This week, Jeffrey and I are chatting about the live action version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, as well as live musicals on TV. Beauty and the Beast is up first, and both of us have good things to say about this remake. The source material, the Beauty and the Beast animated feature from 1991, is often cited as the high mark of the Disney renaissance, and for good reason. This remake may not hit that iconic high, but it’s still interesting.

The cast is pretty darn fantastic, and I would happily watch Hermione Granger (the great Emma Watson) do Belle cosplay for as long as she wants to. High marks also to Josh Gad for his crazy LeFou face and energy. We agree the additional backstory for both the Beast and Maurice fills out those characters, and that Professor Trelawney (Emma Thompson) brings significant heart and warmth to Mrs. Potts.

The music in this movie had a lot to live up to. We agree that Audra McDonald nailed it (no big surprise there), and that Emma Watson did a very passable job with her songs. We weren’t sure about Dan Stevens singing his little Beast heart out, but Oscars must be sought after, I guess. Emma Thompson does as well as anyone can do while trying to fill the shoes of the GREAT Angela Lansbury. Fun facto (maybe for me only): Emma Thompson is friends with Angela Lansbury and calls her Angie. Can I please be in your friend group, ladies? PLEASE.

We talk very briefly about the “gay moment” that occurs on screen for a fleeting few seconds. We’re glad that a gay character was shown interacting with a member of the same sex here, but that’s a laughably low bar to clear, so we don’t want to overpraise it. It is a step in the right direction from a really massive company that has huge cultural influence, if still the smallest step they could have taken.
The future of live action movies at Disney looks bright, with these already on the horizon:
Mary Poppins
Mulan
The Little Mermaid
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The Lion King with Jon Favreau as the director
Cruella De Vil starring Emma Stone
Aladdin with Guy Ritchie as the director
Peter Pan
Tinker Bell starring Reese Witherspoon
Dumbo
Winnie the Pooh
Chernabourg
Pinocchio

In our second segment, we talk about live musicals on TV. This is hardly a new concept, but lately we’ve had a resurgence of this tradition. NBC has lead the charge to bring back these live musical events starting with The Sound of Music Live! in 2013.