I knew this day would come…
I didn’t think it would come on a day I slept in ’til 12 due to spending a weekend fighting a stomach bug.
But come it did, and I was prepared.
I don’t think I have to restate how much I adore Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (but if you’re new to this blog, just click HERE) so the idea of adding it to the roster of live-action remakes I initially scoffed at. Alice in Wonderland was a chore (yet the almighty dollar declared that a sequel must be made), Sam Raimi’s Oz The Great and Powerful was a missed opportunity, and Maleficent…I think the mistress of all evil herself said it best.
Cinderella changed all that, however. Not only was it a big budget adaptation with huge names behind the cast and crew (Kenneth Branaugh was MADE for this movie), but it was the first straight telling of the story. Not a sequel, not a pseudo-prequel or narrator-flipped retelling, a movie that stuck to the original plot with all the story beats and characters in tact. It’s not perfect, but it’s a suitable companion piece to the animated classic that even manages to improve on it in some aspects. Disney took the same route when they did The Jungle Book, which was released just a few months ago, and while I haven’t gone to see it yet, I’ve heard nothing but great things about it.
One question remained, though – what about Beauty and the Beast? Fans at D23 got to see sneak peeks of it at least a year ago and showered heaps of praise upon it, but nothing – not a scrap of publicity stills, no posters, no viral videos of the cast on set – was officially released…
…until now.
So without further ado, here’s my rundown of the Beauty and the Beast teaser trailer.
• The traditional castle opening looks like a mix of the castle from the animated film and the real-life French fairytale castles that inspired it. Nice.
• OHMIGOD the opening prologue music…I AM IN LUUURRRVE….
• Seeing the castle go into deep freeze and age over time? Very atmospheric and cool (somewhere Elsa’s whining “Where’s MY live-action movie?!”) The spiderwebs appearing and the icicles growing on the chandelier while the candles shrink is a nice touch.
• What’s this? A portrait of a young Prince? A VERY young Prince? Like, TEN YEARS OLD? I guess Disney’s not going the “many years” route the show did. Still, nice to see he had parents for a – OHMIGOD BEAST CLAW!!
• Belle, you break that door, you’re gonna have to pay for it.
• Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellen as Lumiere and Cogsworth…have to see more of the movie before I fully buy them as the characters. I fully expected “I know it’s a girl, you fool!” to end with “fool of a Took!” And Ewan’s accent…was Jean Dujardin just not available?
• Ah, the rose, the film’s icon…needs more magic sparkles. That image of Emma Watson peering into the bell jar from the inside though…beautiful.
• And the classic theme plays while the trailer invites us to “Be Our Guest”. Perfect way to end it.
So that’s my thoughts on the trailer in a nutshell. For a teaser it holds a lot of potential, and I’m excited to see more of the film itself. Hopefully the next trailer will contain actual songs since it’s supposed to be a full-fledged musical this time around.
Until then, this is Shelf, out.
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