After the success of the live-action version of The Jungle Book and the promising trailers, Beauty And The Beast is another triumph for Disney. The transition from animation to live-action here means a ramping up of the melodramatic moments, but they work within the context of the largely musical genre form. Some occasional cheap-looking GCI shots aside, this is a faithful, lavish, big-scale staging that looks terrific in 3D, with the big numbers and everyone's favourite set-pieces pulled off with aplomb plus some good tweaks and new numbers (the Prince/Beast's opening backstory works well). Emma Watson is simply excellent in the lead role of Belle, both in creating a rounded Disney heroine and with her singing (and one cannot help but think how good she would have been in La La Land), and likewise Dan Stevens as The Beast and Luke Evans as Gaston fit and deliver their roles so well. This is a smart adaptation of a modern classic that unashamedly and successfully hits the nostalgia buttons as well as working for the new generation - little kids in the audience were audibly sobbing when the effects of the last rose petal falling kicked in! By the time it gets to its rousing conclusion, this feels like a consistently entertaining and satisfying movie that was clearly made with love, care and respect.
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