My thoughts on Gaston

The New Movie (pt 2)

I have to admit, while I did find fault with the new Beauty and The Beast movie, there were some enjoyable moments. 

I found the new songs to be a delight, especially Evermore. The actor who plays the beast (whose name I have since forgotten) is a remarkable singer, and a pretty good actor too. His voice was actually pretty close to the original voice actor. 

I think the man who played Lumier's accent is a little too obviously fake. The original actor was American as well (and played the villain in Aladdin 3), but he pulled off the French accent very closely. 

Cogsworth was a bit of a downer. The animated version had a lot of energy, and you could see how much BS he had to put up with everyday which made him so grumpy. This version however, it just felt like he was grumpy for no reason.

The CGI did have it's good moments, and the characters did look like they were really there. However The Beast looked like he was made of straw, and had a very flat face. I think they were trying to make him look more human, but you should either make him entirely human, or entirely animal. If you do it halfway it looks fake and little disturbing. 

The same with all the other characters. Lumier's human face on a candle was a bit creepy, Mrs Potts was downright terrifying, and while I did like Cogworth's design, he did look out of place as he was one of the only characters without a human face.

The duster was actually okay. I don't understand why they made her a swan, or why they changed her name from Babette to Fifi. 

The outfits were all a bit goofy. The ones of the townsfolk looked a bit too brightly coloured, and like something you'd find in a costume shop. 

History fact: in Belle's time, dyes were very expensive and made from ground-up flowers and stones, so only the richest could wear them. Everyone else could only wear browns and greens. And I think it's more acceptable in a cartoon because, well, it's a cartoon. There's more you can get away with. It's making a world that you can be sucked into, and is an escape from your life.

But in a live-action movie you're being constantly reminded that this isn't real, this isn't accurate, this could never happen at that time. It's a remake of an old movie, set in our universe, so you feel more inclined to notice what they did wrong.

Emma Watson is not the best choice for Belle. The director said that they knew immediately that he wanted Emma for that role, but I think he should have at least tried someone else. She seems to have almost as little emotion at all. That scene where she and the Beast are dancing together for example: 

In the original they both have happy smiles on their faces. He is very nervous, but slowly gets more into things as they continue. She is looking at him very lovingly, almost encouragingly, because he's finally opened up to her and not being a huge dick like he was at the beginning of the movie.

While the interaction between the Beast and Belle is longer in the new movie, in that scene of them dancing they both have completely expressionless faces.