"Beauty and the Beast (2017)" Trailer Reaction

It's been great to see Disney returning to some of their animated classics over the last few years, albeit to varying degrees of success. For example, last year's Cinderella being very well received by audiences and getting largely positive reviews from critics while other movies such as Maleficent had a far more mixed response. Now, in continuing this trend, Disney has decided to produce a live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, the first and one of the only films to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. So far, announcements made regarding the production have only bene met with positive reactions, and with a star-studded cast (check out the pictures below to see who everyone is playing), there's a chance that this could turn out to be Disney's best live-action retelling yet. The first teaser trailer has now arrived and given me much reason to doubt the movie yet. Then again, it doesn't really show much in the first place.

Yeah, there really isn't too much to see here. OK, admittedly it's a teaser trailer so the purpose of it is to inform casual moviegoers about the film and to start building excitement around it. That shouldn't be too hard because what's on show here is a love letter to fans of the original and Disney fans in general. The music in particular is on point here. The use of the original movie's opening theme is enough to get lovers of the animation excited immediately before the short hint at Beauty and the Beast at the very end of the trailer. The movie has bene confirmed to be a musical and the score is being composed by Alan Menken, who some might recognise as the same composer responsible for the 1991 classic. He won the Best Original Score Oscar for that movie, and it looks like he is recreating the same magic for this new take on the tale.

Emma Watson plays Belle while Dan Stevens plays the Prince/Beast. Luke Evans plays the villainous Gaston with Josh Gad playing his sidekick, Le Fou

I also have to say, the cinematography and set design on show here is incredible. Beast's Castle from the outside looks fantastic and the glimpses we get at the different rooms of the castle are picture perfect replicas of the animated movie. The designer of the ballroom set should be especially applauded for his contribution. That brings me quite nicely to the editing of the trailer. The before and after effect of the different rooms is excellent and is likely taken from the opening act of the movie, with the icicles of the chandeliers and the cobwebs of the castle growing after the Prince becomes the Beast. While all of these technical aspects should be commended, the trailer unfortunately did nothing to end my main worry for the movie: the effects. This is a movie about walking and talking clocks, wardrobes, teapots, candelabras, and a massive Beast. This will have to look extremely good and realistic for Disney to justify this movie being live-action. However, as we saw in "The Jungle Book," Disney do have and are willing to use the money necessary to put these effects into action, so I have faith that this movie will look every bit as good as it needs to.

Ewan McGregor plays Lumière, Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Plumette, Emma Thompson portrays Mrs. Potts, and Sir Ian McKellen plays Cogsworth

The only cast member that we see in this trailer is Emma Watson as Belle in an obscured close-up. However, we hear another 2 characters towards the end of the trailer: Ewan McGregor as the candelabra Lumière and Ian McKellen as the clock Cogsworth. When the cast list was announced for this movie, my initial reaction was extremely positive. Everybody in this movie seems perfectly cast. This trailer did little to change my opinions on these 3 cast members. Ian McKellen seems to have nailed the cynical nature of Cogsworth and I'm sure Emma Watson will be great although she is not shown a lot in this trailer. The same applies for Ewan McGregor, who definitely has the charm required to play Lumière. Hopefully his French accent won't sound so strange by the release of the full movie though.

Kevin Kline plays Belle's father Maurice, Audra McDonald plays Garderobe, Hattie Morahan plays the Enchantress and Adrian Schiller plays Monsieur D'Arque

Overall, this is a very small but encouraging first look at this movie. Director Bill Condon seems to have nailed the atmosphere, music and cinematography, at least in this trailer. However, I do think that we need to see more of the cast and the visual effects work to settle some of the understandable concerns that I for this production. This teaser trailer has succeeded in it's main job, however, and made me excited to see more of this movie and only confirmed that Disney know exactly what they are doing with their live-action slate of movies.

Beauty and the Beast is releasing on March 17th, 2017.

Starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, and Stanley Tucci