That Time Disney Remade Beauty and the Beast

At least this film had one redeeming feature: it's a great comparison to show why the original worked.

The bonding over their shared mother tragedy makes more sense once you realize they're both named Martha

I actually really like the idea of a fairy cursing an eleven-year-old boy and his innocent servants, because fairies were sort of . . . well . . . fickle and malevolent.

Sympathising Gaston totally ruined the point of the character. Gaston was supposed to be the antithesis of the Beast; where the Beast is unappealing and monstrous on the outside but kind-hearted and generous on the inside, Gaston is the opposite; attractive and charismatic on the outside, but monstrous on the inside. Making him sympathetic ruins that mirroring.

In the animation the servants were furniture because the beast saw them as objects and not people. Its a metaphore goddamit.

The whole 'teaching another girl to read' thing is what bothers me the most about this adaptation. Belle wasn't considered weird because she could read, it's because she liked to read, because she preferred to read over engaging any of the poor provincial townies. And boy, my introverted ass sure did relate to animated Belle preferring to lose herself in books instead of human contact. That was kind of the point of Belle, to relate to all the little girls who felt like the outcasts, alone and stuck in a little nothing town with nothing to do. Plus, how does a town with only be one literate woman end up having it's own fully stocked bookshop!?

Emma Watson in a heavy British accent “iM fRoM pAriS”

Belle was kind and humble, and she was educated. She wasn’t condescending but just brushes away the misunderstandings of the town. Emma Watson’s Belle was literally the most annoying person ever, she was constantly rude to people and never bothered to communicate to them. They were rude in return and she came to the conclusion that the reason they don't like her is because she's so much better than them.

"They bond over their mothers being dead" If that isn't the most Disney thing I've ever heard...

I HATE that Beast doesn't even say "because I love her" when Belle leaves. Why TF did they give that crucial line to the goddamn teapot?!

If they really wanted to take a feminist "Belle has a job and faces patriarchy" route, fine no prob, I just don't get why they didn't make her an aspiring author instead of inventor??? It would have connected all the dots! 1) It's the logical continuity of her well-known passion for reading, so it sounds less forced. 2) That makes her having her own independent aspiration, instead of ironically making her a copypaste of her father, a man. 3) The Beast being already cultured and literature enthusiast in the movie, her writing would be a new way to make him evolve and step out of superficiality. At first he would just see in Belle a pretty woman and think that "gentleman manners", a beautiful castle, pretty dresses and exuberant dinners are enough to make her happy. Finding out later about her talent and being touched by her writing would be like meeting her for the first time and make him understand more what she needs (a literal take of "reading through" her) 4) While reading wasn't forbidden for women, being a female author on the other hand was more complicated! Allowed, but subject to hard criticism. Madame de Villeneuve, the original author of the tale wrote herself in her preface something like "I hope that me being a woman won't influence too much the reading". And even if things have evolved, it's a topic that is still relevant... So more impactful than a naive, not relatable "WoMeN dOn'T rEaD" line that makes the viewer vaguely outraged for 2sec. 5) Speaking of relevance, it would bring an other dimension to the "Belle" song. By adding a couple of speaking lines, it would enlighten the fact that she can write as much as she can, ultimately even without bad intent people can't help but mostly comment on her appearance (a struggle Emma Watson herself must be familiar with btw). Apparence being... you know... the topic of the tale. During the song Belle could submit her work to the printing house for the local newspaper instead of going to the bookshop, leading smoothly to that theme without denaturing the animated movie. 6) To make the Beast more special to her, instead of making the father heartwarmingly perfect, he could himself being reluctant about her career, agreeing that she's talented, but out of worry encouraging her to lower her ambitions. It could also work if she was an inventor actually, but him having a different job would make him more easily belittle at first how it's important for her. The Beast would be the only person she knows to genuinely support her firmly. She would evolve as more confident thanks to him, so there would be a character development on her side too, and a special bond between them. 7) Since her mother was also a creative, Belle would think that her mother would have understand her better than her father, and therefore MAYBE, maybe, the mother plot would make more sense and be more touching. Maybe her mother struggled as a painter and was more violently critized than her male counterparts, explaining her father's overprotection suggested sooner? 8) Gaston could praise Belle's work to seduce her, but she would instantly suspect him to be fake and read it superficially. On the contrary the Beast would give more severe feedbacks if he doesn't like a sentence, which would actually charm Belle because they're constructive and meaningful. I think that's a cool thing to show to children, and that's once again in line with "don't be fooled by the look". You know... the topic of the tale. (Also he could actually be a literate noble, but snobbish and lacking of the Beast's artistic sensitivity, which would make the story less classist- anyway I digress) 9) Other modern take, Gaston could be a more subtle toxic villain and promises to use his wealth and popularity to help her to publish novels, patronizingly stating that "he supports women, unlike his father". He would admit later when she comes back that it was obviously a fake promise to make her accept his wedding proposal and that her work is the least of his concern. In contrast to her father who would be reluctant but genuinely wishing her the best. You know... the topic of the tale. 10) Cool homage to Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, a FEMALE 18th century writer who provided us that tale.

I swear to god, Disney has had like at least 5 "first gay characters" at this point.

Disney poking fun at itself was cute and suprising the first couple of times, but now its just painful

Can't wait until the Hunchback of Notre Dame remake reveals Frollo is attracted to Esmeralda since she reminds him of his mother whom was hanged, burned, and whipped to death wile giving birth to him.

By making Belle so "feminist", it seems like they're saying that she's "not like other girls".

I find it genuinely fascinating that the harder Disney tries to empower their female characters in these remakes, the LESS compelling they become. The townspeople's issue with Belle was never that she could read, it's that she was a weird introvert who preferred reading over basically any other activity. They fucked this up with Mulan as well! Why is she a Jedi now? The whole point of the original was that she worked her ass off and became just as skillful a warrior as any man despite everything stacked against her. Now she just has crazy superpowers and is better than everyone to begin with.

No mention of the triplets? Gaston wanted Belle (known to the town folks as strange and special) over the attractive and accessible triplets of the original version, but the triplets were made unattractive in the live action version, thereby making Belle's beauty more important, and her special traits of less value.

While i also hate the "dumb, incompotent dad" trope, it DID actually serve a purpose in animated Beauty and the Beast. Belles' dad being a bit unhinged, and the town knowing it, gave Gaston less resistance to do something so horrible in his persuit of Belle.

That opening rant against CimenaSins and other pedantic bad faith reviewers is the single greatest murder-by-words I've seen against any YouTuber.