Its been a little while since I last did a old and new review and with Disney's latest live action remake been released, its time for me to look at a tale as old as time and a song as old and rhyme. Yes Its Beauty and the Beast. Both based on a french fairy tale of the same name and films that has raised questions about bestiality, how old the prince was before he turned into the beast (something of which is made clear in the 2017 film) and the actual ages of Disney Princesses (something of which Tangled, Frozen and Moana were able to fix well) while seemingly doing well at the box office and the awards. So let's get to it as I review the 1991 classic and its 2017 remake:
1991
So both films have the same storyline where an enchantress, disguised as an old beggar, seeks refuge in a prince's castle from the bitter cold and would give the prince an enchanted rose in exchange. But the prince refused entry and so the enchantress puts a curse on him where he would become a beast and all his servants would become objects like candles and clocks and the only way to break the spell, is to fall in love before the last rose petal sets or they would all become the objects forever. Many years later, we meet Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara) who has become bored of village life and seeks excitement. But when her father goes missing, she sets out to find him, only to later be a prisoner herself. One of the best things about the original film is that its one of Disney's first hand drawn films to be of high quality (which shows on the Blu-Ray version) and feature a CGI environment (courtesy of the then unknown computer animation company Pixar). Not only that, but it was the first ever animated film that proved to the awards people that animation can be a serious medium and since then, there has been a category for animation in all awards ceremonies. Plus all the songs are great, its a mostly light hearted film, but has raised many questions on (as previously mentioned) bestiality, why the actual ages of Disney Princesses aren't obvious to figure out and how old the beast must've been before turning into a monster. But other than that, its a fantastic film and one of Disney's greats that really is a tale as old as time. 9/10
2017
The remake follows the same plot, but does make a few changes here and there and incorporates songs from the stage musical which makes for a perfect hybrid of the original film and the stage musical. The differences (apart from the obvious ones) are that the age of the prince prior to becoming the beast, has changed to something more appropriate and doesn't put the enchantress under a bad light. Also Gaston's (voiced by Richard White in the 1991 film and played by Luke Evans here) companion Le Fou (voiced by Jesse Corti in the 1991 film and played by Josh Gad here) is portrayed as a gay character which has had its fair share of controversy, but most of us knew that Disney would eventually reach that territory at some point anyway. Those were the two big changes. I like this film a lot. It captures everything that made the original film great and expands upon areas that were never really talked about in the original (not counting the direct to DVD sequels because they suck) and makes all the characters more age appropriate unlike the original. Its also nice to see newer designs of the servants in their inanimate object selves and in a way, it gets kind of sad towards the end, but I won't spoil it here. Great film. 9/10
So both films are really great films that both have got lots of good things about them, but also seem to bring in their fair share of controversy regarding ages and sexuality (though the latter is more for the adults to talk about than children). But if I'm being honest, while the original did sweep the awards and convinced all award ceremonies that animation is a more serious medium than they thought, the remake stays true and faithful to the original film, its stage musical and the source material while also managing to get things right that previous efforts got wrong and have quite possibly the best cast there is. So the winner goes to the remake but I will always enjoy the 1991 film too.
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