Criticks Review: Bill Condon (dir.), Beauty and the Beast (2017) Anthony Walker-Cook Affiliation: Durham University Email: anthonywalker95@hotmail.co.uk Twitter: @AntWalker_Cook The live-action adaptation of the 1991 Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast arrived in cinemas across the world at the end of February. Critics have been ambivalent in their reception of the film: Anthony Lane praised it for its ‘sheer dexterity’, whilst Wendy Ide moaned, ‘When a meal turns into a full-on Busby Berkeley-style dance routine featuring jitterbugging cutlery and can- canning china, there’s a sense of desperation, of a film too eager to justify its existence.’ Perhaps if Ide watched the 1991 original, or maybe even appreciated Disney for what it is (we only have look back to 2016’s The Jungle Book to find Bill Murray lending his vocal talents to a singing bear), she’d appreciate the je ne sais quoi of this adaptation. Led by Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as that grumpy old beast, Beauty and the Beast is a stunning re-imagining that is both mythic in its approach, with a host of hints and references for the eagle- eyed eighteenth-century specialist especially. Last year, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) offered a certainly new take on the age of sensibility. Fantastical stories are rarely given a historical specificity. Beauty and the Beast changes this, offering a highly stylized representation of the period, and this review hopes to indicate some of the topoi in the film that root the narrative in a period I’m sure we can all agree is rich. So, we invite you to relax and pull up a chair as Criticks proudly presents… this review. (Yes, I am going to try and fit in a few song references – you have been warned). Where the original opened with a narration set against a series of stained- glass windows explaining the curse, Condon’s production opens with Audra McDonald’s ‘Aria’ in an exquisite ballroom. The power and grandeur of the song alone establishes the tone for the rest of the movie. A tale as old as time – or at least as old as the 1740 version published by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve - the film follows Belle as she becomes imprisoned in the Beast’s castle. Cursed by a witch after refusing her entrance on a cold night, the castle and all its servants have been transformed into objects, their master a hideous creature. Perhaps a fine example of Stockholm syndrome, Belle eventually falls in love with the Beast, and rejects Gaston (Luke Evans). Certainly, this makes for an exciting ride, the narrative concludes after a mob led by Gaston attacks the Beasts castle and Belle saves a wounded captor. True love breaks the spell on 1