BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Beauty and the Beast is a tale as old as time, having undergone numerous adaptations, including Jean Cocteau’s 1946 classic to Disney’s 1991 prized musical. French filmmaker Christophe Gans did a recent rendition of author Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s novel starring Léa Seydoux as Belle and Vincent Cassel as the Beast. The 2014 release, while visually satisfying, doesn’t quite capture the spirit of the story that is as old as time.
The biggest hindrance is the relationship that never seems to draw us in to the shared romance of what made the Disney musical such a classic. In this iteration, Belle has a larger family and we get a subplot involving a magical “golden deer” (did it stop grazing at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory?). Gans, whose last feature was 2006’s less than impressive Silent Hill, delivers on a visual level despite budgetary constraints, but is a so-so adaptation overall.
In terms of extras, we get interviews with the principal leads and the filmmaker, plus a theatrical trailer.
