New Beauty and the Beast Movie?
by Michelle LaurenOh geez, where to start? Well I’ll the get factual things out of the way first. Guillermo Del Torro is directing and they want Emma Watson to play the lead. Yeah the guy who directed Pan’s Labyrinth wants Hermione Granger to play Belle.
- Well, they’re both bookish characters I’ll give him that.
Oh wait, that’s the characterization of the heroine in the version that already exists made by Disney. You know, the quite complete version that was the first animated picture to be nominated for Best Picture? The one that came out in 3D recently that was the 2nd highest grossing in the first week? The one that looked and sounded even more amazing than it already was?
Alright, alright enough of my Disney worship. I am not entirely oppossed for other directiors and companies to try their take on fairy tales. That’s fine. My problem is that when Disney already does a version it’s kinda hard to top. Feel free to make your own adaptaion, but you’re being very ballsy and going up against a corporate giant that everyone loves.
On the other hand it’s a great oppurtunity to have a more adult look at these tales, right? The thing with Disney however, is that they make films for families, not kids. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast isn’t too dark for kids, but it is a dark story. They don’t talk down to kids and make a movie that adults can watch. So Del Torro’s remark that he wants to make an “updated version” puzzles (and slightly infuriates) me a little.
What the hell is there to add? You want to make it really dark fine I guess, but Disney pretty much did a great job of rolling every previous version into one and yet still made it their own. That and there isn’t much source material for this story, despite almost every ancient culture having a version of it. Hence “tale as old as time”. See what they did there?
I’ll admit that I have not seen Pan’s Labyrinth. I hear it’s a good creepy movie that is intelligent and leaves things up to the viewer to discern what is reality and hallucination. He sounds like a good director and all, but this concept doesn’t do much for me. Disney did the best version in my opinion. I may see this new one, but probably not.
