the overall ...
Beauty and the Beast review
T he world's most notorious case of Stockholm syndrome is back in cinemas. Disney now gives us a sprightly, shiny live-action remake of its 1991 animated musical fairytale, Beauty and the Beast ...
Beauty and the Beast Movie Review: A Lifeless Re-creation
Dear Emma Roberts: Let Ryan Murphy Film a Horror Movie in Your Home The number of dolls in Roberts's house is scary and we don't like it. the sign 5:05 p.m. The Non-Parents' Guide to Bluey ...
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a fancy affair, but delivers too little for me to fall in love with. Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 7, 2021. Jordy Sirkin Jordy Reviews It. A tale as old as time ...
Beauty and the Beast
Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/01/22 Full Review Inessa L The film Beauty and the Beast is a fascinating remake of the 2017 musical romantic fantasy genre directed by Bill Condon ...
"Beauty and the Beast" (2017) Review: A Tale as Old as Time Recreated
Beauty and the Beast is a story that everybody knows. Guy gets cursed and turned into a beast, girl meets beast, and—spoiler alert—they fall in love to break the curse. This is a remake of the Disney animated classic from 1991, which was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture. The film featured classic characters such as ...
Disney Movie "Beauty and The Beast"
Disney films present some of the myths of physical appearance in relation to achieving life's desires and wants. For example, in the Beauty and The Beast, it could be interpreted to suggest that ugliness and beauty defines how we live. That is, they portray the need for physical transformation to achieve social status.
Disney's Beauty and The Beast Movie Analysis
Disney's Beauty and The Beast Movie Analysis. Growing up means growing up with stereotypes and gender roles following behind like an annoying friend. They mature, starting from being expected to playing with and nursing dolls, or destroying toys and playing in the mud, and from there never seem to end. As a young child, girls are taught that if ...
'Beauty and The Beast' Film Review
Disney's live-action remake of Beauty And The Beast doesn't need to be dazzlingly original. As we're told in the most famous song it borrows from the 1991 animated film, this is a "tale as ...
Review: Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête, 2014) ★★★½
The Beast's castle looms over the surrounding forest, which teems with mysterious magic, which, though never fully explained, holds up the story, and allows for thrilling chases and climactic confrontations. The CGI, while somewhat cartoonish, is nonetheless impressive and well-executed. One of the principal drawbacks of the film is that we ...
Beauty and the Beast' review by David Wallace Great Movie Essays
"Beauty and the Beast," also frequently referred to as "La Belle et la Bête," expresses Jean Cocteau's appetite to direct a fairy tale movie that would work even better for adults than children, a rare beast among those types of films where singing and dancing are incorporated to attract the younger audience. Cocteau, however, isn't willing to let his surrealist art and poetic visuals do ...
Beauty and the Beast (docx)
Beauty and the Beast 1. Provide a brief description (overview) of the movie. -Beauty and the Beast is a story about a young prince who was cursed into a monster when he turned down an elderly lady due to her "haggard appearance".She elderly lady warned him not to be deceived by appearances for beauty is found within. She then revealed her true form, and she cast a spell transforming him into a ...
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: Related Review Beauty and the Beast 2017
Beauty and the Beast is an entertaining film. It is, for the most part, well cast. Kevin Kline is especially a delight as Belle's father, Maurice, and he and Emma Watson's Belle have a charming chemistry. Characters that are flat in the animated version turn up more round in this one--for example, much ado has been made of the hint that ...
Beauty and the Beast Essay Example
The Movie is very popular especially in American children. The movie was produced in 1991 by Howard Ashman as the executive producer and Don Hahn as the producer (Common sense media). Walt Disney produced the animated movie Beauty and the Beast. The movie is about Belle who is a free-spirited girl residing in a small village with her eccentric ...
Beauty And The Beast Movie Review Essay
Beauty And The Beast Movie Review Essay. 4144. Finished Papers. Johan Wideroos. #17 in Global Rating. Any paper at any academic level. From a high school essay to university term paper or even a PHD thesis.
Beauty And The Beast Movie Review Essay
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