Directed by Bill Condon, Beauty and the Beast successfully lives up to the hype of its predecessor, but is it better?

An intelligent and beautiful girl, Belle (Emma Watson), is taken hostage/prisoner in a monster's castle. Belle and Beast's (Dan Stevens) relationship starts off rocky and hostile but quickly improves as they find out that, despite their looks, they have much in common with each other. As their journey escalates, the two start falling in love as Beast softens up and reveals his true charm to Belle.

Praises

Emma Watson does justice in her portrayal of Belle. I was extremely excited for Emma Watson when she was cast because she was born for this role. She did well to add a new zest to the character of Belle while also staying true to the animated version. Having always been a great actress, Watson proves her dominance on screen whenever she was singing a song. There couldn't have been a more perfectly cast Belle.

Dan Stevens does a great job as Beast. He brings a perfect mix of rage and sorrow to an already broken down and depressed character. Whenever Stevens was on screen, he grasped 100% of my attention. Beast was my favorite character from the animated movie and my love grew stronger for him in the live-action interpretation.

Luke Evans portrays the extremely handsome yet horrible human being, Gaston. Evans steals the show as Gaston as he delivers some of the funniest lines in the movie. Gaston was at his strongest when he was beside his partner in crime, LeFou (Josh Gad). Gad and Evans had tremendous chemistry and did extremely well to bring comedy to the film.

The original songs from the animated movie were translated perfectly to this live-action interpretation. Honestly, they were sung better in this version of Beauty and the Beast.

Polishes

Beauty and the Beast had a run-time of 2 hours and 9 minutes. Having been excited for the extended version, I was disappointed as some scenes felt dragged on and a bit boring. There were too many new songs added that seemed pointless to the plot and got in the way of serious character development. The movie felt like it was 30-40 minutes too long and it would have been better to stay true to the animated movie.

Gaston's death in the animated movie irks me so much, and I hoped that the live-action movie would do him justice with a better death. That wasn't the case, though. The character is presented as an alpha male x100, but his death is so weak and flimsy. The character of Gaston deserves a much more meaningful death and I hoped for it to play out differently.

Verdict

Beauty and the Beast is a very good movie that does well to pay homage to the much stronger animated movie. It was hard to live up to the hype, but it did just that. Although the live-action is not as good as the animated version, it was still amazing and magical. The chemistry between every character on screen was a joy to watch and made the film much more enjoyable. Luke Evans stole the show as he showed his incredible range as an actor, and I can't wait to see more of him.

Awe-Inspiring and Magical - 85%