Cinema Report #18 - La belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast)
I watched this one right before I went on a holiday in France, which was fitting since this was basically a French production.
The fairy tale itself is, of course, of French origin, so it was very fitting that they should dare to create a new version of it. And a new version it is - although there are also some classic scenes (snow storm, roaring beast, special rose, enchanted castle, Belle visiting sick father and being delayed on her journey back to the beast etc..). This time, we get two love stories for the price of one, because we learn how the prince became the beast, the curse has a whole new reason and the ending is kind of unexpected.
The concept actually was quite good. We have the classic situation that Belle explores the enchanted castle after getting spooked by the beast, yet instead of just finding the first hints of his curse and how to break it, she finds a magical mirror that gives her a glimpse of the past. The prince was, as usual, rather arrogant (Vincent Cassel is very good at that) - but he also had a lover and a whole court of friends. Unknown to him, but it soon becomes obvious for the audience, his beloved is a magical creature which he tries to hunt when she’s in animal-form. Apparently, she really wants Belle to know and understand her tale, so she visits the new woman in the beast’s life in her dreams and so we get back-flashes that tell this other tale at a nice pace. Although not very surprising, it’s still rather sad when the prince kills the magical creature and thus his beloved who is also pregnant with his heir at that time. For Belle, this whole back-story serves to make the beast appear more sympathetic - although only barely, because it still has to work on its manners and his rather crude idea of courtship.
What surprised and impressed me most were the rather good special effects. The beast was beautifully designed, as was the enchanted forest and the whole castle and its grounds. There were gigantic and quite frightening stone statues that fought against the evil guys. The former dogs of the castle were incredibly cute creatures (although they didn’t really have any purpose). All the sets simply looked amazing.
There were odd things, too, of course. For example, Belle’s extravagant dresses and the beast’s cloak, which seemed to have a life of its own.
After a whirlwind of colours and two and a half story-lines, the ending seemed rather underwhelming. On the other hand, all survivors seemed to be happy.
The fairy tale itself is, of course, of French origin, so it was very fitting that they should dare to create a new version of it. And a new version it is - although there are also some classic scenes (snow storm, roaring beast, special rose, enchanted castle, Belle visiting sick father and being delayed on her journey back to the beast etc..). This time, we get two love stories for the price of one, because we learn how the prince became the beast, the curse has a whole new reason and the ending is kind of unexpected.
The concept actually was quite good. We have the classic situation that Belle explores the enchanted castle after getting spooked by the beast, yet instead of just finding the first hints of his curse and how to break it, she finds a magical mirror that gives her a glimpse of the past. The prince was, as usual, rather arrogant (Vincent Cassel is very good at that) - but he also had a lover and a whole court of friends. Unknown to him, but it soon becomes obvious for the audience, his beloved is a magical creature which he tries to hunt when she’s in animal-form. Apparently, she really wants Belle to know and understand her tale, so she visits the new woman in the beast’s life in her dreams and so we get back-flashes that tell this other tale at a nice pace. Although not very surprising, it’s still rather sad when the prince kills the magical creature and thus his beloved who is also pregnant with his heir at that time. For Belle, this whole back-story serves to make the beast appear more sympathetic - although only barely, because it still has to work on its manners and his rather crude idea of courtship.
What surprised and impressed me most were the rather good special effects. The beast was beautifully designed, as was the enchanted forest and the whole castle and its grounds. There were gigantic and quite frightening stone statues that fought against the evil guys. The former dogs of the castle were incredibly cute creatures (although they didn’t really have any purpose). All the sets simply looked amazing.
There were odd things, too, of course. For example, Belle’s extravagant dresses and the beast’s cloak, which seemed to have a life of its own.
After a whirlwind of colours and two and a half story-lines, the ending seemed rather underwhelming. On the other hand, all survivors seemed to be happy.