Beauty and the Beast (2017)

I loved this sentimental live-action version of the 1991 animated musical. I went by myself Thursday, because Jack was watching the NFL draft, to see it at the last place in town showing it in 3D. I had the room to myself and had a ball. I don't remember if in the original we met the castle staff as humans before they were turned into talking objects, but in this one we do. It's important to note that there was a Disney stage musical (opened in 1994 on Broadway with many tours and revivals since then, but I didn't see any) in between the original Disney animated feature and this (Disney) live action one.

In the title roles Emma Watson (last blogged for Noah) and Dan Stevens (best known for 25 episodes of Downton Abbey as Matthew Crawley, but I enjoyed a few of the new series Legion and especially his three of High Maintenance as a pot-smoking cross-dresser named Colin) are very good. Kevin Kline (most recently in these pages for Ricki and the Flash) is predictably wonderful as Belle's father and Audra MacDonald (who played Kline's wife in Ricki and the Flash) brings her operatic chops to the role of the singer, Madame Garderobe, who becomes a wardrobe. Because of his broad grinning prosthetic teeth I did not recognize Stanley Tucci (last in Spotlight) as the musician who becomes a harpsichord, Maestro Cadenza. Luke Evans (new to me) is the arrogant Gaston with the powerful voice and Josh Gad (most recently in Jobs) is sweet as LeFou, Gaston's sidekick who is in love with him. The addition of a gay character has been a source of some controversy (this is a good article about it with spoilers clearly avoidable). Emma Thompson's (last in Burnt) accent as Mrs. Potts is so thick it's a bit hard to identify her voice, as is Ewan McGregor's (most recently in T2 Trainspotting) as Lumiére. And the venerable Sir Ian McKellen (last in X-Men: Days of Future Past) is the clock Cogsworth. Lumiére's love interest, who was named Babette in the animated and stage versions, is now Plumette (was it something I said?) and voiced by Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Concussion). All of them sing and I didn't wince once.

Bill Condon (Oscar winner for adapting the screenplay of Gods and Monsters (1998) which he directed, also directed Kinsey (2004) and the musicals Chicago (2002) and Dreamgirls (2006)) keeps us engaged over the 2:09 running time, working from an adaptation by Steven Chbosky (who adapted his own novel for The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Evan Spiliotopoulos (new to me).

As far as I can tell, this version has all the original songs by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman and includes additional lyrics by Ashman in the songs Belle, Gaston, and Be Our Guest written in 1991 but not used. There are also three brand new songs by Menken and Tim Rice: How Does a Moment Last Forever, Days in the Sun, and Evermore.

Be Our Guest is as wonderful as I had hoped, with parts reminiscent of the Disney movie Fantasia and the musicals of Busby Berkeley. Videos are hard to come by, as Disney has possibly the best copyright infringement protection of any studio, but this playlist has the entire soundtrack, at least until it's yanked by legal. Then, over the credits there's another version of Beauty and the Beast by Ariana Grande and John Legend, as well as How Does a Moment Last Forever by Céline Dion and Evermore by Josh Groban.

Trivia and other factoids abound so I'll give you my three favorites. 1. Ryan Gosling turned down the role of Beast to star in La La Land and Emma Watson turned down the starring role in La La Land to be in this one. 2. Here's a video clip of "Easter eggs" from this movie. It has spoilers but with a warning so you can avoid them if you want. 3. Unadjusted for inflation, it is the most expensive musical ever at $160 million. I'm not worried about Disney. Opening weekend grossed $170m in North America alone and, as of this weekend, its seventh, it has grossed over $480m.

We audiences, averaging 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, like it better than critics at 71. Wonderful in 3D but not necessary if you want to wait for your home theatre. There's a fairly violent battle at the end, so parents be forewarned.