Trailer Reaction: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

OH MY GOODNESS!!! You guys! The Beauty and the Beast trailer dropped yesterday. Look at it! Look at it!!

We had a teaser trailer earlier, I feel like it was in May, which showed us a nice view of the castle, the music played in the background (it was lovely and I got chills), we got a hint at Belle and the rose. I adore the animated film, I think it’s Disney’s best film, yes even better than The Lion King, but ya know opinions and what not. It’s my second favorite Disney film (The Little Mermaid is my fave) and Belle is my second favorite princess (Ariel is my first).

I always identified with Belle the most though, she was intelligent and I used get different reactions from people in school due to being smart. I read quite a lot and anyone who knows me, or knew me, would probably tell you that. I mean, I haven’t met any men cursed into beasts or wandered into a dark cursed castle full of talking objects so… we have that difference.

Anyway, so we had a few pictures, of the design of Cogsworth, Lumber, Plumette (the feather duster, though I think she looks more like a quill… but I do think they gave her those wings to have “arms” since in the animated version she was just a handle), and Mrs. Potts. So now the trailer has come and I’m so excited that I need this movie now. March is too far away.

So we get the Disney classic opening, with the castle.

Then what I found interesting is how they are already adding elements from the original fairy tale instead of just being a completely retelling of the animated classic film. Here, we have Maurice played by Kevin Kline going to get a single white rose for Belle instead of going to another town to sell his inventions. Of course I don’t have a problem with it either way, I love the animated version and I love the original fairy tale version, so I’m glad they’re combining the two. In the story, Maurice in fact, has three daughters (and three sons), the older two ask for material things and Belle asks for a single rose. The Beast is very particular about his roses, catches Maurice and locks him up.

So, in the trailer, Belle goes to find him, they talk and I’m already having animated movie flashbacks lol. I love Emma Watson and I think she is a great choice for Belle, her intelligence, her ability to be sassy and stern while being “soft”. I know a lot of people have issue with her casting, calling her “mousy”, not “pretty enough”, her features aren’t soft enough, etc but I mean, Belle doesn’t have to always be this gorgeous woman, there are other things about women that can make them beautiful. In the story Belle was beautiful yes, but so were her older sisters… the things that set her apart was her intelligence, her kindness, selflessness and her compassion… however, I find Emma Watson to be very beautiful so again, I have no problem with her casting. Anyway, I approve of Emma’s casting. The only question is, can she sing? lol

She demands the Beast to come into the light and we get a good look at him. Now, EW.com released their magazine cover, along with more stock set photos of the film and of course, no one can ever please everyone so people were of course complaining about the Beast’s design. His horns apparently are facing the wrong way, or they’re “Satan like horns”, his lips are too human and his nose is too flat, or “Dan Stevens has beautiful blue eyes, why are the Beast’s eyes brown?” In terms of the eyes, they are definitely blue… when he looks into the mirror ‘Show me the girl’, his eyes are clearly blue, so I don’t know where brown came from lol. I think the horn thing is petty, and I think he looks how his animated version would look like in real life. Perhaps a bit softer… but I mean…I like it. I guess, he’s too handsome as a Beast but I never thought the animated version was very horrifying (minus that part when he first steps into the light and he stands up all tall and stuff lol). The internet thinks he’s ugly… look at the pic below… I beg to differ lol.

So we see Lumiere and Cogsworth, and Lumiere’s design changed. Before he looked like a regular candelabra, and I wondered where his face was but then new pictures and this trailer and he looks like a little brass man with candles on his head and for hands… I kind of like it. I love Cogsworth’s design, it’s so intricate and of course Sir Ian McKellan is always a win. We see Chip (see below) and I think he’s cute. Sure, the faces on the objects is a little weird but what do we expect from a live action Beauty and the Beast film? Especially maintaining these enchanted elements from the animated version? I also think in the original story, she’s served by invisible servants (which is where I got my inspiration from in my B&B version). Mrs. Potts by the way is voiced by Emma Thompson, who is brilliant, of course Angela Lansberry would be an amazing return but I’m okay with Emma Thompson as well. Also, I read that Ewan McGregor was told not to do an actor-y French accent like he tried to do in the beginning, since I know people were complaining about that. Nathan Mack plays Chip. In the second photo, is Lumiere and Plumette (which I think her name in the animated version was different but whatever, she was the Featherduster to me), see what I mean about the feathers? She looks like a fancy quill instead of a feather duster… or that’s an extremely fancy featherduster, she is played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

I love the fact that when we see iconic scenes shown, how updated Belle’s clothes look, or how subtle emotions and things are.

We see this scene, which I read this movie is a musical, how much music will be in it, I’m not sure, but this is one of the moments where Belle starts to fall in love with the Beast. I love this moment because it’s so sweet. I love her pink dress in the film and I love the hint of it here. Also, I love how she looks to him to encourage him to pet the horse and the look of surprise on his face when he does it and the animal doesn’t run away in fear. I love it. I love the scene in the library, it’s one of my favorite scenes in the animated film and it looks great here. The details on the top of her dress… amazing from what I can see. The library looks grand, I hope it really is grand because when I was a kid, I always wanted a library like that and I might wilt a little bit if it’s not.

Oh yes Gaston. He is played by Luke Evans in the film, I like Luke Evans and I think he’s very handsome, obviously his frame is not like the animated Gaston’s which is okay… I would have loved to see a huge dude but as long as Gaston is a pompous, amusing, vain and a bit terrifying, I think they casted well. Josh Gad is perfect for Le Fou, just perfect lol. So I hope they have a good time with character while making him intimidating as well. We only see a few hints to him in the trailer.

So now, we come to the most iconic scene from Beauty and the Beast and that is the ballroom scene.

 Belle’s iconic yellow dress and the Beast’s iconic blue jacket. At this point, my heart is fluttering and my brain is chanting “I need this movie now”, I have turned into Veruca Salt. They meet at the stairs. We’ve seen the dress in the photos, there are two of them, the magazine cover and her solo photo. I love the dress. Just like with Cinderella’s dress it has been updated. I personally think they went overboard with Cinderella’s dress but it was very lovely, minus the butterflies. So I appreciate the tone down-ness of her dress here. I do miss her gloves but I’m okay with them being gone, just like I was okay with Cinderella not having gloves either.

But I think it’s great. You can tell the dress still has the layers and tiers, the shoulder straps are the same, just on her shoulders instead of off, which is a minor detail. I’ve seen a lot of criticisms and complaints about her dress, or the way the EW.com photo looked. “At this point, Belle was in love with the Beast, in the film she never turned away from him, here Emma Watson looks like she doesn’t want to be there”, or “Ugh, why couldn’t they just make her dress the same from the movie”, or “why couldn’t they be accurate and give her a really French 17th century ballgown”, or “ugh, her dress looks like a prom dress”.

My thing is, I want to see it in the film where the cuts are not so quick for me to really see it on set, in the moment. It’s the same thing with Cinderella’s dress, when I saw the trailer, I saw the dress and went, ‘wow, it’s really big.’ I saw a large poster the theaters had of her running in the dress, ‘wow, it’s really big… are those butterflies??’ When I saw the movie, I said “oh wow, it’s really pretty” and watching her actually move in it, I appreciated it more. I feel like it will be the same here, for some people anyway. I think the color fits Emma very well, I like how they updated it and made it flowy and I love the way it seems to move from what we can see in the trailer. In terms of their position in this photo:

I believe this is what the poster looks like, she’s not looking at him. Oh my goodness, she should be in love with him at this point, WHY ISN’T SHE LOOKING AT HIM!?? Perhaps, because they are dancing the Waltz and this is the proper form?? I mean, I don’t see the problem lol. I think that was a petty complaint.

So in the trailer, the music swells (Alan Menken has returned and I’m so excited because his work in Disney is iconic and amazing and I’m crying), Belle watches as Gaston and the Beast fight, she jumps across a crumbling bridge and the Beast seems to overcome Gaston. A lot of other shots, the dancing people in the ballroom are either from the end when Belle breaks the curse, or from the beginning or a flashback where they talk more about the Beast’s curse. Then lastly, we see the rose lose a petal.

You guys, I’m so excited I don’t know what to do with myself. I need this movie now. I’m going to see it, probably multiple times, I don’t care. I have high hopes, The Jungle Book was really good and I think the fact that the animated film didn’t really set the bar high helped that. Beauty and the Beast is a different story, the animated film was the first Disney film to receive an Oscar for Best Picture, it’s so iconic, classic and amazing that this is almost questionable and worrisome. However, I’m not worried. It seems like great care has been taken with this from what I have seen and read and I’m excited for the finished product. I may be one of the few people who hasn’t criticized it up and down but there’s no reason too without really seeing the film.

Sure, you can watch a trailer and judge from what they show but I think that also does a disservice because someone times trailers suck compared to the amazingness of the film. On the other hand, the trailer could be amazing and the movie isn’t very amazing(I’m looking at Fant4stic), or they both suck lol. It’s hard to say really but I think it’s best to wait and see. I try to do that in everything I watch because who knows… you could be wrong.

With all that said, I do think they’re showing a lot in the trailer, especially the climax, I need trailers to chill out overall.

Just to let you know, in case you didn’t:

• Yes, it’s supposed to be a musical, I don’t know what all the songs are included but yes.

  • Alan Menken said he’s writing three new songs.

• Maurice isn’t an inventor, he makes music boxes from what I understand and is very protective of Belle, due to the loss of her mother.

  • Belle is the inventor, because the question came up, what does she do in her spare time that makes people think she’s so odd other than reading books? I’m curious of how it comes full circle in the film.

Things I’m curious to see:

• If they give more insight into the Beast’s backstory, what happened to his family etc?

• How the singing turns out.

• How the Beast’s transformation scene plays out.

• How long will it be before we see Belle actually start to fall for him and vice versa?

  • Obviously the animated film happens, but we don’t know how long she’s there (we can probably gauge thanks to the many side B&B animated films, like the Enchanted Christmas ) so let’s hope there’s a lot more time.

• There was something else I was thinking about but I completely forgot… shoot.

But regardless, I’m excited from what I saw, I have been excited since it was announced and casting was announced. So… March 17, 2017 needs to put itself on rushed order.

Tale as old as time, true as it can be. Barely even friends, then somebody bends, unexpectedly. Just a little change, small to say the least, both a little scared, neither one prepared… Beauty and the Beast. (You probably just sang that a little bit didn’t you?)