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Review: Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête, 2014) ★★★½

<p>There have been a number of film adaptations of Gabrielle-Suanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s famous fairy tale&comma; <em>Beauty and the Beast<&sol;em>&period; And though some versions held truer to the original story than others&comma; all of them tell a similar story of Belle&comma; a young and beautiful girl who is forced to stay in the castle of a surly and terrifying Beast who longs for her hand in marriage&period; While Belle initially spurns the Beast’s advances&comma; she eventually comes to care for him&comma; even as she cringes and recoils from his beastly ways&period; When the Beast grants Belle her wish to visit her family on the condition that she returns to him promptly&comma; Belle gladly accepts the proposal&period; However&comma; she is unable to keep her promise&comma; and when she finally does return to the Beast’s side&comma; she finds that he is dying&comma; his heart broken by her absence&period; As Belle professes her love for the Beast&comma; he suddenly regains his strength and is transformed into a handsome prince&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Christophe Gans’ 2014 adaptation holds true to much of the original story&comma; but diverges at times to allow for more thrilling action and fantasy sequences&period; Léa Seydoux &lpar;<em>Blue is the Warmest Color<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Diary of a Chambermaid<&sol;em>&rpar; portrays Belle&comma; and though she has proven to be a very adept and talented actress&comma; her performance as the naïve young girl is underwhelming&period; The Beast is produced using CGI &lpar;and looks something like an upright lion or overgrown housecat&rpar;&comma; and he is voiced by and eventually transforms into Vincent Cassel &lpar;<em>La Haine<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Black Swan<&sol;em>&rpar;&period; The film is marketed for a younger audience&comma; though the writing does little to soften some of the darker themes of the story&period; And even though this is admirable for the sake of authenticity&comma; it doesn’t always work for the sake of modern storytelling&period; There is very little justification for Belle’s sudden change of heart&comma; and her sudden love for the Beast who keeps her locked away under threat of death is rather jarring considering her initial hatred for him&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Despite the apparent gaps in logic&comma; the story flows smoothly&comma; providing a swift and enchanting introduction to the film&colon; it is told as a story within a story&comma; with Belle retelling her experiences to her two young children&period; She reads from a storybook&comma; and this fits well with the film’s whimsical aesthetics&period; Drawings from the book pages transform before our eyes and help enhance the fanciful tone set by Gans’ direction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;829" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-829" style&equals;"width&colon; 714px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-829" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;05&sol;BEAUTY-AND-THE-BEAST-outside-by-lake-Belle-Lea-Seydoux-and-beast-Vincent-Cassel-300x158&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"714" height&equals;"376" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-829" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">With stunning visuals and impressive CGI&comma; Beauty and the Beast is a delight to watch&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Perhaps the greatest part of <em>Beauty and the Beast<&sol;em> is the cinematography&period; As is so often the case with fairy tales&comma; which have been told and retold time and time again&comma; the visual style is what draws the viewer into the story&period; In this respect&comma; <em>Beauty and the Beast<&sol;em> shines&period; We are transported to picturesque cottages with gorgeous landscapes&period; Adorable&comma; wide-eyed creatures skitter around the Beast’s castle and provide a softening touch to an otherwise dreary atmosphere&period; The Beast’s castle looms over the surrounding forest&comma; which teems with mysterious magic&comma; which&comma; though never fully explained&comma; holds up the story&comma; and allows for thrilling chases and climactic confrontations&period; The CGI&comma; while somewhat cartoonish&comma; is nonetheless impressive and well-executed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One of the principal drawbacks of the film is that we are never given a close look at any of the characters&period; They all exist as archetypes rather than unique individuals&comma; and as a result&comma; we are given very little reason to care for their wellbeing&period; It draws the viewer out of the story when the characters are not believable&period; or completely two-dimensional&comma; but this is somewhat forgivable considering it is a fairy tale aimed at a young audience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All in all&comma; Christophe Gans’ version of <em>Beauty and the Beast<&sol;em> is exciting to watch&comma; with enough visual spectacle and charm to make up for the lack of narrative strength&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&half; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Beauty and the Beast<&sol;em> is available to rent or purchase via Amazon <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B06W2M66HF&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B06W2M66HF&amp&semi;linkId&equals;83ab90ccd20dd58205ce7e9d64e3199d">here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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