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, an inventor and tinkerer. 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 abandons Maurice when the Beast discovers him taking a rose from the castle's garden 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, Lumiere, 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; 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 a pack of wolves. 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 convinces the villagers that the Beast is a man-eating monster and leads 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. 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
 * Dan Stevens as Beast/the Prince
 * Luke Evans as Gaston
 * Kevin Kline as 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
 * Adrian Schiller as Monsieur D'Arque
 * 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 mixed-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 71% 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, less defined, role in the 2017 film.
 * Unlike the animated film, Maurice was an artist rather than an inventor. Instead, Belle is now an inventor.
 * Belle's backstory was explained on the film. This reveals why she and her father moved to a small town.
 * Aside from Belle, the Beast's backstory was also explained on how he became heartless towards the people.
 * Lumiere and Cogsworth get along much more in this film.
 * Mrs. Potts was the one who confirmed the Beast's love for Belle, instead of the Beast himself.
 * Cadenza was a new character added for the 2017 film. He is the husband of the wardrobe.
 * Sultan is renamed as Fru Fru in the 2017 film.
 * Chip was 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 on a particular place.
 * Whenever a petal falls, parts of the castle will collapse and the staff gradually lose their humanity and become more inanimate. This is not present in the animated film.
 * Maurice was imprisoned in the castle only because of the rose he picked for Belle. This is a similar scene from the original fairy tale.
 * Belle did not take off the glass cover of the bell-jar when the Beast caught her.
 * LeFou was 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 reformed at the end when he felt betrayed after Gaston left him to be beaten by the enchanted objects while Gaston left to find and kill the Beast during the battle.
 * Gaston was not muscular and had a mustache in this film. He was also known for being a soldier who fought during the war rather than just a hunter.
 * The Beast did not take Belle to a bedroom but it was Lumiere instead.
 * Fifi is renamed as Plumette in the 2017 film.
 * In the 2017 film, Gaston shot the Beast using a pistol instead of an arrow. And before his death, Gaston shot 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, she remained a silent role, like in the animated film)
 * Majority of the characters' physical appearance as the enchanted objects inside the castle were changed: Mrs Potts' face was 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 was inside the wardrobe instead on the top and Plumette resembles a miniature swan rather than an ordinary feather duster.
 * During "Something There," Belle and the Beast did sing unlike in the animated film where their singing voices are only non-dietetic during the scene.
 * In the 2017 film, Gaston falls to his death when a footbridge in which he was standing breaks apart.
 * In the 2017 film, Gaston was planning 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 did not save Maurice but it was the Enchantress, under the guise Agathe, instead.
 * Chip didn't use a wood chopper to save Belle and Maurice, rather Maurice uses something long and pointy to unlock the lock on the wagon.
 * When the servants are revived as humans, Cogsworth's human name, Henri, is revealed by a female villager who recognized her husband.

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 (Belle) and Emma Thompson (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.
 * 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.