Saw it today, and honestly I thought that it was just slightly above average.
It was good on the surface. The actors were all well chosen and brought their A-game. The singing was top notch as well. I never knew how talented of a singer Emma Watson was. And most of the designs were pretty good as well.
But dear god, this film needed to learn the fine art of subtlety. Moments that should have been drawn out for tension, like the Beast's first full reveal, the reveal of the talking decorations, the end transformation, and other certain character building moments were rushed and presented matter-of-factly instead of slowly drawn out for a reveal. What's weird was that the cartoon 30 years ago nailed a lot of these moments, where as this one missed the mark time and time again.
A great example is when Belle's father is fleeing the castle and stops to pick a rose. Was it really necessary to have him literally say "Hey, a rose. I promised Belle id get one for her. I should stop and pick one"? Couldn't it have been enough for him just to see one, hesitate and then decide to go for it?
Another being the first time we see the decorations talk. Instead of slowly hearing voices and seeing the objects from the back, building up to the eventual reveal that its they are actually alive, we go straight to seeing them bounce around and talk from the first time they appear in frame. It totally cuts the surprise out of the moment when Maurice discovers that they are alive.
And of course
the very beginning when we get a chance to see the prince before he turns into the Beast was a complete disaster. I cant even tell if they were trying to play it straight or not since it was so hard to take seriously. What makes it tough is that the "French Aristocrat" clothing is already pretty hard to take seriously, and they took it to cartoonish extremes. Prince Adam's exaggerated, clownish, mannerisms didn't help matters.
I also felt that they changed the characters of Belle and The Beast too much. Belle; in what's no doubt an attempt to make her seem stronger and more modern, never once seems overwhelmed or frightened by her experience of being kidnapped by the Beast, instead simply resilient and problem solving. I get what they were going for, but it just made the peril of her situation fall flat when we can't see her suffering.
The Beast also suffered from this. In the cartoon when we find him he is barely one step above animal, and is not afraid to go full on rage mode when people anger him. Screaming at Belle when she refuses to eat with him or when she accidentally disturbs the rose. In here he is merely sullen and grumpy. But what's strange is that he stays this way even when falls in love with Belle. The carton shows him being genuinely happy when Belle starts to fall for him, like when he gives her the library, when they play in the snow, or the iconic scene where they dance. In here he remains in a constant state of brooding that never changes.
Also while the musical numbers lifted from the original are more or less done well, they add a bunch of their own songs here, and every single song that they wrote for this falls completely flat and is largely unnecessary. The fact that Disney can't seem to write a decent song for their movies these days makes me very scared for the Mary Poppins sequel.