La belle et la bête

Ohhhh my God, that was dreadful. Okay, DeMornay is quite nice to look at, but the prince looks like a cheap body builder from a cheap advertisement.

Yeah, the costumes were nice. But the story was totally empty, lacking emotions, suspense, style, ah, just everything. In the end you just don't understand why she stayed with the prince and fell in love with him cause the dude is boring as hell and delivers one stupid line after another.

Never before have I felt less while watching a movie.

I guess the two best adaptions of this tale are still the Disney one and the one by Jean Cocteau, with Jean Marais playing the prince / the beast. Go watch those instead and save your time on this empty flick.

Good live action adaptation of the classic story. Rebecca De Mornay is perfect as the wholesome kind-hearted Beauty who lives with her wealthy father and grown brothers and sisters. As in Cinderella, Beauty's siblings require Beauty's constant help in doing even the smallest of chores. She is not unhappy and is able to tend to her family's needs with little effort, however she does wish to have some time of her own. The family goes broke, moves to the country, and Beauty is just as happy poor as rich. Her father stumbles across the Beast's castle and escapes imprisonment by having Beauty stay in his place. The Beast and castle are not unlike the Disney stage version, however there are no dancing silverware or clocks here, but the statues come to life. As a musical the songs are embarrassingly terrible by anyone's standards. The on-location sets are authentically colorful, charming and European. There are enough changes in the plot to keep one interested as to what exactly will happen next. Ultimately the film is saved by a wonderful performance by Rebecca De Mornay who simply melts hearts, sings like an angel, and warms the cold corners of any castle.

I have always loved Farie Tales, and this is my all time favorite, and I have them all. "The Frog Prince" with Aileen Quinn and Helen Hunt. "Puss N' Boots" with Christopher Walken. "Hansel and Gretel", "Rumplestiltskin", "Snow White", "Sleeping Beauty", "Pinnochio". A couple of those are done by Farie Tale Theatre, but I love the Cannon tales more than anything on earth. With Rebecca de Mornay singing, I never would have imagined she could btw, it's astounding. The cinametogrophy is great, and the script is wonderful. I'm 19, and even my father willingly watches this with me. He says, and I agree, that it just seems so real... and he's not that kind of guy at all!!! John Savage is the most terrific beast I could imagine... other than in the French movie "Beaute et Le Bete" or whatever it's called *lol*. It's an even better version than the Disney Cartoon, which is also one of my favorites. I hope that whoever sees this film on sale buys it (and sends it to me, I need a not worn out one!!!) and cherishes it forever!

I adored this movie the first time I saw it when I was 16. I love fairy tales and especially like movies that try to stick to the original story. These stories have been around for hundreds of years before Disney and there are different versions of each in different countries. The sets and costuming of this version are beautiful. (All though some obviously date the film to the late eighties) Rebecca De Mornay is fantastic as the gracious loving creature that can love even a beast. The way that this is filmed it almost feels as though you are the proverbial fly on the wall, or the statue with eyes. I think it is a wonderful way to get kids interested in something besides cartoons.

Charles Perrault's classic French fairy tale "Beauty And The Beast" has been filmed several times. Though it is not as popular as other fairy tales, it is just as enchanting. The well-known French version with Jean Marias and Josette Day, was filmed in 1946. Then, in 1962 came a forgotten quickie version with Joyce Taylor and Mark Damon. The groundbreaking Disney animated feature was released in 1991. But Cannon Films beat them to the punch, producing their live-action musical rendition in 1987. Starring Rebecca De Mornay as Beauty, and John Savage as The Beast/Prince, this is another good example in their "Movie Tales" series. Unlike some of their other titles which do NOT cry out for cinematic translation ("The Emperor's New Clothes" jumps to mind), this fairy tale is perfect for visual dramatization. Cannon's version stays relatively close to the original story, which is more than Disney's did (very little besides the title was retained) and it has great atmospheric photography, especially the scenes in the Beast's garden, which are all the more impressive considering the film's low budget. Both De Mornay and Savage bring depth to their roles, and, considering neither is a singer, they handle the best songs in the movie ("If You See With Your Heart" and "Wish For The Moon") very well, indeed. The film is rather slow paced, but, then, so is the original story. There are a few other changes as well, most notably, Beauty's sisters (Carmela Marner and Ruth Harlap) who are depicted as selfish and lazy, rather than jealous and wicked. Ditto her two brothers. The father,(Yosi Graber) is also characterized as somewhat shallow. But the climax is packed with traditional emotion, and this is a movie which seems to get better every time I see it. Recommended for fairy tale lovers everywhere on the planet.