Beauty and the Beast (2017)

The final part of the Toronto ComiCon weekend meet-up with Drew is our Friday’s night movie going adventure to see the live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Drew and I both have Disney segments on our respective blogs and it really highlights how much we love it in general. Plus, we just finished our 90’s Blogathon so hey, it all fits perfectly together. As objective as we would like to be, it is hard to not compare it to the original animation. I am just going to be honest here before we start.

Lets check it out!

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Director: Bill Condon

(Voice) Cast: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Kevin Kline, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Ian McKellan, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson

The beauty of animation is how magical they can be because they are imaginative and creative. To bring something like that to life creates a lot of challenge. There has be matching music and atmosphere and most importantly, the magical chemistry that we can feel with these characters which is usually easier to believe when its animation than in real life. I would be lying if I didn’t go into Beauty and the Beast optimistically skeptical. Why? I haven’t watched anything from Emma Watson since Harry Potter series ended and I only know Dan Stevens as the creepy dude in The Guest and an extremely small part of Season one of Downton Abbey. Not a lot to compare to and I didn’t really look too much at the voice actors either. The question now, after a few days of the initial excitement and thinking about it: does it live up to its original? The answer is no. I have to reluctantly say that because of a few aspects. However, I also never expected it to live up to the original so I still had a lot of fun with it.

Beauty and the Beast’s best part is creating its atmosphere and the world. It is absolutely gorgeous. The effects and CGI put us right into the setting of the town and especially the castle and forest areas. There was a darker tone however, it does manage to capture a great part of the magic that made the first one great. Of course, the original animated film offered up some of the most beautiful animation with its rich colors and catchy musical tunes. That comes to the second part that gives this movie something more. While retaining a lot of the music from the original, they manage to put a few new songs in. The nostalgia and magic of the old music still is the fun parts of the movie plus it shows a true determination of creating a animated film with this one that stays true to a musical with actually not a lot of dialogue.

Belle is one of my favorite heroines/Disney princesses. To be honest, Emma Watson did a decent performance. I can’t say that she was particularly memorable though. She fit in well because she had a good enough singing voice and the movie’s overall magical appeal swept me away. That isn’t to say that I didn’t like her. I just can’t really pinpoint a part of hers that stuck out to her. On that note, her chemistry with the Beast worked well enough that the story made it easy to fall in love with the story again even knowing what would happen and in that final scene where there’s that twist, I had tears in my eyes, which was definitely unexpected. Turning over to Dan Stevens as the Beast, his face was pretty much CGI and yet perhaps it is because of that, it was easier to keep it imaginative. When he was angry at the beginning, there were moments of fear and later as he softened, his features also made it so much more gentle. There was so much more to love in how Dan Stevens portrayed the Beast than Belle which seems to be the opposite of how I remembered the Disney animation.

The stars and the most dynamic characters of the original was almost always these supporting animated enchanted characters. Who knew that clocks and candelabras and teapots could make us fall in love with them, right? That is something that really stands out also in this live action. The voice cast is a fantastic ensemble with Cogsworth being voices Ian McKellan, Lumiere by Ewan McGregor, Mrs. Potts by Emma Thompson and of course, the man who tends to sneak into every movie in some supporting part and almost makes it shine, the grand piano (Maestro) by Stanley Tucci. I loved them the most in this live action adaptation (or is it a remake?). There are so many similarities to the original but somehow their enchantedness makes it easier to imagine them in this way.

Finally, we can’t not talk about the most self-absorbed villain, Gaston. I honestly like Gaston quite a bit and his sequences especially the Gaston songs and bits are quite humorous in the animation and I’m pretty happy about how they approached this character and Luke Evans take on it. There were a lot of funny moments and it helps a lot. The ending battle with the Beast was a little underwhelming but it was never meant to be overly long even in the original. Gaston isn’t really a true threat ever. I’m not sure any believes that he’ll amount to anything too much especially not when his right hand man is Lefou who is just there for comedic relief. Josh Gad didn’t quite stand out as much either.

Overall, Beauty and the Beast is a decent live action take of the original. In comparison, it is hard to meet the original’s masterful animation however there is still a lot to love especially because this one takes good care in creating a beautiful environment and magical atmosphere. The winter and snowy landscape with the dark but beautiful castle captures lots of mystic, especially watching the take on the castle falling apart as the magic wears away from each rose petal falling. While some characters are a little underwhelming in their portrayal, the majority did a pretty great job however the magic of the story itself did carry itself and shadowed the shortcomings in the moment.

Have you seen Beauty and the Beast?

Steve’s Music Mix: Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

I looked forward to doing this week’s Steve’s Music Mix.

If you haven’t been current, Steve at Steve Says has a weekly music mix segment where we use the power of our MP3 players/Ipods and its shuffle mode to determine answers for 3 questions that he asks.

Here are the rules (copied from him):

Each week I will post 3 new questions so…

(1) Go to the music player of your choice and put it on shuffle
(2) Say the questions aloud and press play
(3) Use the song title as your answers
(4) NO CHEATING

Title your post “Steve’s Music Mix – …” and link back to this week’s page.

Post your response in the comment section of that week’s page.

You can check out his post and see other creative answers HERE!

Lets check out what my MP3 whipped up for his questions:

What should I do…?

–> Defying Gravity – Wicked soundtrack (Idina Menzel & Kristen Chenoworth)

Hmm…Defy gravity.  I like that.  Not literally but going against the norm or whatnot.  Maybe it is time to chase some dreams 😉

What I shouldn’t do…?

–> El Tango de Roxanne – Moulin Rouge Soundtrack (Ewan McGregor)

Definitely! I agree! I’m not much of a dancer even if I wished I actually had taken lessons.  So no tango and in the context of the song, I will not be selling my body to no one.

What I will do…?

–> Shadow – Sam Tsui

Become a shadow? Be haunted by someone’s shadow/my past? That second part happens occasionally already but right now is not really the time for it.  Maybe its just reminding me to put my past behind me and focus on the present.

There you go! I have to say, my MP3 was feeling quite depressed this week. Its giving me a ton of slow paced songs and partially musically.

Head over to Steve’s site and give this a shot! Lets see what your music has to say about what you should, shouldn’t and will do 😉 Have some fun! 🙂

Robots (2005)

Its been a while (or so it seems) that I saw an animated movie.  My boyfriend picked up Robots the other day to replace the copy that was lent out and not taken care of upon return.

Director: Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha

Voices: Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Jim Broadbent, Mel Brooks, Stanley Tucci, Amanda Bynes, Greg Kinnear

Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) has always been used to being put together from birth from second hand parts but he isn’t scared to dream big because BigWeld Corporation’s owner Bigweld made him believe that “you can shine no matter what you’re made of.” As he grew up, he kept trying to make something that could be useful and then be able to show it to Bigweld (Mel Brooks).  When he finally succeeds in making a little gadget and decides to head out to the city, he meets Fender (Robin Williams) and his sister Piper (Amanda Bynes) who introduces him to the Rusties.  What originally starts out as a dream becomes a bit more complicated when he realizes that Bigweld is no longer running the corporation himself but rather it was Ratchet (Greg Kinnear) who with the help of his mom (Jim Broadbent) wants to turn the robot world to only have the choice of purchasing new parts and destroy all the spare ones.  With the Rusties, Rodney needs to find a way to change things back to how they were.

Robots is a super fun animation supported by awesome vocal talents. My favorite part of this flick has to be Robin Williams in the voice of Fender.  Robin Williams started his career almost on being able to do all these voices, at least thats how I knew him.  In this one, he is possibly one of the funniest component of it.  As much as the story is just a simple story, the fact that they try to incorporation puns and good dialogue pushes this story forward to be one of the better animations that I have seen.

Rusties

On a visual, the characters are done very good. Also, the scenes and design of the Robot City is actually very nice to look at it.  There is one particular part that I always love is the roller coaster type and in this one its like a ride to get from point A to point B.  I would faint if technology ever got to do transportation that way, but it was fun to watch especially paired up with the vocal talents of Ewan McGregor and Robin Williams.  Plus, the Rusties had a range of different with very personable characteristics and personality traits.

 

I always take a look at the villains to see if they are convincing.  In this one, it is an animation meant for children so they really make it fun and not completely in the evil zone. Ratchet was somewhat of a Mommy’s Boy where he was really a puppet for his mom, Madam Gasket’s evil plans.  I don’t know the deal with Madam Gasket and how she came to be so bitter, especially since her robot husband isn’t really in the best position (literally) probably thanks to her.  These villains brought a different vibe to the movie, maybe not completely evil but it gave us a few extra laughs as well!

 

Robots is full of laughs, little puns, a lot of uplifting fun and entertainment, but aside from all that, it has some nice heartwarming moments involving Rodney and his parents. It also had some nice moments when the Rusties and Bigweld decided to join forces to get back the reins of the corporation to bring Ratchet to an end.  Another part that I really liked was the positive messages behind it to dream big and that it doesn’t really matter where you come from, its what you make yourself out to be. Very encouraging message! Thats always a plus in animations 🙂

This is apparently from the same creators of Ice Age and I thoroughly enjoyed this one more!

What about you? Did you see this? Do you think Ice Age is better than this one?

Valentine’s Marathon:Beginners (2010)

I think I had bought this movie based a review I read some time early last year and being intrigued by Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer.  I had no idea of what the plot was, and didn’t even watch the trailer, so after owning this for multiple months, my random draw had this in the rundown and leading me to finally see this…

Director: Mike Mills

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent

When Oliver’s  mother passes away 5 years ago, his father Hal tells him that he is gay and decides to come out of the closet and live and love to the fullest.  A few years later, Hal is diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.  Oliver shares his last moments with his dad and understands and share more moments than any time before.  The story starts with Hal having passed away for a few months, Oliver has now sorted through everything and at a party, he unexpected meets a charming young woman called Anna (Melanie Laurent), an actress who moves around often.  They share a very strong connection and from there, start seeing each other.  As their relationship develops, it brings back his memories of his father in the last few years and also the memories of his childhood and his mother.  Anna also has a deep dark past which hinders her from truly connecting with anyone. Together, they learn that they are both beginners in the universe of love and that sometimes, it just takes courage and that sometimes you just need to be brave enough to love someone and make it work.

I’m going straight out to say that this movie is in the lines of dark and bittersweet love story.  This movie is classified as a romance/drama/comedy. Let me tell you, our comedy is with Christopher Plummer.  I’m a huge fan of Christopher Plummer. I mean, I’m a huge fan of The Sound of Music (haha).  I know I know, its not the same thing.  He was fantastic in his role as a father coming clean to his son and really diving into the whole dying gay man role.  His role really touched me and I’m sure it did to many others because he won the Oscar last year for best actor in a supporting role.

Its not just Christopher Plummer that was great.  Ewan McGregor also did a fantastic job being confused and lost in knowing and believing that love works out.  He did a great job at portraying happiness but just not having the courage to stay around to see things work out.  Or maybe just good at showing how Oliver is a beginner.  However, at the same time, the emotions and chemistry he had with Anna was incredibly authentic.  On to the actress who played Anna,  Melanie Laurent.  I’ve never seen her before in any other movies.  She was amazing.  That’s all I can say. She’s a charming actress and she brought  a lot of fun moments but at other times, she was convincing as to how deep her thoughts were. The praise goes not only to the these two talented actor and actress but also to the writer for making these interesting roles to play.

 

If we step back and look at this whole movie, the setup of the movie is interesting and witty. Oliver is a graphic designer so a part of the movie is how his thoughts unravel as he connects events together with the people involved.  Pictures and slideshows that fill his mind as his memories come back and as his relationship moves forward.  I think the word to describe this movie would be imaginative, creative, fun and touching.

Its a different approach from what I had expected from this movie.  I had no idea what I was getting into and I did think it’d be a lot more funny than it really was. I’m not saying that as a bad thing, its just that I hadn’t thought it was a drama until it got into the deeper darker worlds of everyone learning how to love and being brave enough to hold on and see how things go.  Some part of the movie I have to admit that I can relate to which makes it just that much more dramatic.

Definitely a good movie and I’m for sure going to watch it again.  A second viewing would probably get a few more messages clearer because it does go into the deeper side of love.  However, whats refreshing is that its not simply a love story but rather a love story that is hindered but also encouraged by the main character Oliver’s past. Remember going into this movie that it is a drama above all, so its not completely light.  It’ll give you at least some levels of thinking as it aims to touch your heart. It connected with me because my past has affected the mindset of my past relationships, but even if you can’t connect to that, you will probably connect to how its never too late to love and/or learn to love.

I hadn’t even realized it had won an Oscar until I was researching the movie and the actors for this review.   Have you seen this? What did you think? What are some films you enjoyed of Christopher Plummer or Ewan McGregor?