Beauty And The Beast

PLOT

A selfish and unkind prince hosting a ball is visited in his castle by an enchantress disguised as a beggar woman, who offers him an enchanted rose in exchange for shelter from a storm. When he rebuffs her, she reveals her true form and transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects before erasing them from the memories of their loved ones. For the curse to be broken, the prince must learn to love someone and earn that person's love before the last petal of the rose falls; otherwise, he will remain a beast forever and the servants will become inanimate.

Several years later in the nearby village of Villeneuve, Belle, the bookworm daughter of widowed artist Maurice, dreams of adventure while constantly rejecting advances from Gaston, an arrogant hunter and war veteran. One day, Maurice becomes lost in the forest and seeks refuge in the Beast's castle. The Beast imprisons him after he catches him stealing a rose from the garden for Belle. Belle offers to take her father's place as prisoner; the Beast agrees.

Belle befriends the castle's servants, including candelabra/footman Lumiere, mantel clock/majordomo Cogsworth, feather-duster/maid Plumette, teapot/housekeeper Mrs. Potts, and her son Chip, a teacup. When she finds the rose, the Beast angrily forces her to flee outside. Belle is ambushed by wolves and the Beast rescues her, getting injured in the process. As she nurses his wounds, they bond. He shows her a gift from the enchantress, a book that transports readers to their desired location. She visits her childhood home in Paris, where she discovers a plague doctor's mask and realizes that when she was an infant, she forcibly departed with her father after her mother's death from the bubonic plague, which Maurice was hesitant to reveal.

In Villeneuve, Maurice fails to convince the other villagers of the Beast. Gaston, believing that rescuing Belle could win her hand in marriage, agrees to help him. When Maurice discovers his ulterior motive, Gaston abandons him to be devoured by wolves. Maurice is rescued by the town hermit Agathe, but Gaston convinces the village to send Maurice to an insane asylum. Belle discovers Maurice's predicament via a magic mirror. The Beast releases her to save him. Arriving back in town, she reveals the Beast via the mirror, shocking the townsfolk and proving her father's sanity. Realizing Belle has fallen for the Beast, Gaston jealously has her thrown into the asylum carriage with Maurice, then rallies the villagers to slay the Beast. Belle tells Maurice about her mother's death, and the two escape.

Gaston attacks the depressed Beast, who regains his spirit upon seeing Belle return. He spares Gaston's life, but Gaston shoots the Beast from an unstable bridge; its collapse sends Gaston falling to his death. The Beast dies just as the last petal falls, and the servants become inanimate objects. As Belle tearfully professes her love to him, Agathe reveals herself as the enchantress and undoes the curse, restoring the Beast and his servants to their human forms along with the villagers' memories. The film ends with Belle and the prince hosting a ball for the kingdom.

CAST

Emma Watson as Belle

Daisy Duczmal as Baby Belle

Dan Stevens as the Beast

Adam Mitchell as Young Prince

Luke Evans as Gaston

Kevin Kline as Maurice

Jolyon Coy as Young Maurice

Josh Gad as LeFou

Ewan McGregor as Lumière

Stanley Tucci as Cadenza

Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette

Hattie Morahan as Agathe

Rita Davies as Old Woman

Nathan Mack as Chip

Ian McKellen as Cogsworth

Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

remake of Disney's 1991 animated feature film of the same name, itself an adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's 1756 version of the fairy tale.