Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)

Beauty and the Beast is an American live-action fantasy, musical film directed by Bill Condon, and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a remake of the 1991 animated film of the same name and was written by Evan Spiliotopoulos and produced by Mandeville Films.

The script was rewritten by Stephen Chbosky. The film stars Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Prince/Beast. It was released on March 17, 2017.

Summary
“Beauty and the Beast” is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle's enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast's hideous exterior and realize the kind heart and soul of the true Prince within.

Plot
In a vast castle of grandeur, a young Prince is having a party of lovely women as Madame de Garderobe sings. The party is interrupted when an old hag arrives at the palace and offers the prince a rose. However, the Prince declines the rose and the hag transforms herself into an Enchantress. The Prince begs for forgiveness, but the Enchantress does not forgive him and she transforms the Prince into a Beast and all his workers into Enchanted objects, and she removes the villagers' memories of the Prince and the castle. She turns the rose into an enchanted rose, and says that if the Prince hasn't learned to love by the time the last petal falls off the rose, he would be a Beast forever, and the Enchanted objects would become antiques.

Years later, in the village of Villeneuve, a young bookworm inventor named Belle is bored of her village life and seeks excitement. Belle lives with her father Maurice, a tinkerer and a music box maker. One day, Maurice and his horse, Philippe, gets lost in the forest while traveling to a market. While lost in the forest, they enter a part of the forest that is covered in snow and are attacked by wolves, causing them to flee to the Beast's castle. Phillipe escapes the castle when the Beast discovers Maurice taking a rose from the castle's garden for Belle and detains him. Phillipe trots back to the village to find Belle. When Phillipe leads Belle to the castle, she offers to take her father's place; the Beast accepts and sets her father free. Belle is released by the castle's maître'd, Lumière, who was turned into a candelabra as a result of the Enchantress's curse. Belle also meets the other castle residents that were transformed by the curse: the castle's majordomo, Cogsworth, a clock; Mrs. Potts, a teapot; her son Chip, a teacup; court composer, Maestro Cadenza, a harpsichord; Maestro Cadenza's wife who is an opera singer, Madame de Garderobe is a wardrobe; their dog FrouFrou, a footstool; Chapeau, a coatrack; and the maid who is also Lumiere's girlfriend Plumette, a feather duster.

After the staffs offer Belle a meal, she wanders into the forbidden West Wing. The Beast frightens Belle and she flees into the woods and encounters the pack of wolves that chased Maurice earlier. The Beast rescues Belle but he gets injured in the process. He begins to develop feelings for her while she nurses his wounds. The Beast allows Belle access to his library and the two begin to develop feelings for each other. While the Beast has fallen in love with Belle, Belle is uncertain of her feelings due to her imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Maurice returns to Villeneuve but is unable to convince the others to rescue Belle. Gaston, a hunter and former soldier who is trying to woo Belle, agrees to help to earn Maurice's approval, but when Maurice refuses Gaston leaves him in the forest to die. Maurice is rescued by a villager named Agathe and he returns to the village accusing Gaston of attempting to kill him. Gaston convinces the villagers to send Maurice to the town's insane asylum. Using the magic mirror, Belle sees Maurice being captured and the Beast allows her to leave to save him, letting her keep the mirror to see him again. At Villeneuve, Belle rescues Maurice and proves his sanity by showing the Beast with the magic mirror. Realizing that Belle loves the Beast, Gaston puts Bell with her father and convinces the villagers that the Beast is a man-eating monster, leading them to the castle to kill him. However, Maurice and Belle escapes from confinement.

While the villagers are fended off by the servants, Gaston fights the Beast. The Beast initially is too depressed to fight back, but perks up after seeing Belle return to the castle. He corners Gaston and spares his life; however, Gaston shoots the Beast in the back before the footbridge crumbles beneath his feet and he falls to his death. The Beast dies as the last petal falls from the rose and Belle professes her love to him and kisses his forehead. While watching the scene, Agathe reveals herself as the enchantress and undoes the curse, returning the Beast and his servants to their true forms alive and restoring the castle to its former glory. The village inhabitants return to the castle with their memories of it restored, and the Beast and Belle host a ball for the kingdom at which they dance.

Cast

 * Emma Watson as Belle
 * Daisy Duczmal as an infant Belle
 * Dan Stevens as Beast/the Prince
 * Rudi Goodman as young Prince, with Adam Mitchell providing his singing voice
 * Luke Evans as Gaston
 * Kevin Kline as Maurice
 * Jolyon Coy as young Maurice
 * Josh Gad as LeFou
 * Ewan McGregor as Lumière
 * Ian McKellen as Cogsworth
 * Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts
 * Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza
 * Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe
 * Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette
 * Nathan Mack as Chip
 * Thomas Padden as Chapeau
 * Gizmo as FrouFrou
 * Clive Rowe as Cuisinier
 * Adrian Schiller as Monsieur D'Arque
 * Sohpie Reid, Rafaëlle Cohen and Carla Nella as the Village Lasses
 * Hattie Morahan as Agathe/The Enchantress
 * Zoe Rainey as Belle's Mother
 * Gerard Horan as Monsieur Jean Potts
 * Henry Garrett as the King
 * Harriet Jones as the Queen
 * Ray Fearon as Père Robert

Development
Development of the film began on April 2014. By June 2014, Bill Condon was signed to direct the film, with a script by Evan Spiliotopoulos. Later in September 2014, Stephen Chbosky was hired to re-write the script.

Casting
Emma Watson was announced as the lead role as Belle in January 2015, Two months later, in March of 2015, actors Luke Evans and Dan Stevens were revealed to be in talks to play Gaston and the Beast respectively in the film. Josh Gad was confirmed to play LeFou in the film. Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Ian McKellen, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci also joined the cast in March of 2015.

Filming
Filming began on May 18, 2015 and ended on August 21, 2015. Six days later, it was announced that the film had officially wrapped up production.

Music
The soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on March 10, 2017.

Reception
The film has received a negative-to-positive reception when it came out, with praise directed toward the setting, costumes, and songs, but criticism towards the story, cast, acting, CGI, and Condon's direction. The film has a current rating of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 196 reviews.

Emma Watson's and Josh Gad's portrayals as Belle and Lefou have been met with both praise and criticism.

Many Christians are boycotting the film due to the character of LeFou being a confused homosexual/bisexual, saying that making him that way confuses children. A drive-in movie theater owner in Henegar, Alabama is refusing to screen the film due to her Christian beliefs, and the film is banned in Malaysia. Russia has also declared that no one under the age of 16 is allowed to see the film.

The hashtags "#BoycottDisney" and "#BoycottBeautyAndTheBeast" are currently trending on Twitter as well.

Differences from the 1991 Film

 * The Enchantress plays a much larger role in the 2017 film.
 * Unlike the animated film, Maurice is an artist and a music box maker rather than an inventor. Belle is an inventor instead.
 * Belle's backstory is explained in the film. This reveals why she and her father moved to a small town, and what happened to her mother.
 * Aside from Belle, the Beast's backstory is also explained, revealing just how he became heartless towards the people.
 * Revealing that the Beast had expensive education when he was young, he has much more intellect in the 2017 film.
 * The lyrics to the song "Gaston" are altered for the live-action movie.
 * Belle and the Beast don't eat dinner before dancing.
 * Lumiere and Cogsworth get along much better in the 2017 film.
 * Belle is much more proactive in the 2017 film - attempting to escape the castle and having much more involvement during the battle between the Beast and Gaston.
 * Mrs. Potts is the one who confirms the Beast's love for Belle, instead of the Beast himself.
 * Cadenza is a new character added for the 2017 film. He is the husband of the wardrobe.
 * Sultan is renamed Froufrou in the 2017 film.
 * Chip is an only child of Mrs. Potts. In the animated film, Chip had brothers and sisters who were minor characters.
 * Unlike the animated film, the Enchantress gave the Beast not only the enchanted rose and the mirror, but also a book that enables him to transport to a particular place.
 * Chef Bouche is renamed Cuisinier in this film.
 * Whenever a petal falls, parts of the castle will collapse and the staff gradually lose their humanity, becoming more inanimate over time. This was not present in the animated film.
 * Maurice is imprisoned in the castle only because of the rose he picked for Belle. This is a similar scene from the original fairy tale.
 * Belle does not take off the glass cover of the bell-jar when the Beast caught her.
 * LeFou is taller in this film. He was not bisexual in the original (however, he dances with a woman at the end, only to get accidentally paired up with a man when it comes time to change dance partners; the two look at each other in shock and are not seen again after this).
 * Unlike the original film, LeFou reforms at the end when he feels betrays after Gaston leaves him to be beaten by the enchanted objects, while Gaston leaves to find and kill the Beast during the battle.
 * Gaston has a mustache in this film. He is also known for being a soldier who fought during the war, rather than as just a hunter.
 * The Beast does not take Belle to her bedroom. Lumiere takes her instead.
 * Fifi is renamed Plumette in the 2017 film.
 * In the 2017 film, Gaston shoots the Beast using a pistol instead of an arrow. And before his death, Gaston shoots the Beast in the back with his pistol instead of stabbing him with a dagger.
 * The Enchantress appears to revive the Beast and reverse the curse she planted on him, watching as Belle tearfully confesses her true feelings. She does not, however, reveal herself to Belle nor speak to her. She doesn't actually speak in the film at all (aside from the opening narration) she remained a silent role, like in the animated film.
 * Majority of the characters' physical appearance as the enchanted objects inside the castle are changed: Mrs Potts' face is now on the right side of the teapot instead of at the spout; Lumiere somewhat appears to be a golden sculptured human figure candlestick but when he transforms, his figure of a candlestick with three branches still remains; Madame de Garderobe's face is inside the wardrobe instead of on the top; and Plumette resembles a miniature peacock rather than an ordinary feather duster.
 * During "Something There", Belle and the Beast actually sing, unlike in the animated film, where their singing voices are only non-diegetic during the scene.
 * In the 2017 film, Gaston falls to his death when the footbridge on which he was standing breaks apart.
 * In the 2017 film, Gaston plans to murder Maurice when he reveals that Gaston will never marry Belle. As a result, he ties Maurice up to a tree, hoping for the wolves to devour him.
 * Maurice has a much bigger role than in the animated film.
 * Belle does not save Maurice. Instead, it is the Enchantress, under the guise Agatha.
 * Chip doesn't use a wood chopper to save Belle and Maurice; rather Maurice uses something long and pointy to unlock the lock on the wagon.
 * Chip doesn't go with Belle when the Beast lets her go.
 * When the servants are revived as humans, Cogsworth's human name, Henri, is revealed by his wife.
 * Belle rejects Gaston's marriage proposal and sings the reprise of "Belle" before Maurice gets lost in the woods.
 * When Maurice enters the castle, he doesn't interact with the Beast's servants, except for Chip, who scares him away when he speaks in front of him.
 * Mrs. Potts' husband is revealed to still be alive.
 * Monsieur D'Arque has a less, yet shorter defined, role. He only appears briefly during the scene when he commandeers a prison carriage containing Maurice was heading towards the asylum, only to be stopped by Belle as he dismounts and goes towards the back of the carriage, subtly replying to her that they will "take good care of him" upon latter's urging to release Maurice. He is seen padlocking the carriage as he moves back towards the carriage while the townsfolk musters its forces on their march towards the castle. He later serves as a guard in watching the detained Maurice and Belle, only for the latter to escape. Upon seeing the carriage empty, Monsieur D'Arque is stunned when Maurice hands over the unlocked padlock to him, and they watch Belle return to the Beast's castle on horseback. The scene in a tavern involving Gaston bribing Monsieur D'Arque with a sack of money and detailing his plan of marriage to Belle is notably absent.
 * Unlike the animated film, the Bimbettes also participate in "The Mob Song" and the castle fight.
 * The Bimbettes are portrayed as brunettes in this film.
 * LeFou redeems himself after Gaston betrays him by using him as a human shield to defend himself from the Beast's servants.

International Premieres

 * February 23, 2017 (London)
 * March 16, 2017 (Albania, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Republic of Korea, Croatia, Italy, Cambodia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Serbia, Taiwan)
 * March 17, 2017 (Bulgaria, Canada, China, Estonia, Spain, Finland, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, USA, Vietnam)
 * March 22, 2017 (France)
 * March 23, 2017 (Australia, Argentina, Hungary, Israel)
 * March 29, 2017 (Belgium, Netherlands)
 * March 30, 2017 (Chile)
 * April 14, 2017 (South Africa)
 * April 21, 2017 (Japan)

Trivia

 * This is the first live-action adaptation of a Walt Disney Animation Studios movie that is from the Disney Renaissance.
 * Cadenza is a new character created for this remake. He is the husband of the Wardrobe who was transformed into a harpsichord and got separated from his wife while the castle was under its spell.
 * This is Kevin Kline's first role for a Disney film since he played Phoebus in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Hunchback of Notre Dame II.
 * Filming began in Surrey, England on May 18, 2015 and was completed on August 27.
 * Bill Condon had actors sing The Lion King 's "Hakuna Matata" at the auditions to measure their singing voices. This was how he chose the final cast for this film.
 * This is the eighth of many live-action re-imaginings of Disney animated films released in the 20th and 21st centuries, following Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story, Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book and Pete's Dragon. Many others are in development.
 * The teaser includes the opening music from the animated film and a piano sample of the title song.
 * Three new songs were written and composed for the film, in addition to the original songs featured in the animated version.
 * This is the fourth time that Emma Thompson does a role for a Disney film after playing Captain Amelia in Treasure Planet, Queen Elinor in Brave and P. L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks.
 * This is the second movie collaboration between Emma Watson, Stanley Tucci and Kevin Kline following The Tales of Despereaux. Tucci and Kline previously worked in the 1999 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
 * This is the fourth movie collaboration between Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci following Jack the Giant Slayer, Robots and A Life Less Ordinary.
 * Ewan McGregor and Emma Thompson previously worked in the Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang.
 * Actors Luke Evans who played Gaston and Ian McKellen who played Cogsworth, previously collaborated in The Hobbit trilogy, in which Evans played as the bowman called Bard while McKellen played as the wizard called Gandalf but their characters did not interact until the finale of the trilogy.
 * Actors Stanley Tucci who played Cadenza and Dan Stevens who played the Beast previously worked together in Bill Condon's thriller film The Fifth Estate.
 * Actresses Emma Watson who played Belle and Emma Thompson who played Mrs. Potts, previously worked in the Harry Potter franchise as Hermione Granger and Sybill Trelawney respectively.
 * The production cultivated a total of 1500 "enchanted" roses for the movie.
 * All the wardrobe was made of sustainable materials friendly with the average environment.
 * Interestingly, the actors Emma Watson (Belle), Luke Evans (Gaston), Emma Thompson (Mrs Potts) and Nathan Mack (Chip) share the same birth date, April 15th.
 * Emma Watson reveals she wanted to play Belle instead of Cinderella, explaining that her personality associated much more with the former than the latter.
 * The name of the village, Villeneuve, is a reference to Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, who was the original author of the book Beauty and the Beast or "La Belle et la Bête " that was first published in the mid-1700's.
 * Unlike the past three live-action remakes (Maleficent, Cinderella and The Jungle Book), this remake has no characters that were good in their debut, but changed into villains in the remake (King Stefan for Maleficent, the Grand Duke for Cinderella, and King Louie for The Jungle Book). All of the characters that were good in the animated version of their debut were also good in the remake.
 * The line where Belle suggests that the Prince should grow his beard was originally an idea from Paige O'Hara when recording for the animated film, then eventually cut.
 * Also unlike the past two live-action remakes of Disney Movies, there is no gender difference in any character in this remake (Jaq is a male mouse in the animated Cinderella film, but is female in the live-action remake of Cinderella and Kaa is a male snake in the animated version of The Jungle Book, but the snake is female in the live-action remake of The Jungle Book).