As someone who was never a huge fan of the animated version (don't hate me, I know Belle is everyone's favorite princess) I wasn't expecting to walk out of the theater with three of my best friends crying because of "Beauty and the Beast."
Everyone always goes on about how Belle is such a strong character, and true, she is. Emma Watson did an outstanding job with her portrayal of this soft princess and gave her edges that made her feel like a real human. She was feisty and spunky and gave the right amount of sass to the beast to get through his cold, desolate, and hopeless heart. But, in my opinion, the real star was Dan Stevens.
He gave the Beast walls. Not just in his castle, but in his heart, and it came through on screen so clearly. You saw the internal conflicts that were behind the eyes and the animators did a superb job showing the conflict on his face. He wanted to open up, but had no hope that he could ever connect with someone. It was gorgeous to see his exterior slowly melt away as the movie progressed.
The opening scene was of the Beast in his true form, a painted face in the middle of a ginormous ball, surrounded by beautiful women. I loved that even in the beginning you weren't able to actually see the Prince, but only this persona he put out. He hid behind decorative costumes and a sparkling atmosphere. You could see the pretense that he put on was a show, and that he wasn't really there.
Later through the movie, we get a backstory. First, with a painting that showed the Prince and his parents, with his and father's faces scratched through, but his mother's face was left unharmed. The audience then learns his mother died when he was young and left to his uncaring father who raised him to be his heir. This backstory was left out of the animated version, which paints the beast as not excused, but at least understandable to why he is so guarded.
He has learned his whole life that the only thing that matters are pretenses and what people see, not what actually lies within each person. The Enchantress wanted to show him what was in his heart, but only made him resent himself that much more. It was only through love, and seeing that through someone else you don't need to put on the dog (pun intended). He slowly starts to lower the walls, which was beautifully represented in the movie as him showing her the castle.
He starts learning what Belle is passionate about and instead of being prompted by his servants, like in the animated version, he does it on his own accord to make her happy. He even shows her the West Wing which she was originally banished and is given her freedom.
The Beast in the end is happy that he lets her go. In fact, we get a new ballad called "Evermore" (at which point I started crying) that describes the change he's gone through. He's learned what really matters, and it isn't what he was taught, but instead what he's seen in Belle. The beauty of her ideas and heart, not her face.
He learned that he needs people, not only ones who work underneath him, but ones who truly care for him. We see his real change at the end when he greets Lumière with a hug showing that he is not a servant, but a friend.
The movie was beautiful, and I had issues with some of the auto-tuned songs, but as a whole, the Beast got the backstory and development that he needed in order for a redemptive arc that I always felt was lacking for the fan favorite animated version that many have said resembled Stockholm's Syndrome. In this version, it was clear that they were the only two people in the world who actually understood each other.
I never expected to, but I think I'll love this version for evermore.
