re: Beauty and the Beast thoughts and discussions

Saw it tonight. Not reading this whole thread.

1) Belle wasn't terrible, but as soon as she sang she seemed to be in a different production of the movie. Everyone else is belting out their songs, she's singing like a little girl looking in the mirror.

2) The beast was actually an improvement from the cartoon. They gave him a lot more to do and better lines. Stevens did a great job and the animators did a fantastic job of bringing his expressions through.

3) Gaston was spot-on. Best thing in the movie.

4) LeFou was gay. Not sure why. It wasn't an improvement from the original characterization. They added a ton of new characters, any of which could've been gay. It was a big letdown for me. LeFou was a favorite character in the original.

5) Kevin Kline could read the phone book and entertain me. He's awesome.

6) The enchanted staff weren't that impressive. I particularly missed Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury. Zero great performances there. And when they turn human at the end, they're mostly creepy as frick.

7) The CGI was good, but the direction of the animation was sub-par. There was really no magic in the "Be Our Guest" number. Too many cuts and tight shots. The original is way better when it comes to the scenery.

Good but not great movie. Stevens and Luke Evans were the standouts. Gad could've been a great LeFou (If he was stupid and goofy instead of gay.)