La Bella y la bestia

First I want to say I loved this beautifully retold classic tale of Beauty and the Beast.I have probably watched all versions of this movie because it is by far one of my favorite stories ever! This movie blew me away! I wasn't expecting that. The beast was a normal man who had scars on his face. It wasn't made like a fantasy movie where a spell is cast on him. The beast bore real physical and emotional scars. And Bella the beauty is a very brave young woman, who despite the beast's cruelty falls in love. In this version the beast finds hope again. If you love Beauty and the Beast, please don't pass this one up. I actually liked it better than the newest Disney version. This film was actually made into a two part series.I agree with some other reviewers here the acting is fantastic. It brought tears to my eyes in a few scenes. I won't say when or where in the movie but it had it's tear jerking moments. Now this film is one of my favorites.

I didn't have high expectations for this but it was overall pretty good. It is NOT a Disney version. The beast here does things like insist knife throwers throw at their subjects blindfolded and wants to whip children. He is a jerk. I would actually say that he is a mix between beast and Mr. Rochester. As Bella goes to work for him as a servant to pay off his father's debt Beast is basically a Rochester like playboy. Bored and scheming. Eventually, however, Bella wins him over with a mix of courage and kindness and he finds himself really having feelings for her... in the midst of his bluster about getting sex out of her. The good news.. both main characters are good looking and the "beast" really isn't that beastly on the outside. The reasons for Bella working for him seem to make more sense than in the Disney movie and dad and family provide much better secondary characters. The Beast's cousin here sort of fills the blanche role form Jane Eyre but over all she wasn't necessary.

Comparing to all other versions of this story, this is definitely the best: it's not solely fantastic costumes with beautiful casts but a deeper and more humane story. I'm honestly surprised by those who found Leon's behaviour offensive!; it is actually PLANNED to be offensive, his beastliness is more moral and not simply in his appearance. Alessandro Preziso (as Leon) acts wonderfully which made his character believable, the others are just acceptable. I agree that the character of the cousin is totally unnecessary plus the bad acting of that little girl, particularly when it is dubbed with really bad voices, not only for her, but for all the others; Alessandro has a wonderful voice and Bianca Suarez, too, however, the dubbed voices have damaged the English version noticeably. If you can see the Italian version with English subtitles, go for that.

I've watched both language versions of Bella e la Bestia (tv miniseries); the Italian dubbed version and the English dubbed version. The drama was filmed in English but had the main release version dubbed into Italian by the Italian cast and Alessandro Proziosi (Prince Leon) and Blanca Suarez (Bella Dubois); the actors who were also portraying the main characters. Understandable, as it was a mainly Italian project. However, Preziosi speaks excellent English, yet he's been dubbed by a VERY bad English voice actor (Dermot Magennis) who reads the lines like a robot reading a laundry list. Trust me when I say he's more wooden than a complete Ikea warehouse.

I've also seen the Italian dubbed version with Preziosi voicing himself and he's BRILLIANT. Magennis is the one they used to dub Preziosi into English on another project and he was just as terrible - 'ear bleedingly bad' as one person put it and to the point they 'wanted to weep'. He truly is AWFUL; mind you Aisling Franciosi, the actress they got to dub Bella Dubois into English, was almost as bad. But at least she's not as bad as Magennis who makes Siri sound like she's worthy of an Oscar.

I've seen a few of Preziosi's other roles, including 'Medici: Masters of Florence', Lost in Florence', Tango per la Liberta' and 'I vicerè'. The same goes for Blanca Suarez; she was brilliant in 'Cable Girls' (currently available on Netflix UK), 'The Skin I Live In' and 'Bakery in Brooklyn'. In all she was exceptionally good and her English is flawless. So for both Suarez and Preziosi it boggles the brain as to why they were dubbed into English at all.

For the Italian voice track version, by Suarez and Preziosi in the roles, I would give this 9.5 out of ten. It loses the half mark only because Prince Leon's scar is not that bad and, although it can be said that a person's heart is what makes them a 'beast' or a 'beauty', to have it as one of the reasons he is so dark means it should've been better presented.

For the Magennis and Franciosi English dubbed version I give it a 7.5 because the terrible wooden delivery of the lines by Magennis sucks the passion out of the scenes faster than a hoover on a spider. Franciosi at least tries to infuse her words with some feeling; sadly it's just a bit lacklustre. Of course it could be because of Magennis' flat delivery, reminding me of those annoying automated telephone service machines, blanketing the entire endeavour in a flatness the Grim Reaper would love. Either way, my advice is see the Italian version with English subtitles.

This serie is so beautiful, I think that is so better than the disney live action. The cast is perfect, I love so much Alessandro, and Blanca it's the perfect Belle