Beauty and the Beast
I do a
lot with Disney. I have many of their movies memorized, I’ve created a lot of
theories based on the movies and the universe, I also do a bit of work for a Disney
blog titled “Dis Humor”. When it was announced that Disney would start converting
some of their animated movies to live action, I was fine with it. 101
Dalmations turned out alright.
The most
recent development was a full teaser trailer released early on May 23rd
2016 for a live action adaption of “Beauty and the Beast”. Those who have been
following my blog for a while know that Beauty and the Beast is a movie I like
to think about a lot, so let’s go through each part of this trailer and see
what is there.
0:00- First-
the Disney castle has been replaced with a variant of the castle from the
movie. The castle is a spitting image of the one from the animated movie. Is that
good or bad? It’s good by way of proving that the movie is going to be the same
thing, but bad as so far, everything in this trailer tells me I could stay home
and watch the movie on my classic VHS and be just as satisfied with the film.
0:20- the music is the same as the introduction to the animated version. that's neat. also we are seeing a backdrop that I can only assume is the ballroom. there is also a piano. makes me wonder if the piano is alive and playing the music that we are hearing. the lighting is pretty dim here but that seems appropriate since we are about to see a picture of the beast here pretty soon.
0:32- After seeing a bunch of scenes in the castle (each one of them transplanted from the animated one) we get this scene. is that our first look at Lumiere? I hope so because that looks good. that's going to be a big trick to this movie- can we make the characters look good despite them being CGI. no matter how good you are, CGI doesn't look 100% realistic. (The Jungle Book was alright, but still not perfect. oh well).
0:45: we didn't see a paw rip the painting. I wanted to see a paw rip the painting. I want to see the Beast. pop quiz! what is the Beasts real name?
0:58- I am terribly sorry, but the lumiere and Cogsworth voice over doesn't have me convinced. it's a voice over. would it be a bad move to just get the actual voice actors from earlier? or even use the same voice track? I'm sure these actors will do their best at the role, but I'm not conviced with this so far.
1:15- the rose is a good example of what I'm talking about. it doesn't feel realistic enough for me to pass off as live action. why do we need a fake rose anyway? is there a problem with getting multiple roses and just switching them out occasionally.
now my rant. Emma Watson is a good actress (easy on the eyes too!), but her voice over here is EXTREMELY British for a French character. This so far is the biggest turn off for me with the trailer. I like cute british girls as much as the next straight guy, but I think I might care a bit more about character integrety. We have only gotten 3 lines from her so far so it might be too early to say too much about her character, but just know that I am bothered by a British person pretending the be belle and not even try a French accent or a more neutral American accent (like the animated film).
1:24- yeah. you know you sang along to the piano just then. "Be our guest". So far it is a spitting image of the animated film. I'm still trying to decide if that is something I want to have or something I don't want to have. atleast they aren't advertising it as something different. they did with Star Wars episode 7 and I'm still upset that I didn't see an original Star Wars adventure with that one.
questions:
What does Beast look like? is he going to be similar to the one we have or are we getting a new design?
Will there be singing?
Are they going to show the transformation like they did in "The Enchanted Christmas" or are we getting a mural like the original or are we going to get a song like we did in the Diamond edition of the film?
what did you think of the trailer? what are your questions about it? are you excited to see more? let me know in the comments below!
follow me on twitter @Superman Legion and don't forget to like our Facebook page to get updates as they happen.
share the article with the Disnerd in your life (If that is me, pick someone else. I don't need to see this article again).
Have a good rest of your week
0:20- the music is the same as the introduction to the animated version. that's neat. also we are seeing a backdrop that I can only assume is the ballroom. there is also a piano. makes me wonder if the piano is alive and playing the music that we are hearing. the lighting is pretty dim here but that seems appropriate since we are about to see a picture of the beast here pretty soon.
0:32- After seeing a bunch of scenes in the castle (each one of them transplanted from the animated one) we get this scene. is that our first look at Lumiere? I hope so because that looks good. that's going to be a big trick to this movie- can we make the characters look good despite them being CGI. no matter how good you are, CGI doesn't look 100% realistic. (The Jungle Book was alright, but still not perfect. oh well).
0:45: we didn't see a paw rip the painting. I wanted to see a paw rip the painting. I want to see the Beast. pop quiz! what is the Beasts real name?
0:58- I am terribly sorry, but the lumiere and Cogsworth voice over doesn't have me convinced. it's a voice over. would it be a bad move to just get the actual voice actors from earlier? or even use the same voice track? I'm sure these actors will do their best at the role, but I'm not conviced with this so far.
1:15- the rose is a good example of what I'm talking about. it doesn't feel realistic enough for me to pass off as live action. why do we need a fake rose anyway? is there a problem with getting multiple roses and just switching them out occasionally.
now my rant. Emma Watson is a good actress (easy on the eyes too!), but her voice over here is EXTREMELY British for a French character. This so far is the biggest turn off for me with the trailer. I like cute british girls as much as the next straight guy, but I think I might care a bit more about character integrety. We have only gotten 3 lines from her so far so it might be too early to say too much about her character, but just know that I am bothered by a British person pretending the be belle and not even try a French accent or a more neutral American accent (like the animated film).
1:24- yeah. you know you sang along to the piano just then. "Be our guest". So far it is a spitting image of the animated film. I'm still trying to decide if that is something I want to have or something I don't want to have. atleast they aren't advertising it as something different. they did with Star Wars episode 7 and I'm still upset that I didn't see an original Star Wars adventure with that one.
questions:
What does Beast look like? is he going to be similar to the one we have or are we getting a new design?
Will there be singing?
Are they going to show the transformation like they did in "The Enchanted Christmas" or are we getting a mural like the original or are we going to get a song like we did in the Diamond edition of the film?
what did you think of the trailer? what are your questions about it? are you excited to see more? let me know in the comments below!
follow me on twitter @Superman Legion and don't forget to like our Facebook page to get updates as they happen.
share the article with the Disnerd in your life (If that is me, pick someone else. I don't need to see this article again).
Have a good rest of your week
I like your approach here, analyzing the trailer and drawing some conclusions while raising thought provoking questions. Good stuff. As Disney started developing live action versions of their own animated features, I was skeptical. But since I love all things Disney, I pushed that skepticism aside and let myself enjoy the movies. Have I enjoyed the live actions as much as the animated? Overall, no, but like you said, 101 Dalmatians turned out alright...and I did see the live action Cinderella, it really was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteBut to be fair, I didn't have high expectations for the live actions, until NOW. Beauty and the Beast is a story and a movie I hold very dear. I will say upfront that I am very excited for this movie, I am impressed with the cast and the potential, I did love this initial trailer and found myself with tears in my eyes as I watched it about a million times today...the emotional connection is very strong for me.
HOWEVER, I also appreciate your perspective and analysis. Perhaps I was less critical purely because of my emotional attachment...but let me throw in my 2cents.
1- It seems Disney has done this castle variation a few times now, I think it is a nice touch, a personal touch, for some of their films. I agree with you that it is good and bad, but I was drawn into the trailer at this point and there was no turning back. I loved the dark, brooding lighting as we swept across the outside of the castle, reminded me of the symbolic change in the castle in the animated film, dark to light.
2--Yes, the original music! As the camera moved into the ballroom I got the feeling I was coming back to a very familiar place.
Continued from previous post:
ReplyDelete3--I, too, am worried about the CGI factor here. Yes, CGI can do some amazing things, BUT can it make super fans like me proud of the final images? Or will it be too cartoon-y? It is a story with a heavy lesson, the CGI characters need to fit in with that.
4--I actually liked the sound effect of the rip, it was very haunting--but I agree, it would have been great to see the paw, perhaps seeing their efforts at that paw CGI would have laid to rest our concerns about making it look realistic. We would have had a brief sample of the CGI. Adam. His name is Adam, HOWEVER, we are never told that in the original animated film. We are informed his name is Adam in the Broadway musical and the special edition dvd releases. So technically, he doesn't have a name in the film. I wonder if they will give him a name in this live action version...
5--Awww, I love these voices for Lumiere and Cogsworth! Probably because I love Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellan so much! Actually, Jerry Orback who played Lumiere in the animated film passed away.
6--I suppose I didn't notice the realistic value of the rose (or lack thereof) because I was so enamored with the eyes in the background. That scene is a replica of a frame from the movie, and Emma Watson's eyes are perfect. As for her voice...she does sound British in this trailer--interestingly, we hear a very French Lumiere and a British Cogsworth just like the animated film--to be honest, it didn't bother me that she sounds British here. Again, probably because I am so excited about the film...it is probably not fair that I critique it...But let me go back in time just a bit--I have loved the story of Beauty and the Beast since I was a little girl, it is a French story. French. It surprised me when Disney's animated feature gave us a no-accent Belle and mostly British accented cast. Luckily, the film won me over and I let that slide.
7--After seeing the live action Cinderella, it seems clear that Disney will change it up a little. Not too much, but a little, so it won't be a spitting image. And Cinderella had music but was not a musical. I'm not sure how I feel about losing the music from Beauty and the Beast, it is very much a music driven story...I mean, Gaston's song about Gaston is classic. All of them are classic. Perhaps we will get the original songs in background soundtrack form? With a current artist singing an updated version of the main theme during the credits?
Beast: Good question, what will he look like? I would have loved a glimpse of him in this trailer, or even a well placed shadow. My guess is he will look similar to the animated version.
It is pretty obvious that I loved this trailer and I am already in love with this movie---but you offer up great questions for discussion