Publicity surrounding Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast continues apace, ahead of the movie's springtime release. While it seemed that for a long time we got nothing, the House of Mouse have stepped up the marketing in recent weeks, culminating in a new TV spot which aired during the Golden Globes. The short trailer gave our second listen to Emma Watson's vocals, as Belle, and glimpses of new footage, once again in keeping with the original animated movie.
With Beauty and the Beast being one of the most anticipated movies of 2017, not to mention one of the most talked about, the two central characters - Belle and the Beast - feature on the cover of Total Film Magazine's latest issue - which covers several major 2017 movie releases.
The full picture can be viewed, below:
Watson, as ever, looks like the picture perfect Disney Princess; the essence of all things Disney tries to convey in their female characters. While they have often fallen short, they do seem to be making a concerted effort to paint Watson's Belle as a strong, independent, intelligent woman. She might be a dreamer, and she might fall in love, but her spirit remains. The 1991 animated movie has since drawn criticism in some circles for having Belle 'surrender' to the Beast, as it were, but it was of its time, and Belle back then still showed defiance and tenacity. This version of Beauty and the Beast, as the Total Film cover says, is darker, smarter, more relevant than ever before.
Beauty and the Beast must walk a fine line between successfully paying homage to the much loved original and bringing something new to the screen. This will come in part with new songs from Alan Menken, and the expansion of characters such as Plumette (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Garderobe (Audra McDonald), as well as the introduction of new characters such as Cadenza (Stanley Tucci), a singing piano. However, perhaps the hardest task Beauty and the Beast must overcome is to convince everyone that the CGI enchanted household staff, as well as the Beast himself, are endearing characters worth caring about. Thus far, the main criticism of the movie has come from the appearance of characters such as Lumiere and Cogsworth, who look more realistic than their animated counterparts and therefore not as instantly lovable.
Hopefully that will come, though, since it really does appear as though Disney and director Bill Condon have really put a vast amount of effort into this reimagining. The cast list is superb, and Watson's vocals are pleasant enough, if not altogether outstanding. The music is, of course, a massive pull for fans, and the rest of the cast should deliver just as nicely, so let's hope the movie can manage to deliver the perfect package.
Source: Total Film
