The marketing for Beauty & the Beast has been a mixed bag at best, and while audiences haven’t been actively hostile, there’s been a strangle kind of indifference leveled at the film. Perhaps people are too beholden to the ’91 original – a bonafide classic, mind you – to give this shinier update much of a shot.
But let’s accentuate the positive: it looks great, with a kind of sweep and grandeur we don’t see too often these days; Emily Watson and Dan Stephens make for an engaging lead pair; and there’s a wolf fight. Also, Luke Evans seems to be having the time of his life as the caddish Gaston. That sounds like a recipe for a good time.
Beauty and the Beast hits Australian cinemas on March 23, 2017.
