Beauty and the Beast (2017)

[Dejana]

A movie tie-in singing Belle doll hit toy shelves, so a brief clip of Emma singing "Something There" has leaked. Given the source it's not studio quality but a  producer confirms it's her voice. There are slightly longer clips on Youtube, though I'm not sure how long they will remain up.

[Spartan Girl]

She sounds pretty good!

[Spartan Girl]

Longer look at Emma singing in new TV spot:

 

Disney can just take my money now. She might not be Paige O'Hara, but Emma sounds lovely. Can't freaking wait for Be Our Guest!

[JessePinkman]

She sounds...awful to me. Like ear-piercingly awful. Yikes.

And would it have killed them to put her on an actual hill?

Edited January 9, 2017 by JessePinkman

[questionfear]

I am ridiculously excited for this movie. It's my favorite disney move for a number of reasons:

1) Brown haired nerdy girl who loves books is the protaganist.

2) She doesn't want the conventional love interest, and falls for someone taboo.

3) She stands up against an angry village that doesn't like that there's something different about her and the beast.

Yes, there's also the argument that the whole thing is stockholm syndrome, but just seeing those three themes I outlined above in a movie was amazing when i was a kid. I knew I was different, I didn't know I was a big old lesbian until much older, but I totally had a huge crush on Belle-she was pretty, stood up for herself, and read books! 

[Trini]

So... is the story not set in (fictional, magical) France anymore? Nearly everyone seems to have English accents.

[Spartan Girl]

4 hours ago, Trini said:

So... is the story not set in (fictional, magical) France anymore? Nearly everyone seems to have English accents.

Well, aside from Lumiere, all the characters in the cartoon had American accents.

[ruby24]

Well, Mrs. Potts was British, so was the asylum guy (voiced by Tony Jay). People for the most part just spoke in their own accent. I don't know why everyone has to be British in this one.

[Bill1978]

I'm still not convinced that Emma Watson is the best person to be the singing voice of Belle after watching that TV clip. If the people behind the Broadway production of Anastasia can find someone who sounds like Liz Callaway (singing voice of Anastasia) for their little production, surely Disney could have found someone who sounded more like original Paige O'Hara when they sang. Or at least emote and hold notes for a decent length when singing.

In other music news, seems Ariana Grande and John Legend are being given the privilege of interpreting the title track for the credits.

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/802459-ariana-grande-and-john-legend-to-perform-beauty-and-the-beast-title-track

Maybe it's my own fault for holding the music of the original in high regards, but nearly everything musically related to this project is disappointing me. I hope John and Ariana prove me wrong. The only positive has been the lushes of the new orchestrations of the original score heard in the first trailer.

On ‎10‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 8:51 AM, Trini said:

Nearly everyone seems to have English accents

I'm so slow that I didn't even click that Belle having an English accent is 'wrong' until the TV spot.

My sister-in-law is French and I asked her if it annoys her in movies like Beauty and The Beast where everyone has an American accent but one character has the token French accent. She said she honestly doesn't here any accents, to her they all sound the same. Which I thought was interesting. I was hoping for a little tirade, cause it annoyed me when I did an amateur production of the Broadway production and we were made to speak with American accents (I'm Australian), it made no sense to me.

[Trini]

I mean, I don't really care where it's set because it's a fairy tale, and yes, the animated film had accents from everywhere; but the original did state outright that they are in France. I'm hoping that this re-make makes an effort to makes things consistent -- whereever they are.

[Bill1978]

If it's not in France they have to change Lumiere's line in Be Our Guest. Somehow the line doesn't have the same ring to it if he sings 'After all miss, this is England' LOL. And the Belle number just sounds stupid if the characters say 'Hello, hello hello hello hello' at the start. So this version has to be set in France...surely.

[Dejana]

22 hours ago, Bill1978 said:

In other music news, seems Ariana Grande and John Legend are being given the privilege of interpreting the title track for the credits.

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/802459-ariana-grande-and-john-legend-to-perform-beauty-and-the-beast-title-track

Maybe it's my own fault for holding the music of the original in high regards, but nearly everything musically related to this project is disappointing me. I hope John and Ariana prove me wrong. The only positive has been the lushes of the new orchestrations of the original score heard in the first trailer.

I'm so slow that I didn't even click that Belle having an English accent is 'wrong' until the TV spot.

My sister-in-law is French and I asked her if it annoys her in movies like Beauty and The Beast where everyone has an American accent but one character has the token French accent. She said she honestly doesn't here any accents, to her they all sound the same. Which I thought was interesting. I was hoping for a little tirade, cause it annoyed me when I did an amateur production of the Broadway production and we were made to speak with American accents (I'm Australian), it made no sense to me.

If the movie were being realistic (obviously it's a fictional fantasy with talking objects), wouldn't the French characters would be speaking French anyway? Of course Disney is never going to make a big budget remake of BatB in French, with native French speakers. I get the argument for consistency, but OTOH I can understand the logic of not extending the artifice even further, even if it leads to everyone having different accents instead of them all speaking in some sort of uniform (but totally unnatural) English-accented French. When American movies or shows are dubbed for overseas markets, I think they just get local talent, without instructing the actors to speak American-accented Spanish/German/Japanese/etc.

Ariana and John Legend are doing their spin on the Celine Dion/Peabo Bryson version probably:

Edited January 14, 2017 by Dejana

[vibeology]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 11:39 AM, JessePinkman said:

She sounds...awful to me. Like ear-piercingly awful. Yikes.

And would it have killed them to put her on an actual hill?

I'm with you. It's so easy to hear all the places her voice is being "helped" along by the computer to the point that it barely sounds human. Plus, she isn't much for interpreting the lyrics or holding a note. Belle has to be able to sing because she says so much in song and her words are one of the best ways the film shows us that Belle is smart rather than just tell us it's so.

[Bill1978]

Well this was an unexpected but pleasant surprise I stumbled across today.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/celine-dion-will-perform-an-original-song-disneys-beauty-beast-966030

[Spartan Girl]

Final trailer:

 

 

Whoa so the servants tell Belle about the curse?! Don't know how I feel about that, nor do I know what to feel about the new version of the song. Whatever. Everything else looks so awesome. Gaston admiring himself in the mirror was so perfectly in character.

[SnoGirl]

This feels really dumb to say considering I practically have the animated version memorized, but I feel like this final trailer shows so much, almost too much. 

I'm trying super hard to not get hyped up about this movie. Whenever I do, I just get disappointed. But I just love Beauty and the Beast, man I hope its good.

[starri]

Yeah, I'm totally there.

I kind of need things to make me keep going right now.  This is going to be one of them.

[Bill1978]

I use to be critical of people who use to complain about how some movie has totally changed this and that about the source material. Or a TV show has gone of track from its source material etc. But I am now finally understanding what 'those' people have been experiencing. Every new thing with this movie I see and hear has mean creeping closer to a corner to rick back and forth muttering 'No. no, no' And I know they are stupid trivial things that really shouldn't matter. But that new trailer bought out some issues such as Belle's house isn't in the middle of the town, it's on the edge cause she is an outsider. Why is there a scene with her reading a book to a little girl, Belle is a loner and misunderstood, no one reads with her except the sheep (I can assume what the actual scene in the movie is doing, but still....)

And after listening to the Ariana/John duet of Beauty and the Beast, I think it may sum up my feelings of the movie. It will start off good, then go bizarre ot seem fresh and modern, swerve back into good and then finish with a less enthusiastic ending than the original.

The soundtrack is available for pre-order with full track listing, so you can find out names of all the new songs. And the racklisting for an all new Menken score (really not sure how I will feel about that to be honest). Apart from the new Celine Dion song

Spoiler

Which is an interpretation of a Maurice song that gets a Belle Reprise

, we also get Josh Groban interpreting a song

Spoiler

the new Beast song

Even with my concerns, I will probably see this in the cinema even if its only to make sure the special effects look good on the big screen, cause man there seems to be some crappinessw hen viewed on a small screen.

[Mom x 3]

On January 30, 2017 at 9:02 PM, SnoGirl said:

This feels really dumb to say considering I practically have the animated version memorized, but I feel like this final trailer shows so much, almost too much. 

I'm trying super hard to not get hyped up about this movie. Whenever I do, I just get disappointed. But I just love Beauty and the Beast, man I hope its good.

Hey, at least we know it will be better than the poorly written, useless and idiotic Belle from Once Upon a Time.  

[Spartan Girl]

9 hours ago, Mom x 3 said:

Hey, at least we know it will be better than the poorly written, useless and idiotic Belle from Once Upon a Time.  

Yeah, ANYTHING will be better than that trainwreck.

Oh, and from what I've read, even though the servants tell Belle about the curse, they don't tell her how he's supposed to break it. So I guess it's all good. I don't mind little changes and add-ones as long as it's true to the original in general.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Just thought I'd share this awesome article that's sure to make any Belle fan scream "F*** YEAH!"

[GHScorpiosRule]

I HATE the Hard Rock music they're playing on the teevee promoting the movie. It's at odds with when this movie takes place.  Ugh. ? 

[Spartan Girl]

Awesome article. But I don't really mind if the live-action expands Belle's character (and why the villagers don't like her). Sure, they don't need the washing machine metaphor, but giving her more to do in this movie isn't a bad thing. 

[BatmanBeatles]

So Belle is more or less Violet Baudelaire in this movie.

[GHScorpiosRule]

23 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Just thought I'd share this awesome article that's sure to make any Belle fan scream "F*** YEAH!"

Okay, maybe it's the meds I'm on, but can someone explain to me like I'm 10, how this article is awesome? The author's favorite movie was Hunchback, which was a movie I could barely get through, though I love the story. And I guess Belle is

ostracized in this movie

because she certainly wasn't in the animated version.

I'm truly confused. And Belle is my favorite-we both love books!!! But that's only part of why I love her so much! And I just realized who is playing Beast/Prince! I've never heard of him and then earlier this month, while recovering (and still), watched all seasons of Downton Abbey.

[Spartan Girl]

Belle and her dad were looked down upon in the original, though not flat-out ostracized. At least not until the mob tried to lock Maurice in the asylum.

[Splishy Splashy]

I am so looking forward to this movie so much. I really think Emma Watson is going to do a wonderful job. So many people have been saying she can't sing, but from what i have heard she is pretty good. She certainly looks like Belle and she is a fantastic actress.

[irisheyes]

It's been a great year so far for movies. Saw Hidden Figures in January, Lego Batman yesterday, but this. . . I can't wait for this. The next month will drag. Planning to be there with my nine year old and five year old on opening night!

[GHScorpiosRule]

Stupid Cancer.??is preventing me from seeing this on opening night! I'll be recovering from surgery, doped up on the GOOD drugs instead. Dammit.

I'm hoping that it will be a monstrous hit (but selfishly not as huge as the original Disney animated one), so that it will still be in the theatres a month after its release so I can see it on the Mongo screen!!!

[Sara2009]

15 hours ago, Splishy Splashy said:

I am so looking forward to this movie so much. I really think Emma Watson is going to do a wonderful job. So many people have been saying she can't sing, but from what i have heard she is pretty good. She certainly looks like Belle and she is a fantastic actress.

 I think Emma Watson sounds fine too. She's no Paige O'Hara, but she can carry a tune.

[Splishy Splashy]

58 minutes ago, Sara2009 said:

 I think Emma Watson sounds fine too. She's no Paige O'Hara, but she can carry a tune.

Of course she is not Paige O' Hara and I think that is great. She needs to make it her own and she will do just that and rock it as well.

[Spartan Girl]

@GHScorpiosRule you are in my thought and prayers.

[Splishy Splashy]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Stupid Cancer.??is preventing me from seeing this on opening night! I'll be recovering from surgery, doped up on the GOOD drugs instead. Dammit.

I'm hoping that it will be a monstrous hit (but selfishly not as huge as the original Disney animated one), so that it will still be in the theatres a month after its release so I can see it on the Mongo screen!!!

Good Luck with your surgery and prayers for you.

[Spartan Girl]

First look at "Belle"!

[bmoore4026]

On 1/9/2017 at 9:36 PM, ruby24 said:

I don't know why everyone has to be British in this one.

Disney and Great Britain have some sort of movie partnership going?  All I know is, if they remake Robin Hood, and there aren't Americans in the supporting roles, I'm going to be pissed.  It was one of the animated movie's charms.

The whole "Belle has Stockholm Syndrome" pisses me off, and this movie has just stirred that right to the surface again.  Stupid overthinking hipsters ruining things >:(

[Spartan Girl]

6 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

The whole "Belle has Stockholm Syndrome" pisses me off, and this movie has just stirred that right to the surface again.  Stupid overthinking hipsters ruining things >:(

Emma Watson demolished that in an interview:

[bmoore4026]

10 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Emma Watson demolished that in an interview:

 

Good.  Shoot down that crap, Hermione!

[Spartan Girl]

Opinion on her singing may be divided, but she definitely has the character of Belle down.

[Conotocarious]

I like her a lot but I haven't been too impressed with the short singing clips that have been released. It has no life at all. It's hard to describe, the animated one was bursting with life. You can almost feel the energy leaping off the cell.

One of my good friends is an animator (not for Disney) and he used to send me stills of the animated Beauty and the Beast and point out all the flaws in the shots....illustrating why he considered the whole movie a bit slapdash. It's true it was made in 2.5 years while most animated features take around four years. But the story and the characters and the life it had were what made it great, not the tiny cleanup details in each frame. We were always arguing about that.

[JustaPerson]

[Spartan Girl]

Josh Gad is perfect as LeFou.

And I know some people aren't into Luke Evans as Gaston, but he has quite a voice.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I've decided not to watch any more sneak peeks or trailers for this movie. At the rate they are being shown, why bother to go see the movie? This, along with talking about a movie that won't come out for two or three years, bugs me. One wee trailer is good-but the increasing number of them, put all together, well, it will give away the best and most parts, so that actually seeing the movie will end up being anti-climactic. For me.

[starri]

Whoa.

I guess I was expecting this to be subtle, not blatant.  Good on Bill Condon, though.

Of course, it's funny considering that Josh Gad is straight and Luke Evans is gay.

[SnoGirl]

4 hours ago, starri said:

Whoa.

I guess I was expecting this to be subtle, not blatant.  Good on Bill Condon, though.

Of course, it's funny considering that Josh Gad is straight and Luke Evans is gay.

Makes me wonder what the payoff is going to be. 

Spoiler

Like, if Gaston gets thrown from the castle (or if he falls, I can't remember), I wonder if we'll see LeFou finding him, or grieving over him. Or is that too dark for Disney?

I still wish Luke Evans had gained some muscle for the role. He is not roughly the size of a barge ;)

[Spartan Girl]

But if you've seen The Girl On The Train, as you see he has biceps to spare.

(Though every last inch of him isn't covered in hair.)

[Sweet Tee]

He must not be eating his five dozen eggs every morning.

[Bill1978]

7 hours ago, starri said:

Whoa.

I guess I was expecting this to be subtle, not blatant.  Good on Bill Condon, though.

Of course, it's funny considering that Josh Gad is straight and Luke Evans is gay.

When I first saw the short clip of 'Gaston', my first impression was confusion over why Josh Gad appeared to be playing LeFou with some stereotypical gay mannerism. Seeing it confirmed it that article has disappointed me. Not really sure why, but it has. I mean yay a Disney classic with a gay character and all that but still. In the original I always see LeFou as a little nobody who idolises Gaston and wishes that he could be as awesome as Gaston. When I played LeFou in my local amateur production I played him as someone who admires Gaston and that Gaston is the greatest person in the whole world. I never got any vibe that LeFou was 'lusting' after Gaston, I always interpret him as someone with low self esteem wanting to hang out with the popular jock to make himself feel worthy. I feel this 'change' to LeFou is just a change for change sake and to make it hip to the reddit crowd who overanyalse thigns. Just like making Belle an inventor is unnessary so is making LeFou gay.

I discussed my thoughts with a friend and they suggested that perhaps when you bring a character like LeFou to life in a live action movie, it naturally kind of leans towards the character behaving 'differently' than their animated counterpart, cause animation can get away with 'whacky' characters without assumptions. I don't know and will have to wait until I se it full to see if I think this change is a good natural change.

On a positive, that clip of Gaston is the first clip from this movie where I didn't outwardly criticise anything on first watching. Luke Evans impressed with his bit of singing even if he is a bit too scrawny for Gaston. It has cleansed the palate after the dreadful experience of watching hat 57sec clip from the 'Belle' number

[Bruinsfan]

I always thought LeFrou was the human equivalent of that dog Chester that was always running in circles around Spike in the Warner Bros. cartoon. But hey, Gad didn't make my skin crawl in that clip like he usually does, so maybe him playing the character as flamboyantly gay is a good thing?

Edited March 1, 2017 by Bruinsfan

[starri]

2 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

But hey, Gad didn't make my skin crawl in that clip like he usually does, so maybe him playing the character as flamboyantly gay is a good thing?

I hate him so much.

This is honestly the first thing that makes it seem like I might be able to tolerate his scenes instead of just focusing elsewhere.

[SnoGirl]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

But if you've seen The Girl On The Train, as you see he has biceps to spare.

(Though every last inch of him isn't covered in hair.)

 

2 hours ago, Sweet Tee said:

He must not be eating his five dozen eggs every morning.

Hahaha, you two are the best. It seems like a real stupid thing to get stuck on, but I really was imagining a Dwayne Johnson-sized man Gaston.

I always imagine LaFou being a played by a woman in plays or future versions when I was a teen because of the Gaston song. It always seemed like a song about pining for Gaston instead of cheering him up. I guess TeenSnoGirl wasnt too far off if this version of LaFou has possible feelings for him.