How the Live Action Beauty and the Beast Will Leave You in Ugly Sobbing and Vomiting Magical, Sparkly Rainbows (Spoilers Ahead)

A moment of silence for one of the best Disney stories ever told.

Beauty and the Beast 1991 x 2017 #YAAAS

I honestly have no interesting back story for this movie. I was born in the pre-digital Disney era where every kid pretty much bankrupted their parents for movies and merchandise. As a Disney baby, I cared more about getting the latest and most expensive Little Mermaid stroller bag than getting a star in my classes. To this day, I'm glued to the Disney bandwagon despite outgrowing the Snow White watches and Cinderella slippers. I love Disney. It gives me my needed fix of magic in my otherwise stressful, rarely fun adulthood. Can I get an amen from my fellow Disney babies?

So before I went to watch the live action movie, I downloaded the 1991 animated movie and watched it. It was a good call because it helped me appreciate the live action movie in slack-jawed amazement.

Let's break it down in a numbered list like adults, shall we.

Here's How the Live Action Beauty and the Beast Will Leave You in Ugly Sobbing and Vomiting Magical, Sparkly Rainbows (Spoilers Ahead):

1. Emma Watson. Honestly, need I say more? Most of us Disney babies are also fans of the Harry Potter franchise and loved Hermione Granger, which Emma Watson played so wonderfully. At the beginning of the movie, I was a little concerned about her Hermione-esque demeanor which is totally different from the original head-in-the-clouds Belle. Later on, I realized that it was a little bit of artistic deviation from the animated movie to match the whole film's atmosphere. After all, she lives in a small town in France full of judgmental, gossiping, small-minded villagers. Who wouldn't be upset? Throughout the rest of the movie, Emma was just beautiful and enchanting as Belle, improved in that she exuded an air of independence and strength of character despite being a little bit broken by the fact that she's motherless and her father hasn't the guts to tell her why. This brings me to my next point.
2. The original movie is beautifully streamlined in this version with bits and pieces of interesting back story. Here's where Director Bill Condon's magic comes into play. Remember how we literally stopped breathing after Carlisle's head gets cut off in Breaking Dawn: Part 2, moved on to stifled sobbing, and then just openly cried even more after it all turned out to be just Alice's vision? I'd like to call that Condon Streamlining. He showed the audience what would've happened if it came to battle which the book didn't, and it's an immeasurably amazing gift you can give to a fan. In Beauty and the Beast, there's a little back story about the Beast's parents and Belle's mother. Although it didn't really go into detail, it was refreshing in that it finally answered one of the most asked questions from the original film. I especially like the time travel element because in a way, it showed more of the Beast's kind side and made the "falling in love" warranted and realistic. A library and her freedom may have been enough for live action Belle as it was for animated Belle, but the Beast taking her to find out what really happened to her mother? There's a royal wedding right there.
3. The additions and subtractions from the original movie were just right. Basically, the live action movie was just the realistic version of the animated one. I love how the flow was essentially the same and was just augmented with little twists and new signature Disney music. Indeed Disney magic never fails, animated or live action.
4. This isn't really a point. I just wanna say Luke Evans and Josh Gad deserve a standing ovation for marvelously portraying Gaston and LeFou. Bravo, gentlemen!

THE VERDICT: 10/10 MAGICAL ROSES. 🌹

Final thoughts: (1) I love you, Emma Watson. (2) I worship you, Bill Condon. (3) Thank you, Disney, for another phenomenal motion picture experience that we'll forever hold close to our hearts. P.S. Please do live action Pocahontas or Aladdin next.

I gotta go vomit more magical, sparkly rainbows.

Ciao!