Belle

Movie Review: Disney’s Descendants

~ Alyxwrites ~ Leave a comment

 

DESCENDANTS 3 – This highly anticipated trequel continues the contemporary saga of good versus evil as the teenage daughters and sons of Disney’s most infamous villains-Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay (also known as the villain kids or VKs)-return to the Isle of the Lost to recruit a new batch of villainous offspring to join them at Auradon Prep. When a barrier breach jeopardizes the safety of Auradon during their departure off the Isle, Mal resolves to permanently close the barrier, fearing that nemeses Uma and Hades will wreak vengeance on the kingdom. Despite her decision, an unfathomable dark force threatens the people of Auradon and it’s up to Mal and the VKs to save everyone in their most epic battle yet. (Disney Channel)
In memory of Cameron Boyce.
Disney’s Descendants premiered way back in 2015 lol. I remember seeing the poster and hearing about it, but I wasn’t really watching anything from the Disney Channel because those shows, and movies don’t really interest me. BUT I love the Disney movies, like the villains and the princesses and what not so the idea of the movie following the kids of famous villains was an interesting idea. I don’t believe I caught it on television, but I ended up checking it out from the library (where I work) and watched it. This won’t be a formal movie review as there are three but more of a complete overview. All the pros and cons will be from all three movies.
Let me just say now, I love all three of the movies. As of right now, while I’m watching, the second one is my favorite one, but once I do a rewatch, I’ll see if that’s the same.
New Information: Now that I have rewatched the first two, the second one is still my favorite lol.
There are spoilers ahead so if you haven’t seen the third one yet, or any of them and want to, I wouldn’t read this review just yet. Watch the movies and then come back to me. 😀
Pros:
The Main Four. So, we have our main four villain kids or “VKs” as they’re called in the third one and these are the characters, we spend the most time with and who we grow to know and love.
  • Dove Cameron as Mal. She is the daughter of Maleficent and Hades. In the first movie, she’s probably the one with the most to prove since her mother is the “most evil” villain and she gets to interact with the daughter of the princess her mother cursed. She’s also the last one to change in the first movie of allowing their new life to have a positive effect. She still does some sneaky things to please her mother in the first one, but she manages to prove herself at the end. In the second one, she’s trying hard to please the people of Auradon now and is having a hard time figuring out who she wants to be. She runs back to the Isle because of that and is determined to remain a villain kid but her friends and her boo thang, bring her back home. She ends up pulling through at the end. The third one, she has a harder choice in that she’s about to be Queen and the people of Auradon are afraid because Uma is lurking around still, and Hades almost got through the barrier. She makes the choice to end the program that would bring over kids from the Isle. It’s a big secret she keeps throughout the film and I really liked the moment when everyone finds out and they all get emotional and stuff. She has a nice song during this moment. I like Mal, I mean, she’s cool and she’s relatable in a lot of ways. Dove Cameron does a good job at portraying all the sides of Mal we get to experience.
  • Cameron Boyce as Carlos. He is the son of Cruella de Vil and the youngest of the group in the movie and in real life. At least he comes off that way to me in the movie. When he first encounters chocolate, I’m still upset at how long they let him have melted chocolate on his face. But he matures as the movies go on, he stands up for himself a lot more and grows more confident and I love seeing him mature. It’s great. Cameron Boyce was a bright spot in the movies, and he will be missed. He was great. He was cute and sweet, and I really wish we got to see him interact with other animals to justify his comment about wanting to be a vet. That would have been a great subplot for him. *sighs* Rest in Peace Cameron.
  • Booboo Stewart as Jay. He is the son of Jafar and a little pickpocket. I wish we got to see Jay do a lot more than what we saw. He was also a very loyal friend and he showed that through his teasing of Carlos, through his looks and touches with Evie and just being there with Mal. They would exchange looks sometimes. I liked that he was the strong silent type of the group while also being a bit goofy and the jock. It worked for him. I just wish we got to see him do other things besides playing sports. I feel like there was some great subplot for his character that was missed. I’ve always liked Booboo Stewart though (I want him to play Tommy Oliver so bad) and I think he does a great job of the cool, handsome, sporty, thief and goofy personality Jay has. I just wanted more!
  • Sofia Carson as Evie. She is the daughter of Evil Queen and my favorite character. I like her personality. In the first one, she’s probably the one who acclimates to Auradon the quickest and one of my favorite lines, is in the second one, when she goes with Ben back to the Isle to find Mal and she says “don’t let me get stuck there again” and it says so much about her character. She loves her mom, but she doesn’t want to ever have to live that life again. It did seem like she was the most out of place there even though she knew how to operate on the Isle. I like her sense of style, I loved her loyalty and I think Sofia Carson has a great voice! I like how protective she is of her friends and that she’s always ready to go to bat for any of them. Plus, her chemistry with Zachary Gibson as Doug was cute and I really shipped them. I just wish we got to see her do more.
Other Characters. There are a ton of supporting characters, we get introduced to some in each movie but I’m only going to talk about the ones I really liked. But special shout out to Zachary Gibson as Doug, Jadah Marie as Celia, Anna Cathart as Dizzy Tremaine, Dianna Doan as Lonnie, Brenna D’Amico as Jane and Jedidiah Goodacre as Chad.
  • Mitchell Hope as Ben. He is the son of Queen Belle and Beast and on his way to becoming King in the first movie. It’s his idea to bring the villain kids to Auradon and it’s his personal project. He’s the boy next door type, kind and welcoming to everyone and he really tries to make the villain kids feel at home, even if he might be a little scared of them in the beginning. However, it was clear that he and Mal would have a thing because he was immediately taken with her. I liked that even though her love spell washed away when they went on their date, he didn’t treat her like a villain when he knew she spelled him. I liked that. I think he’s a good kid, and he really tries to do things that would help everyone. The only thing I don’t like is his stupid little roar to indicate he’s the Beast’s son. I think it’s stupid when nothing ever happens with it, he just does it and I’m like… boy sit down. Mitchell Hope is adorable and he’s very likable, he could tread the annoying line, but I think he does a good job at not doing that.
  • China Ann McClain as Uma. I looooved her. She was my favorite character that was introduced in the second one. She’s Ursula’s daughter and a villain who is upset with Mal for a rivalry they’ve had since they were kids. She has a plan and she manage to really succeed for the most part, until the end of course. I like her energy and sassiness and I loved her look in the second one. She’s a pirate queen and it just really works for her. China Ann McClain is great! Her giggles and smirks she gives throughout the second and third films are a mood. I like her friendship and chemistry with both Thomas Doherty (Harry) and Dylan Playfair (Gil), not to mention the rivalry she has with Dove Cameron. She really came and took over as a standout. Plus, whenever she’s on screen, I’m paying more attention and every song she’s involved in, I’m into. She’s great! I would love to have just an Uma movie, that way I can see more of her, Ursula and Harry and Gil.
  • Sarah Jeffrey as Audrey. She’s not in the second one but she is introduced as Aurora’s daughter and she and Mal have an instant dislike. Which was cool, I liked that. Throughout that first movie, she was Ben’s girlfriend and a little snooty and “perfect”. When Ben chooses Mal, when he’s under the spell, she starts dating Chad who becomes infatuated, even in the second one when she’s gone. But I liked her a lot more in the third one. She’s back from her trip and she’s upset and hurt about Ben and Mal, especially with Mal becoming Queen, that she allows her anger, loneliness and jealousy take over and she is enticed by Maleficent’ s scepter and is a villain throughout the film. Sarah Jeffrey clearly had fun playing Audrey like that.
  • Thomas Doherty as Harry Hook. He is a secondary character that is introduced in the second one and I like him too. First, he reminds me of Sebastian Stan and it’s uncanny. I need them to play brothers in a film, Seb can put on the accent. But he’s very…sensual. It’s a little weird because he’s a teenager, I guess flirty is the better, but Thomas Doherty plays Harry a little sensual, or at least that’s just his nature. I don’t know lol, but I liked him because his little laugh was great, the way he teased Mal and Jay was great with some history there that I wish we got to see and hear more about. He’s great to watch on screen and it seemed like he and Audrey might have hit it off at the end of the third one. I’m cool with that lol.
  • Dylan Playfair as Gil. His role is a lot smaller than Harry’s but he’s just as likable. He’s like an innocent puppy. He’s Gaston’s son and seems to be a little dim but with a heart of gold. He’s not that mean compared to Uma or Harry. I feel like he would thrive in Auradon, the way Evie did from the beginning. He and Jay really hit it off in the third one with their bromance, which was a nice addition since Carlos spent most of the movie worrying about Jane, so it was nice to see Jay make another friend. Gil is a puppy lol, best way to explain it and Dylan Playfair is really endearing as Gil. I would have love to see him interact with his dad.
Catchy Songs. Y’all the songs in these movies are super catchy. When I first started watching this, the only song I really remembered was “Rotten to the Core”, which is the opening song our main four VKs sing and it’s catchy. They often play parts of it throughout the movie, mostly Jay’s “rotten to core” part. It also becomes a little mantra for them through each movie which is kind of funny. Then the “Set it Off” song at the end was also catchy. Those are the only two I remember that I liked. I also remember the “Be Our Guest” rendition because it was terrible lol.
  • Descendants 2 has more songs that I can hear what they sound like and they’re great. My favorite is “Chillin Like a Villain” because I like the sequence, the lyrics, Evie’s voice is great on it and the dancing was great too. Uma’s song “What’s My Name” is also a BOP and I often find myself randomly humming it. She also does a rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” which was good. “It’s Goin Down” is a fight song and it’s also catchy, it’s almost like they wanted to do a little rap, it’s kind of funny because it’s a little cheesy but it’s a nice song.
  • Descendants 3 has a song that I think I loved the most because I literally cannot get it out of my head, and I liked the sequence in the movie. “Queen of Mean” is sooo great and Sarah Jeffrey clearly had fun performing it. The rap or “Spoken Word” part is nice but I like the singing part. “Good to be Bad” is the first song in the movie and it’s nice. “Do What You Gotta Do” is the song that Mal and Hades sing, and I enjoyed that song and the “Night Fall” which I didn’t realize was the name lol, is a great and fun sequence.
Then of course each movie has their big song at the end where everyone dances but I think I like the one in the third movie the best “Break This Down” because I really liked the choreography and it has the most meaning behind it.
Awesome Dance Choreography. I think this is coupled with the music, but I really like a lot of the choreography in all three films. They really get to shine in “Rotten to the Core” in the first one and then of course the big number at the end. Same thing goes for the second film but “Chillin Like a Villain” has some great moves, particularly the little step in the gif below. Ben (Mitchell Hope) is really trying back there lol.
original
I love that lol. In the third one, “Good to be Bad”, “Night Falls”, and “Break This Down” is dance heavy and I really like “Break This Down” dancing because they throw in some stepping and it’s so good. I mean, everyone gives it their best effort, but China Anne McClain, Cameron Boyce and Sarah Jeffrey really kill the step moves with Booboo Stewart having an honorable mention.
Interesting Stories. I think overall, the movies had interesting stories going on. I liked the first one in that they had to not only fit in with the kids at Auradon, but please their parents. I wanted to see more of that in later films, since Jafar, Cruella and EQ were still around. I feel like at least Jafar would try to get in touch with his kid because he’s crafty. In the second one, Mal had her personal issues but I enjoyed her rivalry with Uma, it was childish but a fair rivalry. I wanted them to take some of it even father further considering how it was clear there was a big issue between Uma’s group and Mal’s group. Then later, Audrey returned from her hiatus in the second one and she’s angry at everyone basically. She’s mad at Ben and Mal because Mal stole her boyfriend (which legit, she did) and Ben chose Mal in the end. So, she decides to steal the Queen of Auradon’s crown from the museum and then is enticed by Maleficent’ s scepter, not by much though, and wreaks havoc. I quite like that she was a bad guy, it made sense and it was fun to see a hero be a bad guy for a while. Plus, she has a great villain song.
Character Chemistry. One of the highest praises is the chemistry between our main four together and separately. Right away it’s clear that Mal and Evie are best friends and Jay and Carlos might be closer, but they all depend on each other. I like as the series goes on, we see these relationships get stronger and then we see some other moments like with Jay and Mal being rather close in the second one. He stays behind a little longer after the four of them have a moment and I wish we got to see more of that. I like the idea from the books that Jay and Mal were “friends” first and might have a stronger friendship because of that. Sure, Evie and Mal are best friends but I feel like Jay could have been able to reach a different side of Mal. When they did those things, I liked it a lot I just wanted them to do more of it. As for the romance relationships, I thought everyone had great chemistry where it counted. Ben and Mal are cute together, they really have nice chemistry. Evie and Doug were also super cute, and I wish we got to spend more time with their relationship. Carlos and Jane were cute, especially when Jane grows on you in the second one because she was a little meh in the first one. As for Jay, I liked the chemistry he had with Lonnie, I’m not sure what happened there but they would have been cute.
Interesting/Nice Costumes. The costumes for the characters on the Isle all have that skater/leather/put everything on look to it. Each movie costumes have evolved, and I wanted to try and share some evolutions, but it didn’t quite work out that way. But I think the outfits in the second one is my favorites. I like Mal’s lighter purple bangs and Evie’s dress she wears during ‘Chillin Like a Villain‘, it’s nice. I also really love Uma’s look, her braids, hat and everything. In the third one, I liked their “motocross” outfits, the leather jumpsuits. I liked Evie’s hair in each movie, but I think I liked it the best in the first and third one, when it’s down. I hate Carlos’ hair in the second one, the wig is bad! lol, I like his curls! I also think it was cool to see the modern takes on some of the classic Disney princess/villain attire, like Audrey’s Sleeping Beauty inspired outfit in the third one. I prefer Uma’s long braids compared to her hairstyle in the third one. I also like how each character had their color schemes. Mal=purple and green, Evie=blues and reds, Jay=yellows and browns, Carlos=whites, blacks, reds. It’s cute.
Cons:
More Carlos and Jay. I would even include Evie in some instances, Mal is clearly the lead, which is fine, but I think with her being the focus, we don’t get the chance to really spend time with the other three, especially Jay and Carlos. We do see character development but it’s so small as we didn’t know a ton about them to begin with, it’s almost like meh. At the end of the first one, Audrey runs over to dance with Jay and they kind of flirt so I thought we had that but then she was gone in the second one. But then, we got an interesting plot with Jay and Lonnie in the sequel, which I thought was going to be a thing since they have similar interests and personality, but I guess we just forgot about it in the third one. I would have liked that. Jay is a strong and silent type in many ways but he’s also a jock, he seemed “dumb” at times, but I don’t think he was stupid, just maybe not as book smart as Carlos… I don’t know, I feel like with his dad being Jafar, he’d be quite intelligent and witty, but he was just a physical dude. As for Carlos, he’s clearly the youngest and they all protect him, and it was nice seeing him grow up to be more confident, but it was almost like the extent of his growth at first was not being afraid of dogs. I mean, we do see him stand up to his mother over the video call and he chooses good along with the others at the end, but he didn’t have a clear arc other than the dog thing. At least that’s how I saw it. I guess in the end, he was quietly growing in confidence.
Emotional Support. We get this throughout the film, but I think the biggest thing is that I wish we got more of it from other people. Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos are supposed to be like the squad, best friends and sometimes, it doesn’t always come off that way because they don’t get to have a ton of moments where they can be emotional support to each other besides Mal. In the second one, Carlos points out that Evie and Mal often go off to talk and leave him and Jay out of it even though they’re a family. That was really the only time an effort was made for them all to have a moment and just talk. It still ended up being about Mal and I wish we had more chances to just catch up with the main four and have them catch up with each other. They all had their own lives, but they were still a family.
More Villain/Hero Parents. I wanted to see more parents. In the first one, we see each of our main four’s parents, which is cool because we can see what they diminished to being on the Island, but I wish we saw more of them. Of all the parents. I wanted to see more villain parents. In the third one, we get to see Dr. Facilier (he looked super cool btw), Lady Tremaine and Smee (but he has no lines), and in the second one, we saw Ursula’s tentacles and that was it. I wanted to see more of them. Gaston and Hook’s sons are there, why can’t we see them too? Or what about the parents in Auradon? We see Belle and Beast and Fairy Godmother but that’s it. I think we briefly see Snow White because she’s a news reporter and we see Sleeping Beauty’s mother but no one else. We’ve met, Chad, Cinderella’s son, Audrey, Aurora’s son, Lonnie, Mulan’s daughter. Doug, Dopey’s son and tons of other kids but no other parents. It would have been interesting to see the VKs interact with the actual victims of their parents and not just their kids. Plus, none of them besides Mal, got to interact with the kids of the parent’s victims. It would have been nice to see Jay meet and possibly befriend Aladdin and Jasmine’s kid. Evie never got to meet Snow White’s kid, but I guess she fell in love with Dopey’s kid so that’s enough… meh lol, they’re cute but I wish there was more. As for Carlos, well, hard to say how that would be handled lol but still, Anita and Roger’s kid? Missed opportunity really. We got to meet Hades who was dope, but it would have been nice to have him more involved instead of being the original keeper of the McGuffin.
The Parents. They’re not all bad but I don’t think they’re that great either. In the first movie, we see Cruella, Jafar, Maleficent and Evil Queen and honestly, it’s funny to see what happened to them, especially since the ends of their movies, three of them die and one of them ends up as a genie lol but they’re all mere shadows of themselves and it’s okay but I think it might have been better to show them a bit closer to their animated counterparts. Maleficent is played by Kristen Chenoweth and I can’t really take her seriously as the character. It’s supposed to be funny but meh. Maleficent is intimidating and she’s just not. She worked sometimes. I liked that Cruella was a little crazy lol and I really wanted to see sooo much more of her. Evil Queen is there too and she’s charming and I liked her and Maleficent had a working relationship but you’re not quite sure if they’re friends lol. Jafar owns a junk shop but I feel he was also too silly too. I get it, it’s a DCOM but I think you can still be a little silly but maintain their villainy. I also think it was a missed opportunity to not have them at least shown in the second and third movies. It didn’t have to be large parts but at least at the end, so we know they’re still around at least. Maleficent not so much since she got turned into a lizard but still. Also, the parents in Auradon aren’t that great either lol. Fairy Godmother hardly interacts with Jane, Belle is okay, but King Beast is kind of meh, he tells Ben in one of the movies “this is all your fault” like dude, that’s your teenage son, I mean jeez lol. Why didn’t Evie meet Doug’s parents? I wanted to see if Dopey was still Dopey lol. COME ON!
More Complex Adventures/Stories. So, there is a book series that coincide with the films, written by Melissa De La Cruz and I listened to the first two books (read by Sofia Carson, Evie herself) and I must read the next ones, but I quite enjoyed the adventure they go on in both of those books. They can’t do this now due to Cameron Boyce’s passing (Rest in Peace Cameron) but I think it was a missed opportunity to not have these characters have experiences that were a bit more complicated. Yes, each one dealt with Mal having to make some tough choices, but I hated that the other three didn’t really have to be involved. I mean, you take them out of the adventures and what do you lose? Nothing. They’d just be Mal’s friends like how Doug and Jane are treated at times.
  • Jay- I think if they had things like Jay having to continuously deal with violent impulses or his thievery. Chad even calls him out on being violent in the first one and we know that he’s good at stealing and we get callbacks sometimes, but I feel like it wouldn’t be that easy. He plays sports but was he just accepted because he did well? Chad was a jerk most of the time but was he the only one? It was too easy with Jay. Not to mention, he and Harry Hook clearly did not like each other but it was just some teasing, you never quite learn why they don’t like each other. Was it just because Mal and Uma didn’t like each other? Missed opportunities. What was he even doing in the third one outside of the main plot, like his side job? No idea.
  • Evie- Had her designing business and her relationship with Doug but I don’t think she ever had anything really happen. No one threatened her business, she didn’t have to deal with anyone thinking she’ll do to them what her mother did. I think it would have been nice to have issues with her business or something else that would make her frustrated with Auradon or something.
  • Carlos- Boooyyy, I wish he had more to do too. First, I was so annoyed to see how often he was holding that damn dog. I get it, but I was like ughhhh put him down! But outside of learning to love dogs, he also only is there to build his confidence with Jane as his girlfriend. He does nothing else. I don’t even know what he was doing in the third one because they all clearly graduated from high school by that time.
Overall, I really like these movies. I knew I probably would when I first heard about them. I think they’re fun, creative and unique in what they do in this world. I mean, the kids of Disney villains? That’s awesome. I like all the main characters, particularly the main four, the acting is good and clearly the actors have lots of fun. The costumes are cool, creative and I like the nods to other characters and stories. I looove the music, some of these songs really get stuck in your head and plus the dancing for most of the dance heavy songs are well choreographed. “Chillin like a Villain”, “What’s My Name” and “Queen of Mean” are my jams. I like the stories we’re shown in these films and I think it’s been great to see them unfold and grow. Now, I do think these movies don’t focus enough on some of the other main characters, particularly in Jay and Carlos who are interesting. Not to mention, it was a missed opportunity not to introduce other villain and hero parents, or even show the kids of some of our favorite heroes. I mean, not having Jay meet Aladdin and Jasmine’s kid is sad. While I like the stories, I wish they would have either gone in a different direction with some of them or considered having more mature side plots so we’re not just following Mal everywhere with all her problems. It’s just not as interesting as what some of the possibilities could have been. But otherwise fun and great trilogy!
Rating: Collectively 3.79 out of 5 stars.
Have you seen Disney’s Descendants? Which is your favorite movie in the franchise?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Don’t forget to like and follow this blog for more reviews.

My Thoughts: Once Upon a Time

~ Alyxwrites ~ 1 Comment

6056180_orig

So OUAT (Once Upon a Time) has been a favorite show of mine for years. It premiered in 2011. I remember seeing the previews for it and being super excited. I love fairy tales, I love Disney and I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the first episode hit and I loved it. It was a little rocky in the beginning but it found it’s footing and it led us into season two and so on. Sunday May 14, 2017 was the season six finale and it was a two parter. I always feel like this show should be two hours considering how much goes on and how much I feel is glossed over or left out.
So this is going to be a two parter to prevent it from being uber long. This post will be my thoughts on the show and the following part will be where I think the show will go in the next season as it’s been renewed by ABC. There will be spoilers ahead, of the season 6 finale as well as the entire show SOOOO if you don’t want to be spoiled be aware. If you have not caught up with the show, don’t read this because I will be spoiling all throughout INCLUDING the finale.
This is also JUST for Once Upon a Time NOT Wonderland. I might mention it but this is not about it.
Warning: This will probably also be long. Sorry Not Sorry.
The story
A young woman with a troubled past is drawn to a small town in Maine where fairy tales are to be believed.
Season 1– The Evil Queen interrupts Snow White and Prince Charming’s wedding to gloat about the Dark Curse she’s planning to unleash on everyone, to ruin their happy endings. A majority of the characters are transported to the town of Storybrooke, Maine where they no longer remember their original lives. Emma Swan is brought to Storybrooke on her 28th birthday by her biological son Henry Mills. He hopes she would break the curse cast by The Evil Queen Regina his adoptive mother.
  • This was my favorite season. I think the first two or three episodes are kind of hard because they’re a bit slow but things start to pick up. It was fun meeting new characters in Storybrooke and working alongside Emma and Henry to figure out who they are and how their stories fit in with the others. It was the most fun and most fresh. It was also kind of a bit dark with the whole storyline of Mary Margareta and David having an affair even though he was engaged. Plus, I think it’s when Rumple/Gold is at his best and when the story was pretty straight forward and didn’t have so many holes that required even more ridiculous answers to fill the ridiculous holes.
Season 2- Emma has broken the curse but the characters did not return to the fairy tale world and now must deal with their dual identities. Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin brings magic into Storybrooke and new threats are introduced in Captain Hook and Cora, Regina’s mother (The Queen of Hearts).
It was after season 2 that they started doing the split the season into two separate arcs (which I don’t think always worked).
  • In this season everyone is dealing with the fact that they have woken up, they are finding each other, their family members and loved ones. It’s beautiful, and Emma gets to officially meet her parents. This is also when Cora, Regina’s mother comes with Hook and she is a fantastic villain. Hook was on his revenge kick, which was interesting for a while, it got a bit old but in this season it was fine as it was his introduction.
Season 3- In the first half, the main characters travel to Neverland to rescue Henry who was kidnapped by Peter Pan to obtain the “Heart of the Truest Believer”. This struggle continues in Storbrooke which sends the characters to their original worlds causing Emma and Henry to escape to New York City. In the second half, the characters are somehow brought back to a brand new Storybrooke with the last year of memories removed. Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West appears with a plan to change the past and Emma must save her family.
  • At first I was a little upset that they made Peter Pan a bad guy, but Robbie Kay was soo good that I enjoyed it. I didn’t mind this being a half a season because Neverland (while I think there was a lot to be done there), got a little old after a while. It was an emotional season as Emma and Snow, came to grips that she was alone as a kid. It also had Neal return (Henry’s father) and Emma dealing with her feelings for him, as well as the new interest Hook was giving her. I still liked Hook at this point. The only thing I didn’t really like was that Peter Pan ended up being Rumple’s father who gave up being a father by wishing to give it up and he was made a kid again leaving a child Rumple on his own. It worked out well but I still didn’t like that twist.
  • Zelena is introduced and I loved her, truly WICKED. Her storyline is also kind of sad  in her childhood, it was also interesting seeing Oz. I think it was a bad idea though to have the Scarecrow be a CGI character, they should have casted someone and made him a bigger role as he’s the Scarecrow, I mean COME ON! We do see the Tin Man in season 6 though.
Season 4- The first half included time travel events from the previous season in which Elsa (Frozen) is accidentally brought from the Enchanted Forest of the past to Present day Storybrooke. While she searches for her sister Anna with the help of the main characters, they meet The Snow Queen. Meanwhile, Regina searches for the Author of Henry’s storybook so she can have her happy ending. After being banished from the town, Mr. Gold enlists the help of Cruella De Vil, Maleficent and Ursula to change the rules of heroes and villains. Henry and Emma have to restore reality and the truth before the switch becomes permanent.
  • A lot of people don’t like the Frozen movie, nor did they like the addition of it in the show, but neither bothers me. I like the movie, it’s not my favorite but I like it and I liked it in the show, mostly because I liked the actresses they chose for Anna and Elsa and I loved the connection the Snow Queen story.
  • In terms of the second half, the Queens of Darkness was a rushed storyline and there are still lines that haven’t been completed. I didn’t think we really got to know any of them that well, they all had their flashbacks but they weren’t fleshed out enough and Maleficent’s story just ended and hasn’t been resolved yet. So that’s still hanging around.
Season 5- The characters embark on a quest to Camelot to find Merlin (who was the best ever!) to free Emma from the Dark One’s powers, while King Arthur is determined to alter the balance between light and darkness using Excalibur. Things happen and the characters must go to the Underworld where they meet souls with unfinished business and face Hades. They must attempt to restore order to the chaos that was created and a war between light and darkness begins with the separation of Regina and her Evil Queen persona. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also join the story while bringing characters from the Land of Untold Stories.
  • So this was probably a season that had some interesting potential. We meet the people of Camelot, we met Lancelot before in an earlier season flashback. This is also where we meet one of the best “guest starring” characters: Merlin. Elliot Knight really was a gem. King Arthur is a villain, a desperate man and Emma struggles with the darkness inside as the newest Dark One. There was also some great interesting moments of Merlin’s history we didn’t learn, even with Nimue, who was also really interesting. They had great chemistry. Hook is swayed by the darkness and makes a stupid decision which solidified my already growing dislike for him.
  • The Underworld was also interesting, Hades was cool but I wasn’t into the whole “we all must go save Hook” thing. I also didn’t like how Mila (Rumple and Hook’s ex) died, it was just plain wrong. We got to see Cruella again and in the end, it was cool.
Season 6- The characters must defend Storybrooke from the combined threat of Mr. Hyde and the Evil Queen while Emma finds out about Aladdin (who was also great!) who was a Savior and must learn the fates of saviors. The battle of light and dark continue with an ultimate prophesied battle between Emma and a mysterious figure.
  • Had some interesting build up, but I honestly just wanted an entire season with Aladdin, Jasmine and Jafar as they were super interesting.
Regular Characters:
Emma Swan– In the beginning, she is a bondswoman, she does not believe in magic until she is brought to Storybrooke by Henry, her son. It takes a while to believe in his tales, but when she does, she learns that she’s powerful. She is The Savior as she is the product of true love. She has faced off against many villains. She is strong, blonde, wears an awesome red leather jacket, drives a yellow bug and is a great mom to Henry. She does have light magic, which allows for many things. She even experienced time as “The Dark One” for a bit. In each season, she has her struggles, sometimes they’re recycled (which I talk about later) but she always manages to pull through them, to find another way.
Snow White- Snow White is very different than how we know her. When we first meet her, it’s the usual storyline where she is sleep and is kissed by her Prince. When the first curse hits, she is ripped away from her happy ending with David and put into the real world as a school teacher “Mary Margaret Blanchard”. She has no memory of her past life even though she and David manage to find each other (due to intense drama) her personality is completely different from the awesome, feisty, archer that Snow White is. However, once the curse is broken, she is reunited with David, their love is beautiful, they reunite with Emma (Mary Margaret and Emma are friends and roommates) who is a bit weirded out by the idea that her parents are the same age as her. Snow White is so unyielding in her believe in hope, in her family, in that she and David will always find each other. She has so much love in her heart for everyone, even Regina who has ruined her life on many occasion. However, Snow is not perfect, she has made many mistakes, some really terrible ones but I think she is great.
Prince “David” Charming- David is Prince Charming, he is noble, brave, chivalrous and daring. He also loves his wife. When the first curse hits, he’s in a coma, “Mary Margaret” visits him as part of community service. When he wakes, he has a fiancee or wife (don’t remember) but he definitely knows she’s not the one. He and MM start an affair and it’s dramatic. When the curse breaks, he and Snow find each other. Throughout the series, his roles kind of go back and forth. Sometimes he’s just Snow’s husband, Prince Charming. Sometimes he takes the lead in storylines, sometimes he’s a bit judgmental but he’s definitely unflinching in his love for both Snow and Emma. His entire family in general, since that includes Henry Mills. I do kind of wish he had a friend though, he never really had a best guy friend, he and Hook did have rapport in later seasons which is nice, but I never got the sense that David really likes Hook even if he did marry his daughter. But the biggest thing about him is his willingness to sacrifice himself for his family.
Regina Mills- I LOVE Regina. Don’t get me wrong, she has done terrible things but she has had a great redemption arc. Regina is the Evil Queen, when she was a younger woman (I would say about 16-18) she fell in love with her stable boy, against her mother’s wishes who wanted her to become official royalty. She saves a 10 year old Snow White from getting hurt on a runaway horse, Snow catches Regina and Daniel together after Regina was supposed to be preparing to marry her father the King. Regina tells Snow to keep it a secret, but she finds out later that Snow told her mother because she thought she was helping which makes Regina upset. She marries the king, because Daniel is killed before her eyes but vowed revenge on Snow. Her flashbacks as the Evil Queen shows her hunting Snow White and before her revenge plot, she learns magic from Rumpelstiltskin. As Mayor Regina Mills, she runs Storybrooke, she started the first curse, she had her way in the town but when Emma comes in, she knocks it down and goes head to head with everyone for the longest time. She eventually starts become a hero, it takes a while but in the end, she is part of the hero squad. There’s a lot with her but she manages to find her true love in Robin Hood (which I will talk about later *mad face*), she gains a sister in Zelena (The Wicked Witch) and is happy at least.
Henry Mills- He is the one who started it all. He starts off as a 10 year old boy, he finds Emma, brings her to Storybrooke and works to get her to believe that she is The Savior in order to break the curse. Which she does. He puts a lot of things in motion. For a little while, he takes a back burner, but he becomes really important in the Neverland arc because he has the heart of the true believer even though he got on Regina a lot about using her magic to get her way. Regina and Emma will do anything for him (until… I will talk about later), he meets a girl in the Camelot arc and becomes the author later on. He believes in Emma unflinchingly and loves both his mothers, biological and adopted. We also see him grow up on the show.
Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold- He is my favorite character. He is involved in almost every storyline in pulling the strings. He was the “fairy godmother” to Cinderella, he was the Beast to Belle, he taught both Regina and her mother Cora, how to use magic,  he spends most of the first season trying to find his long lost son Baelfire. His father became Peter Pan, his mother is The Black Fairy. He is the Dark One, he is extremely powerful, he makes deals with people to give them what they want but he will come to collect at some point for what he wants. He’s very intelligent, he’s insane but he’s so great, especially with the many things he’s collected over the years that hold power. He falls in love with Belle (their first episode is one of my favorites), Emma tries to help him become a hero but he always reverts to wanting power over everything, which is why he always ends up alone. He does find his son who is living in the real world as Neal (who happened to meet Emma and fathered Henry). Rumple deals a lot with trying to figure out what he actually wants, he says he wants power but he also wants family and it goes back and forth and he makes the wrong choices, even though he has a woman who loves him. I love Rumple though. Still my favorite. Robert Carlyle is fantastic.
**Side Note: I know he cut his hair for the T2: Trainspotting  film but I don’t like it for the character lol.
Belle French- She starts off as a guest character, then a reoccurring to become a regular. Rumple shows up to help her kingdom but his price is that Belle goes with him as his maid. She chooses to do so for her kingdom as she wants to be a hero, from all of the books she’s read. Belle goes to his huge castle and in the beginning she’s afraid of him but eventually that becomes less and less afraid and wants to know him. They fall in love with each other, she happens to meet Regina who plants the idea of True Love’s Kiss in her head and she kisses Rumple and it starts to break the Dark One hold on him, but he chooses the power over her love. He lets her go and she goes. In the real world, Rumple thinks she’s dead but she’s been held in the mental hospital. When the curse is broken, they are reunited and it’s been a battle for the longest time. They do get officially married and Belle takes a backseat in a lot of storylines (to my chagrin). She works in the library which is fitting, the others come to her for research purposes, in flashbacks she has some adventures, but she spends a lot of time trying to believe in Rumple to be a good man until she eventually gives up on him because he’s stubborn. She tries to have her own life but ya know they never really let her do that. She and Rumple have a child, she names Gideon from a hero from one of her favorite books. Belle really tries to keep her baby from being corrupted by Rumple’s back and forth.
Captain “Hook” Killian Jones- He starts off as a villain, working with Cora, he’s a swashbuckling, witty, guy-liner wearing pirate. He just wants revenge against Rumple for killing his girlfriend (who was Rumple’s wife) but on the way, he ends up falling for Emma and vice versa, after he tells Neal (who decides he also wants to get Emma back) that he will fight for her. It takes everyone a long time to trust him, considering the things he’s done in the past, he even tricks Charming with a life or death situation. However, he does build a relationship and a life for himself in this new world. I don’t really find him that interesting, especially once he and Emma become a thing, (though I did like his episode where he and Emma go back in time in FTL and see how Snow and Charming met). He is harmed and dies, Emma tries to save him but in order to do so she ends up making him a Dark One, which he shows that he is easily corrupted by dark magic and gives in to Nimue (the first Dark One) and then does sacrifice himself to save everyone and he dies. In the Underworld arc, everyone spends all of their time trying to save him, he does manage to hold out against Hades, but he is given a loophole and comes back to life. In season 7, he proposes to Emma and they get married, but in there, it’s revealed that he killed David’s father in the past, he and Emma have a moment where they’re separated because he freaks out and runs when Emma tells him not to hide things and lie to her. But in the end, married.
Zelena “The Wicked Witch”-  She is introduced as Regina’s long lost older sister, she was given away by Cora because she was a baby out of wedlock whose father wasn’t royal. She wanted to be royal and she knew that having Zelena would not bring that. So Zelena grows up in a damaged household, but she shows magic experience early. It is revealed that she and Regina did meet as children but Cora uses magic to make them forget each other due to Zelena being a peasant. But Zelena knows that she was given up and that all of the good attention was given to Regina and she is extremely jealous which makes her turn green from the inside out. She becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, which has ties in with the other witches, with Dorothy (though water does not melt her). She has an infatuation with Rumple, especially when she learns that he’s teaching Regina magic, she wants him to choose her to cast his dark curse. Her main goal is just make Regina pay for being the one Cora chose. She is defeated, Rumple kills her but she manages to come back and replaces Maid Marian, kills her and tricks Robin Hood in having a baby with her. With that, she manages to come back and work with Regina and the Charming team. She struggles for a little while, especially when she meets Hades and he turns out to be her true love, she chooses Regina over her true love and destroys Hades. When Regina splits herself, she bonds with the Evil Queen, and in season 7 she gives a huge sacrifice and gives up her magic to save everyone. I love her too.
Villains:
There have been a lot of villains on the show, some have been more important than others or they’ve been on the show way more than others. I’m not going to talk about them really but I will mention them. At least the ones I remember and that stood out.
  • Regina Mills “Evil Queen”
    • Lana Parilla owns this role, I love Regina. She’s great.
  • Rumpelstiltskin/ Mr. Gold/ The Dark One
    • Robert Carlyle is iconic in this role, I love him. I definitely prefer him in his makeup because I think he’s able to have way more fun in that role. Plus, the voice, the walk, the ticks for the Rumpelstiltskin is great. I do like how he changes the cadence and tone of his voice for Mr. Gold. He’s the string in a lot of storylines, he is the catalyst for a lot of things and he always has a stake in a fight. It may not be in the forefront or obvious but it’s there. He always figures out a way and sometimes it’s so underhanded and backhanded that it’s amazing how he somehow always wins even when he loses.
  • Cora Mills/ Queen of Hearts
    • Barbara Hershey was AHMAZING in this role. Cora was so ruthless. She wanted Regina to be Queen and does whatever it takes for her to be Queen. She orchestrates the situation of Regina saving Snow on her horse, she kills Daniel (Regina’s first love) in front of Regina, even though Regina sends her to Wonderland, she still keeps her hands in the pot from away. She comes back and tries to get Regina on her side, she is very good with her words. She also had a thing for Rumple lol. She seemed like she was gonna turn it around but Snow pulls a bad decision and Cora dies. She shows back up in the Underworld and mends the bridges between herself and Regina and Zelena, it was a touching moment. Rose McGowan was also good as a young Cora.
  • Zelena/ The Wicked Witch.
    • Rebecca Mader was great, I love her delivery, I loved her expressions and monologues.
  • Malcolm/ Peter Pan
    • Robbie Kay was great as Peter Pan. I love that character and it was interesting seeing him as a villain and I loved it. I didn’t like the twist of him being Rumple’s father. A man child, who chooses to be young again instead of caring for his son. It runs in the family apparently.
  • Ingrid/The Snow Queen
    • Elizabeth Mitchell was great, she was the Snow Queen, which is what Frozen was based on, but actually having her be this broken woman who felt alone after losing both her sisters (one of them being Anna and Elsa’s mother) and she tries to find them again in Elsa and Emma who both have magic, she wants them both to embrace the extent of their powers (they’re also blondes lol). She can also be argued to more of the tragic villain who later becomes a hero as she willingly sacrifices herself to save Anna and Elsa.
  • Maleficent
    • I honestly liked her look in the beginning because it was different, they changed her appearence after the film came out, but that’s fine. She was also interesting, also a bit of a tragic villain but she’s disappeared along with her long lost daughter.
  • Ursula
    • She was a villain for a moment. Part of the Queens of Darkness arc, she is the first one to let it go, she was a mermaid who cursed herself to get back at her father but when they reconcile she goes away. It was unfortunate with her costume and that in the earlier episodes with Ariel that we never really got see Merrin Dungey play off of JoAnna Garcia-Swisher.
  • Cruella De Vil
    • She was great, definitely a favorite of mine. Not a redeemable villain, Victoria Smurfit played her to a T. She cannot kill due to The Author getting back at her for tricking him, she has the power to influence animals, and she does die and shows up in the Underworld. So great.
  • Nimue/ Original Dark One
    • Carolina Ford plays her as both Nimue pre Dark One and as The Dark One.  She loves Merlin (they’re sooo cute) but she tries to manipulate Emma into killing Merlin but is unsuccessful but is with Hook. She is able to manipulate others into doing what she wants, she is ultimate darkness and I wish we saw more of her.
  • Captain Hook/ Dark One
    • Didn’t like this, I already didn’t really care for him, this storyline made me dislike him even more.
  • Hades
    • He was great, Greg Germann was able to be menacing but also pull the humor they had in the animated film. I think it was a missed opportunity to not have any true scenes between Hades and Hercules.
  • Fiona/ The Black Fairy
    • She was a villain of season 6, I thought Jaime Murray was really good. She has this smile on her face while spewing the most ridiculous nonsense, it was so great. She also pulled a lot of strings behind the scenes, similar to her son Rumple. Fiona became the Black Fairy by choice, she had Rumple, freaked out because his Fairy Godmother Tiger Lily foresaw him being a Savior (yes Rumple was supposed to be a Savior) and she tried to learn spells and magic to protect him from that, ends up becoming the very person he was meant to defeat (which he does in the finale). She really gets her plan in motion in the finale but she stays in the shadows mostly before now.
  • Gideon
    • Mostly a pawn by the Black Fairy. He is Rumple and Belle’s son, he was kidnapped after BF attacked the Blue Fairy. His main job is to fight The Savior and kill her. He shows up in Belle’s dreams as Morpheus telling her to let go of Rumple due to him not choosing her etc. etc. same old stuff…but turns out he’s the one Emma’s been seeing in her visions. The Black Fairy has his heart, he’s good but she’s corrupting him and makes him go after Emma in the finale, he kills her, but due to her willingly dying, his life resets and he’s reverted back into a baby, since he was raise away from Bella and Rumple in a different dimension where time is faster.
  • The Author/ Isaac Heller
    • This dude is just a slime ball. I don’t even care lol, Henry took over for him. The only thing I remember him actually doing is getting his feelings hurt with Cruella and writing that she can’t kill anyone.
  • Jafar
    • There are technically two versions of him, the version in OUAT in Wonderland and the one in season 6. I don’t think they’re meant to be the same person, which is unfortunate. But he was wasted. I thought Oded Fehr was a great choice to pick up this character after Naveen Andrews who was also great. I will talk more about him later.
  • Emma Swan/The Dark One
    • Her outfit was amazing but I would argue that while she was The (A) Dark One, she wasn’t evil but it was cool to see her lurking around.
Reoccurring Characters
This means they showed up more than once. It could have been twice but it’s more than once but they’re also the ones who are most involved.
  • The Seven Dwarves– We spend most of the time with Grumpy/Leroy who is great “The CURSE! IT’S HERE!” but they’re cool.
  • Robin Hood- I loved him. I’m still upset at what happened to him and I will never forgive it. He and Regina were meant to be together, he had two kids, albeit he was tricked for the second one but still. They killed him, it wasn’t even a death, he was erased before Regina’s eyes. Then they bring him back but as a alternate version and they put Regina’s evil half “The Evil Queen” with that version of Robin. Fine but NO!
  • Widow Lucas/Granny- She owns a diner which is the center of the town basically. She has a crossbow, so when she’s involved, she’s cool.
  • Blue Fairy– She is still a mysterious figure to me.
  • Mulan- She is a warrior who starts off assisting Prince Phillip on his quest of finding Princess Aurora. Mulan has been in and out of storylines and I wish they would have done way more with her.
  • Tinker Bell- She started off as a fairy in training “Green Fairy”, she goes to help Regina find her true love, she guides her but Regina ultimately shies away from it and it causes Tinker Bell to lose her wings as she broke fairy rules. She goes to Neverland. She later comes back to help Regina even though she’s hurt and angry. She forgives Regina and manages to help more later.
  • Merida- Following her movie (which I liked her in the show way more than I did in the film), she witnesses her father’s death and becomes the Queen of her kingdom. She has to prove herself to the United Clans and does so. She ends up getting swept up in Hook’s Dark Curse and goes to Storybrooke where Emma keeps her prisoner and uses her to train Mr. Gold in being heroic to free excalibur. She also later meets Mulan and I think they had a mutual attraction but nothing ever happened.
  • Ruby/Red Riding Hood- She was a main character in season two, she is Snow’s best friend in the Enchanted Forest. Her cloak is magical, it helps keep her wolf side under control as before she would turn into a wolf at night, unknowingly, and attack so the cloak is magical. She is loyal, she is awesome and I love Ruby. She ended up disappearing after a while, but comes back in season 5 I think because she went to FTL to try and find more wolves, but ends up going with Mulan to Oz, where they meet Dorothy, who gets put under a sleeping curse and Ruby kisses her waking her with True Love’s First Kiss. I wouldn’t have minded that if it wasn’t so rushed, it was handled so sloppily.
  • Ariel- She’s a mermaid who first saves Snow White, they become friends, and go to a ball that Prince Eric is having, as Ariel is infatuated with him. She comes in and out a lot, she ends up being at the mercy of Regina, who steals her voice and it’s only granted to her with a magical bracelet that also gives her legs. Ariel finds Eric again later, she accidentally get put into a bottle with the Jolly Roger but is freed and is living with Eric on an island. I loved her involvement but I wish they handled her better, same with Eric, I didn’t like the actor they chose for Eric and I don’t like how they just kept throwing out information with them without really earning it.
  • Cinderella/ Ashley-  I guess she was more of a “guest star” than a reoccurring but whatever, I liked her. She was cute, before the curse, she’s a teenager who’s pregnant and creates a bond with Emma (who could relate). In FTL, Rumple was her Fairy Godmother lol and she’s been in and out a few times. The last time we saw her, was a dramatic turn with her stepmother and stepsisters, where one of them was nice.
  • Merlin- I will talk about him sooo much more later but I AM STILL UPSET AT WHAT THEY DID TO HIM! I loved Merlin, he was my favorite new character they brought into the show and he should have been made a regular. He should be part of this new season. He is the originator of LIGHT magic, we first meet him appearing to a young Emma, we then see some flashbacks of him fighting a Dark One and he’s turned into a tree because he wouldn’t attack. Then, Emma frees him from the tree using a mixture of light and dark magic. Then he’s sassy lol which I loved and Elliot Knight was fantastic.
  • King Arthur- He was a villain but I didn’t put him in the villains list because I thought he was more of a misguided, desperate man than a villain. He made bad choices because he felt that he was told something. He was pretty terrible but he redeemed himself in the Underworld arc.
  • Aladdin- *sighs* A lot of people had issues with the accents, it didn’t bother me as no one really has accents based on their characters. But I liked him and I wanted more of him. We first see him in a sort of flashback where he’s lived a bit of time as a Savior and now he was a shell of a man, he was hiding in a shack. Jafar comes and taunts him. Then in the past, we see him in Agrabah as a  thief, then he meets Jasmine and she talks him into going with her to the Cave of Wonders where it’s revealed that he is a Savior. Jafar shows up, taunts him and then we meet him again later. I think Aladdin had a lot of potential. It turns out that he got swept up in the Dark Curse and had been living in Storybrooke for a time, Emma manages to find him using their connection to Savior magic and it turned out that he cut away his Savior magic with shears from The Fates. He and Jasmine reunite, he then willingly becomes a Genie so he could help. The Evil Queen steals the lamp, she and David had a fight and David steals back the lamp. THEN Jasmine makes a wish and they both disappear to find Agrabah, then the happen to meet up with Hook later, they find Ariel who happened to have a bottle that holds Jafar who is a genie (which I’m assuming is after his time in Wonderland from OUAT in Wonderland), they finally kiss and they break the spell on Agrabah and Aladdin is free from the Genie life. We see him in the finale but hardly though it was great seeing him in that Prince Ali getup. So many missed opportunities.
  • Jasmine- So I did appreciate how they had her have to square off with Jafar in the end. In the flashbacks, she’s feisty and almost a little manipulative but she gets the job done. She manages to help Aladdin figure out he’s The Savior, she wants him to accept his destiny. When he leaves, she stays to be a proper leader after Aladdin makes a comment about her not knowing her own kingdom. She fails, runs off to the Land of Untold Stories and is brought to Storybrooke with the others, where she pretends to be someone else as Snow’s teacher’s assistant. When Aladdin comes back, they have their moments but never kiss, then she makes a wish when he’s a Genie to find Agrabah and they go off on their own adventure where she faces Jafar. She’s afraid of him but manages to pull through and win. I think it was great they had her face her fears but she was kind of useless for a long time, even in the Flashbacks, we don’t really see her and Jafar have many interactions for her to be so afraid of him, he also never really did anything to warrant fear personally.
  • Tiger Lily- So far it looks like we’ll be seeing more of her, but she started out as a Fairy. She was Rumple’s Fairy Godmother and we’re still learning more about her. But I’m interested and I love that her Fairy outfit has a lot of Native tribe hints to it and I love that. She also helped Hook on Neverland in the present as she’s no longer a Fairy I don’t think, similar to Tinker Bell. I don’t know why yet though.
  • Princess Aurora– Yeah, she was annoying, they probably could have used her better but meh.
  • Elsa– I know a lot of people don’t like Frozen and did not like the addition of the characters on the show but I like the movie and I didn’t mind their additions. I actually think I liked them in the show more than I liked them in the movie. Georgina Haig was really good casting for Elsa and I liked her friendship with Emma and I liked how they incorporated her character into the Snow Queen thing especially since Elsa was based off the Snow Queen story.
  • Anna– Elizabeth Lail was great as Anna, she was less annoying but she kept the fun and quirky personality of the character. The need to help her sister was great and I enjoyed it.
The Musical Episode.
They finally did a musical episode that held Emma and Hook’s wedding. Snow and Charming made a wish (in the past) to defeat The Evil Queen which the wish turned out to be making everyone sing (though it wasn’t constant singing like in Les Mis). It was pretty great to be honest, a lot of plot holes was introduced in this episode but they did the whole “you won’t remember this later” thing so those holes were filled. For example, Snow and David met Hook in the past, but when they met him in season two, they never met him before, NOT TO MENTION Snow meets him again later before she marries David when she tries to run away and buy passage on a ship. But I loved the episode, I thought it was sweet and cute. Zelena’s song was my favorite but it ends with The Black Fairy casting a Dark Curse.
Season 6 Finale.
So in the two hour finale, The Black Fairy Fiona cast her curse, everyone is more or less transported back to the Enchanted Forest, Emma is in a mental hospital due to her buying into Henry’s “delusions” about the Once Upon a Time storybook. The Final Battle that had been hyped up all season is over Emma’s belief, basically if she stopped believing in magic then Fiona would gain godlike powers and break all Laws of Magic. Meanwhile in the Enchanted Forest, the others have gathered at Regina’s castle, the other worlds are disappearing due to Emma’s belief fading and other people have escaped to Regina’s castle, including Aladdin and Jasmine. David and Hook deal with a giant dragon and a beanstalk to get a magic bean, the Evil Queen sacrifices herself to hold off the Darkness to delay everyone else being wiped away. Emma destroys the Storybook at Fiona’s prompting and when she returns to her home away from Storybrooke, she finds a hand drawn Storybook from Henry and it restores her belief just in time. Gold faces off with Fiona when he finds out she lied (She’s his mother by the way) and he kills her fulfilling the prophecy put on him as a child. The curse breaks and everyone returns to the town. However, Gideon is still under Fiona’s spell and fights Emma, but she pulls a Harry Potter move and is killed, however, this releases Emma’s light magic and the battle is won. Both Gold and Emma chose good so Gideon is changed back into a baby to give Belle and Rumple a chance to raise him this time and all of the realms are restored including anyone who might have “died”. So happy endings all around, they have a nice little dinner. Some years later, we see a little girl from the beginning of the finale, go to Seattle where she finds adult Henry who doesn’t know her and tells him she’s his daughter.
I liked the finale, I thought it was handled very well and they really tried to wrap a lot of storylines they pulled in this season. I think there’s a lot of potential still in the show, especially with most of the cast gone after this season. But if it would have ended right here, that would have been okay too, the idea of the main people we’ve journeyed with since 2011 is bittersweet and I cried. I CRIED!
I knew Emma was going to die, but I hoped it wouldn’t be a final death, especially after she’d just got married, but like I said, a Harry Potter in which she knows she would die and willingly allows it to happen, but that allows her light magic to take over. It was a beautiful scene to be honest.
I love this show so very much. I think they have dropped the ball a couple of times but I stuck with it because I couldn’t wait to see what they did next. There are so many fairy tales, so many pieces of literature they could dive into… which makes this a great transition into my next piece.
Part II: The Future of Once Upon A Time.

ouat-s2-poster

Movie Review: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

~ Alyxwrites ~ 5 Comments

15-beauty-and-the-beast-01

This was my most anticipated film of the year. I was so excited. I saw it twice and I loved it both times. Whatever I say here, unless I blatantly state as such, is not knocking the original animated film, nor am I detracting from it or anything like that. This review is for this film only. Due to it being a remake, I may say something about the source material but as comparison if anything.
Summary: An adaptation of the Disney fairy tale about a monstrous-looking prince and a young woman who fall in love.
Pros:
Cast and Characters. There are a lot of characters in this film but they were all so great that I have to talk about them. Some will probably get more detail than others, but just bear with me.
  • Emma Watson as Belle. I loved this casting when it was announced. I think she was prefect for the role, she embodied Belle’s intelligence, her spunky attitude (plus a bit more depth), her beauty and her love for those and the things she loved. I saw a lot of criticism before the film came out about Emma not being graceful enough for Belle and I think that’s just silly. In this film, Belle is a farm girl and she gets her hands dirty, she even makes her own washing machine. She’s beautiful yes, she’s whimsical yes, but she also takes charge and does her thing. When she goes to save her father, she drops everything and goes. I loved it. I loved how she stood up to Gaston, she didn’t stroke his ego, she just said no. Her love for books was evident, it wasn’t just holding one, she really loved them. I wonder if some of these aspects came easy to Emma being that she played Hermione Granger (who in some ways is very similar to Belle) and is very similar to Belle herself. When it came time for her to be graceful, she could. The dance was beautiful and she took charge there as well. I liked her quite a bit. She handled her emotional moments very well, and she had control of her eyebrows lol, sometimes Emma Watson does the eyebrow dance and it was under control here lol.
  • Dan Stevens as The Beast/The Prince. 
    • We see him as the Prince in the beginning, the douchebag Prince. It was quite entertaining to see that, I’m glad they did that, also by showing us that he was an adult when he was cursed. I know his age is still in question from the animated film** but he’s obviously well aware of his actions here.
    • The Beast: We spend the most time with him in his form and he was so sassy. I grinned like an idiot during a lot of his dialogue (I’ll talk about his appearence later). He was mean and he was course and unrefined. His shock at Belle wanting to take her father’s place I thought was well done, as his experience with fathers wasn’t good. He’s really only mean in the beginning and I thought Dan Stevens did a great job in portraying that, even if his expressions were CGI’ed, his eyes were a great catalyst for his acting. Some of the nuisances he would do, like his expressions or his movements were great additions to the character. He also had great chemistry with Emma Watson both as a Beast and a man later.
  • Luke Evans as Gaston. I like Gaston because he’s a villain in the animated film, but I do NOT like him as a character because he’s terrible. However, I actually liked him in this film. Luke Evans was so charismatic that he was more on the thin line of being a villain more than giving off that impression the entire time. I think it helped that he wasn’t a gigantic muscular dude. His humor was on point, his facial expressions when he’s admiring himself, when Belle turns him down, when he gets angry but is calmed down by LeFou, it was on point. I quite enjoyed him. Plus, I don’t think I ever disliked Luke Evans in a film. It’s easy to see that he enjoyed playing this part. When he did go into full villain mode, he was a scary dude. His demeanor changed and that makes for a scary villain.
Supporting Characters. Oh man. I’m going to go through them as quickly as I can.
  • Ewan McGregor as Lumiere. I think he was my favorite. I read about Ewan McGregor being worried about the accent, I’m not French but I thought it sounded fine. At least for the type of film and character. I liked that he was a little man who could make his form look like a candelabra, it helped him move differently and quickly. His take charge and almost busy body attitude makes him the orchestrator for a lot of things. Lumiere was also the source of a lot of humor in the castle. He’s so romantic and carefree it’s hard to dislike his character. His mocking impressions were great. The emotion at the end… *sniffs*
  • Sir Ian McKellan as Cogsworth. He was great. He’s the head of the household but he’s totally afraid of The Beast. It’s hilarious see him to talk about him to the others but when he thinks he’s around, how scared he gets. McKellan has a great voice and at first it might be odd but it fit the character.  He also had some dry humor going on which I love.
  • Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts. She’s amazing. Her Mrs. Potts is the same in her motherly attitude towards everyone but don’t make her mad, she will put you in your place. I loved it. The voice Thompson put on for her showed that she was mostly likely a village woman and obviously a servant. I loved her relationship with Chip and how she was the one who tried to guide the others.
  • Kevin Kline as Maurice. He was great, definitely can see in a way where Belle gets her “oddities” and headstrong personality from. Kevin Kline is great in this role. He is an active father and will do anything for his daughter.
  • Josh Gad as LeFou. He’s very different from his animated counter part, which was fine with me, all that controversy for this character didn’t bother me. He’s funny, he didn’t overdo it which I think he can do a lot. The little nuances he did for this character was great and cute.
  • Audra McDonald as Madame Garderobe. A renowned opera singer who gets turned into a wardrobe. I bet Audra McDonald had fun in the recording studio for her character, she sings more than she actually talks and she’s hilarious. Being that as the petals fall they become less and less human, she has a hard time staying awake. It’s great. Also, Audra McDonald is a QUEEN. Her voice!
  • Gugu Mbtha-Raw as Plumette. Also has a French accent, I think it’s really just her and Lumiere which was fine. She was flirty, sassy and romantic. I also loved her reveal at the end, it was so cute.
  • Nathan Mack as Chip. Aww so cute! He definitely seemed a bit older than his animated counterpart, but he was cheeky and used his saucer as a skateboard, which like Lumiere, helped him move around quicker.
  • Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza. I love Stanley Tucci, he’s a chameleon. He was a cool character, we don’t see tons from him but a talking piano, that’s awesome. He has some great scenes at the end with the mob.
The Costumes. Jacqueline Durran’s costumes are to die for! The attention to detail on them just blew my mind as I watched the film. I liked the little pockets on Belle’s apron, I liked the detail on the inside of her cloak. The red/pink dress she wears during the “Something There” was so beautiful. I know a lot of people didn’t like her dress but I loved it from the first time I saw it. It pays homage to the original dress but it puts it’s own spin on it. I’m not a big ruffle person but the way the dress moved, it worked. I read it took 12,000+ hours to make that dress. It was beautiful on Emma Watson. The Beast wears this tattered cloak and it’s so haunting and scary, it shows that he is still in his angry and pity mindset. Later, he wears this long blue cloak and OMG I wanted that thing. His suit during the dance was also beautiful and the suit at the end. The attention to detail on the clothes. Gaston’s red coat in his iconic “Gaston” scene was also beautifully made, I want that too. All of the clothes, all of the nods to the French fashion was there.
The Relationships. This is going to be broken down a bit.
  • Belle and the Beast. Of course this is the most important one and I thought they handled it well. They added a bit more for them to do, more conversations and interactions. We can see the influence she has on him. The looks they give each other, it’s really cute. I thought Emma and Dan had great chemistry, even with the CGI Beast lol. The ending is also really cute.
  • Belle and Gaston. He was definitely persistent and it was funny. However, I liked the fact that she always just said “no” or turned him down without stroking his ego. I also liked how she stood up to him during the climax. It showed her strength even more.
  • Belle and Maurice. Such a great father/daughter relationship. He really loves her and would do anything for her, and same for her. She wastes no time in going to him both times. The love they have for each other was evident, I thought Watson and Kline had some great chemistry.
  • The Beast and his servants. Always a humorous relationship. They are his family, no matter how badly he may have treated them. They were afraid of him but they also stood up to him quite a bit, mostly Mrs. Potts and Lumiere. The scene before the dance was a great scene with all of them.
  • Lumiere and Plumette. So cute and romantic. I also loved the interracial aspect of it.
  • Lumiere and Cogsworth. Of course, a great friendship. It’s easy to see that they are polar opposites but Cogsworth respects Lumiere’s carefree attitude and Lumiere appreciates Cogsworth’s loyalty and sarcastic comments. The ending scene when the last petal falls, quite emotional.
  • Mrs. Potts and Chip. I’m glad the whole idea of Mrs. Potts have 50 million children was “addressed” here, lol but they were adorable. Her frantic-ness at the end. This mother loves her son and I don’t think she was too old to have a kid that young. *rolls eyes*
  • Maestro Cadenza and Madame Garderobe. Another interracial that I loved. They were separated due to the curse as she’s a wardrobe and he’s a piano but the end lol. He misses her voice and she misses his music, perfect couple.
The Production Design. The sets on this film are so beautiful. The Beast’s castle is so large, with it’s many twists and turns and the attention to detail with the French inspired architecture. The way it continues to change as the rose continues to wilt is pretty amazing. The layout of his entire land, whenever there was an aerial view of the castle grounds, it was so breathtaking. The town is also nicely done, it looks like a small town, closed in which helps adds why Belle wants to leave it. The forest, the way the snow looked in the forest, and even how it looked at the castle. So beautiful.
The Character Design. I’ll mention this again later, but I liked how the supporting characters looked in their looks. I thought with Lumiere being a little man who can manipulate his appearence to look like a candelabra was smart and unique. It allows him to move quickly and more. Cogsworth was so intricately designed. I understand that some found Mrs. Potts and Chip to be creepy, but seeing them on the screen, I don’t think so. Definitely French designed tea set. I was a little wary about Plumette’s look but I ended up loving it. I liked the fact that she could fly, it made sense with all of her feathers and it made it easier for her to maneuver and do her thing, she was also really beautiful. The wardrobe, seeing her talk was kind of weird but awesome at the same time, her design was great and the piano as well. All of the trinkets in the house were very well designed.
The Music. Alan Menken returned to help with the music once again, especially as the iconic songs were slightly changed in their arrangement and he wrote four new songs for the film. I liked that The Beast had a song, it helped give a bit more insight to him at the moment and it was my favorite song actually. There’s a song that the main people in the castle sing and it was very sweet. It reminded me of “Human Again” but it was a slow and sweet song. Belle also has a song in a particular part of the film, I liked the song. Maurice also has a quick short song. The other songs were also very well done and I think the actors did well in the singing of them. I was impressed.
  • The Musical Numbers. So this film is definitely a musical and for the most part, they are very similar to how they are in the animated film which isn’t a bad thing, but they do put their own updated spin on it. In the “Belle” number, the town is smaller so it feels a bit more suffocating and I don’t think there is a Bookshop, I think that dude was the Priest but just happened to have books that Belle could borrow. I also loved how Gaston and LeFou were outside the town (which makes sense if they were hunting lol). “Be Our Guest” was also well done, it was colorful, it wasn’t as big as it could have been but I thought it was sweet and they did a good job. “Something There” allowed for us to see more interactions with Belle and the Beast and it was cute and had some funny moments. “Gaston” was definitely the most fun and “Beauty and the Beast” was lovely.
The story/Updates. So the story is the same as the animated film, obviously, they take some notes from the original story in which Belle asks Maurice to bring her a rose from his travels. I love this story. It’s not Stockholm Syndrome, especially not even here because she definitely could have escaped, was going too and she even leaves.
  • The updates (without spoiling): I’m just gonna name a few, I think a lot of the updates helped answer questions the original left a question.
    • The fact that Maurice was a music box crafter.
    • Belle made her own washing machine and wanted to teach girls how to read.
    • Maurice’s reactions to the castle.
    • Some extra details in the opening scene, about why the town doesn’t seem to know about the castle and prince.
    • A few more conversations between Belle and the Beast in understanding each other
    • How Belle got the Beast back to the castle after the wolf attack
    • A conversation between Gaston and Maurice
    • LeFou’s character
The Transformation Scene. I was worried on how they were going to do this scene and I thought it was handled well. It’s ultimately the same, but how it gets started is a bit different and I don’t mean with Belle’s confession. There’s a nice musical beat and BOOM. It was even better the second time around. Of course the close up shot of his eyes is always important. Funny thing: When I saw it the first time, and Dan Stevens did his dramatic turn around, my friend and little sister said “Ooooo” and “OH he’s hot. Oh yes” lol. When I saw it the second time, and he turned around my two friends said “Gaston is way cuter” and I just cracked up. I find Dan Stevens to be very handsome and I love his eyes and I think Luke Evans is also very handsome, two very different looking men.
Cons:
The Beast’s Animation. Overall, I liked his look but there were a few times in the film where it looked weird. Sometimes when there was a wide shot where he see his full body, it was strange. Also, in his solo song, he’s like bounding around, it looked kind of weird at times. Also, it would have been nice if he was a bit bigger, in terms of width, like his chest could have been a bit bigger. Sometimes, his height seemed to change, it might have been the camera angles but at times he looked maybe a foot or two taller than Belle and other times he look huge! It was inconsistent.
The Opening Scene. So, I appreciate the opening in that we get to actually see the Prince be a jerk, but it was also a little weird. I think it was the narration that wasn’t doing it for me. I think it would have been better to just see it without the narration attached.
The Paris Scene. So there’s a scene in the film, it’s about the halfway mark that I could have done without. It was cute and sweet and I liked Belle’s song but I also don’t think it was necessary. It seemed to be a deleted scene that was left in the film.
Overall, I loved this movie. It was easy for me to separate this from the animated film. I think the animated film is the best Disney movie to date and I was excited to hear about what they were planning to do. I was excited and I think my expectations were met, it didn’t exceed them but met them. I expected a good film, with a new spin on the original and I think I got that. If you love the original and think it should never be touched then you might not like this and should not see it. If you refuse to have an open mind, then don’t bother. If you love the original but are curious to see what they do, then check it out. The original will never go away, it will always be superior and it will always be there.
Beauty and the Beast did a lot of things right, the casting was well done, everyone was great in their roles, their respective looks and songs were good and I enjoyed watching and listening. I think Emma Watson and Dan Stevens had great chemistry and I think Ewan McGregor and Luke Evans were standouts in their roles. The music holds up, even with slightly new arrangements it’s still beautiful and I enjoyed the new songs. I loved the look of the film, the costumes, the production design, the attention to detail given to everything is so evident to me that I think this film will be a contender in some technical awards Oscar season. It does have it’s missteps, I think the animation of the Beast goes in and out on looking real at times, the opening narration just didn’t do it for me, I wish it was just the scene, the extra plot scene could have been put on the deleted scenes floor.
With that said… I still loved this movie.
 Rating: 4. 27 out of 5 stars.
Have you seen Beauty and the Beast? Have you seen the original? If not, what’s wrong with you? What did you think of the remake? Comment below in the comments and let me know!
My Disney Live Action Remake List from Best to Least Best:
  1. Jungle Book
  2. Beauty and the Beast
  3. Cinderella
  4. Maleficent
I don’t count Pete’s Dragon as I never saw the original.
**I almost forgot about this, but in reference to my asterisks above, I wanted to mention about the Prince’s age in the animated film. I never thought that he was a child, I always assumed that time stopped. I mean, thinking about it now, it’s odd because that would mean did the town age? Or…? But the stained glass windows in the opening of the film didn’t look like a child whereas I guess in the Enchanted Christmas, he was a kid. I don’t know… it’s always weird to me. So I’m glad they made sure we knew he was an adult in this film.

Trailer Reaction: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

~ Alyxwrites ~ 1 Comment
 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).
beauty-and-the-beast-disney-emma-watson-gif-favim-com-4469427
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.
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-32-18-pm
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-32-59-pm
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.
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-33-21-pm
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
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-33-36-pmscreen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-34-28-pm
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.
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-34-42-pm
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.
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-35-11-pmscreen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-36-33-pm
I love the fact that when we see iconic scenes shown, how updated Belle’s clothes look, or how subtle emotions and things are.
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-35-40-pmWe 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.
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-36-21-pm 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.
screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-1-37-16-pmBut 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:ne2g9ulbensu57_1_b
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?)

bellebeastdancing2-1