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YMMV / Beauty and the Beast (2017)

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  • Accidental Innuendo: In the German dub, Gaston sings antlers would be his only decoration, so he sings about deerhunting or Cuckolding?
  • Adorkable:
    • Belle, such as when she invents the "washing machine", is seen reading more often in the film, and almost squealing in delight when the Beast gives her the library.
    • The Beast himself, with his nervous attempts at wooing Belle and interest in reading.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • No one invites this like Gaston.
      • Is he a loathsome man in every single way? Or is he a Designated Villain? Some people think that Gaston went out of his way to give Belle flowers, and comfort her after the villagers harassed her, only to get rejected. Also, they think that Gaston, in offering to help Maurice rescue Belle, is more heroic and think that Maurice is wrong in denying Gaston his blessing.
      • On the other hand, some people think that all the "good" things he does for Belle and Maurice are done to make himself look good to them and not out of pure altruism and that he sees Belle as nothing more than a prize to be won. Also before Maurice rejects Gaston, the latter threatens to feed the former to wolves after revealing his true intentions in marrying Belle, giving Maurice more justification to reject Gaston.
      • Moreover the film outright states that Gaston is not as nice as he appears, several scenes and lines outright imply that Gaston has sociopathic tendencies. Moreover, personality studies have proven that Gaston is a sociopath and has a textbook case of NPD.
    • The Enchantress's curse affects the household servants differently than the Beast. When the last petal falls, they permanently become non-sentient household objects, effectively dead.note  With that in mind, are the servants trying to matchmake because they want their master to be with the woman he loves, or because it's a death sentence if they don't? Or both?
      • Relatedly, when the servants tell the Beast that if he doesn't confess his love for Belle after their dance, he'll be drinking cold tea for the rest of his life, in the dark and covered with dust, are they saying that they'll refuse to serve him if he doesn't try to break the spell? Or are they warning him that if he doesn't break the spell, they'll soon be dead and he'll be all alone? The entire tone of this passage changes from funny to heartbreaking depending on how you interpret it.
    • There are those who believe the King might have actually been a pretender to the French throne explaining why his seat of power is somewhere other than Paris.
  • Applicability: Keeping in mind the debate as to whether or not Queen Elsa's concealing her powers and then finding a form of freedom after being "outed" is a metaphor for LGBTQ individuals, a similar debate could be posed for the Beast, as he has to whether he is a human trapped in a beast's body, or if he is truly a beast after all. Much of how the plot proceeds is based on others' presumptions based on his outward appearance and on his own presumptions of how they will react to him (he had the ability to leave the castle and find his love any time, and ultimately his true love lived a short horse ride away in the neighboring village). This one is an easier sell, since the Beast is literally Trans, being transformed rather than transgender.
  • Awesome Music:
    • The orchestral reimagining of the title theme from the original animated film used in the first trailer is gorgeous. Sadly the original rendition of the song (Reborn by Really Slow Motion) doesn't have said orchestra reimagining, and the official trailer version currently doesn't have an official release, so a couple of dedicated fans have tried to replicate it (the second appears to be the closest so far to the original).
    • "Evermore" is breathtaking. And the sort of song to leave you in a sobbing heap.
    • Though short, the aria sung by Madame de Garderobe at the beginning of the film is quite impressive, thanks in no small part to the tremendous vocal talents of Audra McDonald.
    • "Days in the Sun". It's not grand or flashynote , but it perfectly captures Belle's changing thoughts of the beast and the desires of the enchanted household to reunite with their loved ones as humans. The part where everyone sings the chorus together is beautifully tragic.
    • The original songs are better than before (according to some people, not all). One that stands out above all the rest is the longly-anticipated "Be Our Guest"—to say that it didn't disappoint is an understatement.
    • In general the instrumental music is amazing but special mention has to go to the version of "Home" from the Broadway show which plays when Belle first enters her room
  • Award Snub: Many fans were miffed when "Evermore" failed to garner any nominations for best song from the major awards.
  • Broken Base:
    • Some people were willing to watch this remake until they noticed how it seemed to "borrow" the look/overall aesthetic of the 2014 French adaptation that toplined Vincent Cassel. Others argue that the original animated movie "borrowed" elements from Jean Cocteau's 1946 adaptation, another French production, stating that those people should accept that Disney's version will always end up copying elements from the French even if they don't like it.
    • The Beast's design. Many think it looks fine and like that it isn't exactly the same as in the original movie. Others claim he doesn't look scary enough and looks more like Chewbacca with ram horns.
    • The longstanding debate over whether Belle and the Beast's relationship is A Match Made in Stockholm or not has been renewed with this remake to the point that Emma Watson was questioned about it in an interview with Entertainment Weekly a month before the film's release. Suffice it to say, she didn't exactly put the issue to bed with her claims that it isn't, since Disney wouldn't want the lead actress in a gigantic would-be blockbuster disparaging it to the press. Some critics of the finished film argue that it is an unhealthy relationship, and this review argues that it's only made worse by the fact that in this version the Enchanted Objects are serving as Shipper on Deck not just in hopes of becoming human again but to literally save their own skins (since the curse will kill them if it isn't broken) and have no problem with manipulating their relationship to do so.
    • Emma Watson. Perfect for the part of Belle or horribly miscast? On one hand supporters will argue that she very much personifies Belle in real life and in her past roles (independent, feminist Brainy Brunette Bookworm) and can really bring the character to life. On the flipside a lot of people are worried that having such an already iconic actress play will take the audience out of the film because they're watching "Emma Watson/Hermione" rather than Belle herself and the character won't be defined. There have been suggestions that it would have been better to follow Cinderella's lead, which cast a less prominent actress, Lily James, who was able to truly embody Disney's live-action Cinderella. Adding onto that, quite a few viewers found her work to be rather dull, and her singing voice was infamously criticized.
    • Belle's entire characterization, which plays up her feistiness and practicality while downplaying most of her softer and more feminine qualities from the animated version. To some fans, this is a truly progressive, likable change, which makes her both more relatable and more believably "odd" and ahead of her time than her animated counterpart. To others, she just comes across as cold and arrogant compared to the warmer, kinder animated Belle, and find the 'ahead of her time' attributes poorly thought out.
    • The announcement that this LeFou is canonically gay raised a lot of eyebrows and remains a polarizing topic when discussing the film. There are people happy to finally see an LGBT character in a Disney movie since it shows Disney is trying to be more inclusive with how they write their characters, on top of feeling like it avoids LeFou coming across as just a dumb fool like he was in the original version. Ignoring extreme views on it, some feel that making LeFou gay was the wrong choice since anyone but the villain's bumbling minion would have worked better, or find it doesn't contribute anything to the story since there are only a few small moments hinting at LeFou's sexuality and they have no relevance to the story. Bill Condon subsequently regretted bringing up this issue at all because of the backlash that resulted.
    • In many foreign dubs, rather than keep the song translations from the original version, they were redone from scratch in order to match better with the lip syncing. Too many people reacted badly when the Italian dub of the "Belle" song was released, since many people wanted to see this film only to sing along out loud during the entire screening.
    • Beast singing "Evermore" after Belle leaves. Many find the song a great tearjerker and a decent addition to the scene, while others feel that, while the song itself is okay, its placement really takes away from the mood and the scene would have been way sadder had the Beast simply roared in agony like he did in the animated version.
    • The film's rendition of "Gaston". Some people find it just as charming as the original, if not more, and appreciate how it showcases Luke Evans' and Josh Gad's live singing on set. Others bemoan how it feels more tame and less over-the-top than the original song, lacking its signature tone and many of the more memetic lines such as Gaston boasting about his biceps and body hair.
    • The film in itself has gained this response. It's either considered a worthy and beautiful remake that fixes the "issues" of the animated one, and to some is even considered a superior version, or it's an awful remake that creates new flaws in the attempt of "fixing" the ones of the original (i.e. the Enchantress becomes a Designated Hero), is simply filled with Padding, Narm-filled performances, and is miles away from competing with the animated version.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: Gaston's idea of happy thoughts.
    LeFou: "Blood, and explosions... and the widows."
  • Designated Hero: The Enchantress.
    • As questionable as she was in the original film, due to how she cursed the innocent servants as well as the Prince, her actions in this film are even worse. She twists the knife on the Beast by giving him a magic book that could allow him to go anywhere... if only his appearance wouldn't cause the locals to attack him, and she curses the servants to DIE, or even worse, possibly condemn them to And I Must Scream when the last petal falls. And then she inexplicably does nothing against Gaston despite knowing he tried to murder Maurice (because she saved him), he directly insults her, and in general is just as bad or worse than the Beast ever was. All in all, she's negligent at best and downright cruel and self-serving at worst. This review also points out the questionable justification given for her cursing the servants:
      "But instead we find out that the enchantress had merely decided to blame them for not raising the prince better, even though that wasn’t their job. Besides, if the enchantress does hold other people accountable for The Beast's behavior, turning him into a monster in the first place becomes little more than a callous exercise in blaming the victim."
    • Also, how she begs for shelter. In the original, the scene is presented as her knocking on the door of the castle to request shelter, and when the Prince sees her appearance, he refuses. Here, she basically forces her way in and then begs for shelter, which makes her seem Unintentionally Unsympathetic since now it makes the Prince look completely justified in refusing to give her shelter, which was obviously not what the intention was. It causes the Prince to look Unintentionally Sympathetic, since it makes it look like the Enchantress was setting him up to fail.
    • Even worse, a few of the household staff weren't even related to Mrs. Potts's reason. Madame de Garderobe and Maestro Cadenza were hired by the Prince and had never met him before, Frou-Frou was a dog, and Chip was a child. Yet they were still cursed.
    • It could be noted that there was going to be a scene in which LeFou asks the Enchantress "Was it really worth it? Was he really that bad?" The movie might have planned to address the Enchantress's decision, but cut it out.
  • Designated Love Interest: Several reviews argue that Belle and the Beast lack romantic chemistry compared to the animated film. On the surface their romance plays out much the same as the 1991 version but the alteration of certain details changes how their relationship comes across, and usually not for the better. In general their relationship is more stilted and emotionally (plus physically) distant. To start, the Beast was apparently fine leaving Belle in the dungeon here, seeing as it's Lumiere and Cogsworth who take her to a proper room, making him seem far more callous towards her. The Beast showing Belle his library comes off less as a heartfelt gift and a sign of the Beast's Character Development, given that here he's showing off the library after insulting Belle's taste in books (and arguably lording his wealth over her). In the iconic ballroom scene both of them - though especially Belle - seem neutral rather than nervously joyous even though they're on the cusp of admitting their feelings. The film even largely skims over the added plot point of them both having dead mothers (i.e. when the Beast finds out what happened to Belle's mother, rather than try to comfort Belle he just makes some random comment about her dad and it never comes up again). Overall, they can come across less as two people deeply in love and more like tentative friends, and we're expected to buy them as a romantic couple just because it's Beauty and the Beast.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Some people think Gaston isn't really a bad guy and see Belle and Maurice as Ungrateful Bastards. While he acts more polite and civil to Belle and later tries to help Maurice to save Belle, every "good" thing he does for them is purely for his own benefit, and it shows that he's manipulative. Gaston flat-out admits to Maurice that he's only helping him search for Belle in an effort to earn his favor, not because he was genuinely worried about her. Gaston even refers to Belle as "prey" that is difficult to catch, implying that he's only interested in Belle because he sees her refusal to reciprocate his feelings as a challenge — and even before he starts turning into a villain, he does things to Belle that are considered rude, disrespectful, and creepy, like stalking Belle and grabbing her dress. In addition, it's clear that Belle and Maurice have known Gaston for quite some time ("It's a small village, I've met everyone!"), so they are probably wise to his true nature by the time the movie starts (the Novelization confirms this on Belle's part).
  • Don't Shoot the Message: The general consensus on LeFou's Adaptational Sexuality is that, yes, the time is right for Disney to represent the LGBTQ community — but using the villain's bumbling sidekick probably wasn't the best idea, especially since the payoff is a short blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Pere Robert, the village pastor who lends Belle books and comforts her when her invention is destroyed. Given how close-minded the rest of the town is and how obviously rare it was for a man to support women learning at the time period, he's gained quite a following for a guy who appeared in all of two scenes. During the Mob Song, we can see that he's not singing along and is clearly disturbed at what's going on.
    • Stanley, who doesn't even have any lines, is very well-liked, mainly because he's implied to end up with LeFou. Naturally, since LeFou is a Darkhorse himself, the fandom latched onto him rather quickly. The fact that he actually loves being Dragged into Drag in the climax helps too.
    • Belle's father, Maurice, became quite well-liked as well, due to his role being expanded upon, such as being more of a Papa Wolf this time, being a case of Adaptational Badass, as well as being the Only Sane Man alongside Belle. One of his big moments in the film that made him admired is when he defiantly refuses to let Gaston marry Belle after learning of his true nature, even when being threatened to be thrown in the asylum.
  • Franchise Original Sin: One of the bigger complaints about the movie is that the justification for why the servants were enchanted as well and arguably got it worse than the Beast — they didn't try to raise the Prince better than his abusive father did and thus made him the way he is — feels rather cheap, given how they couldn't have done anything to oppose the king, and the Enchantress then cursed the Prince for something that, by this logic, wasn't his fault. However, this justification was actually used several years prior in the Broadway play — only there, it was a single sentence in an exposition-driven scene, wasn't taken as the official reason (the servants are only guessing that might be why), and instead of blaming them entirely for how the Beast turned out, it's phrased as them "helping to make him the way he is," still placing some responsibility on him for his own actions.
  • Genius Bonus: Gaston and LeFou wear military uniforms belonging to the Gendarmes de la Garde, a pistol-armed unit from the Maison Militaire du Roi (the royal guard), and the Gardes Françaises, line infantry from the Maison Militaire. Knowing the units combat record, this explains everything about them.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • The film takes place at a time where females are expected to Stay in the Kitchen, and those who show signs of intelligence are shunned. While the worst that happens to Belle is the townsfolk destroying her washing machine, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which was released only two months after Beauty and the Beast, shows that she could've had a worse fate in being tried for witchcraft and hanged (assuming the same Disneyfied historical innacuracies apply...)
    • In the movie, when Belle was very young, her mother died in a plague that Belle herself survived only by moving to Villeneuve with her father. In real life, Belle's Spanish voice actress, Hiromi Hayakawa, died in childbirth mere months after this movie was released, and her child along with her.
    • Hearing Lumiere wax lyrical about love and romance is sobering now that Ewan McGregor has separated from his wife, possibly having cheated on her...
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Emma Thompson's character Sybill Trelawney teaches the art of divining the future from tea leaves to students who include Hermione Granger, Emma Watson's character. This time Thompson plays a teapot — the mother of a teacup — who becomes good friends with Watson's character. Furthermore, Hermione hated Trelawney's class, but here they seem to bond as Mrs. Potts becomes a maternal figure.
    • In the original 1991 cartoon, there's a brief gag where LeFou waits for so long out in the cold that he turns into a snowman. Here, he is played by Josh Gad, who has played a snowman in another Disney film. The scene was originally going to be adapted for this film to complete the reference, but it ended up being cut from the film.
    • "So I'm roughly the size of a barge" in the Gaston song (just like in the cartoon) is now sung by Luke Evans who was Bard the Bargeman in The Hobbit. Coincidentally, both characters also seek to protect their home from a ferocious beast (though unlike Gaston, Bard is justified in that said beast is Smaug.)
    • Dan Stevens playing a character who must find love because of a curse by Hattie Morahan's character is funny considering they played love interests in the 2008 Sense and Sensibility adaptation.
    • Emma Watson had previously been in talks to star in a Guillermo del Toro adaptation of the Beauty & the Beast fairy tale. She ends up starring in this, which ends with Belle hinting that she prefers the Beast to the Prince. Del Toro would then direct The Shape of Water — a Beauty & the Beast film where the beast does not transform into a human at all.
    • It's very amusing to see Emma Watson in Little Women (2019) after this, where she is now the traditionally more feminine and ladylike Meg March — in stark contrast to her usual Not Like Other Girls characters. It also wasn't lost on viewers how she infamously pushed for Belle not to wear a corset in this film, and yet wears one in Little Women.
    • This is the second Disney live-action remake to have a Downton Abbey actor as one of the main leads. In this case, it's Lily James' co-star Stevens as the Beast.
    • The Enchantress going by "Agathe" (pronounced "Agatha") in this version, and only revealing herself as said Enchantress at the end, could prompt one to say, "It was Agatha all along."
  • Ho Yay: Not anymore! All that strange attraction and slavish devotion from the animated film is translated into LeFou being confirmed as a gay man in a little provincial town and having a crush on Gaston. Lefou and Stanley also have their moments, since Stanley is seen in the background before the Gaston number gazing longingly at Lefou, and they end up dancing together at the end of the movie.
  • I Knew It!:
    • Several people correctly guessed that Agathe is the Enchantress the moment she rescued Maurice and brought him to her campsite to heal upnote .
    • Everyone who ever speculated that the Beast's real name is Adam after both Dan Stevens and Paige O'Hara finally confirmed it.
  • It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Quite a few viewers, including professional critics, are having this reaction to the most faithful of the Disney live-action rethinks of their animated canon yet, seeing it as little more than Disney cashing in on nostalgia for the original, perhaps in hopes of moving new and more tie-in merchandise. Negative reviews argue this remake does nothing better than the original did — the most common comparison made is to Gus Van Sant's ill-fated Psycho remake — with the Adaptation Expansion only bloating the runtime, weighing down the atmosphere, and making the story's flaws (in particular the Stockholm Syndrome issue) stand out more.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: In the denouement, when the last petal falls all of the Enchanted Objects are rendered inanimate, which is clearly intended as a tearjerker. Anyone in the audience of a Disney movie knows THIS feint at Not His Sled isn't going to take, and sure enough they are promptly restored to life and humanity.
  • Love to Hate: Luke Evans as Gaston. He's a misogynistic, narcissistic sociopath, but his hammy, humorous performance makes hating him so much fun.
  • Memetic Mutation
    • The original tie-in Belle doll released by the Disney Store as part of the film's merchandise was scorned by doll collectors for its uncanny resemblance to Justin Bieber more than Emma Watson.
    • Emma Watson looks permanently unhappy in the stills. Naturally, people have run with this.
    • At the end of this version Belle asks the Prince if he could grow a beard, to which he replies with a playful, but incredibly real growl. Those who have seen it confess to being baffled but oddly aroused.
    • In the fandom, it's very common to joke about how depressing "Evermore" is. Helped along by the fact that it's the most popular of the new songs by far.
    • The movie's interpretation of Belle's famous yellow dress is quite often seen as very lacking. This has led to a lot of jokes about it, especially on Tumblr and Youtube, such as saying it looks like a banana.
    • HE DABBEDnote 
  • Moral Event Horizon: Gaston crosses this in the animated film when he literally backstabs the Beast (and he dies immediately afterwards). In the 2017 version, however, he crosses the line much earlier, and commits a total of three MEH-worthy deeds.
    • When Maurice rightly refuses to give Gaston his blessing to marry Belle, Gaston knocks him out and ties him up to a tree with the intention of leaving him to die at the jaws of the wolves.
    • The way he treats Lefou afterwards. He manipulates his feelings for him to save his own skin when accused of doing the above, later threatening to throw him into the asylum for protesting, and finally using him as a human shield during the battle with the enchanted objects before leaving him to die.
    • Finally, just like the animated film, he shoots the Beast in the back with his pistol, after the latter just spared his life.
  • Narm Charm:
    • Any time the wolves are on screen, as the sounds that they make are closer to lions or tigers than real wolves. It's more comical than it is scary, especially since the wolves in the original sounded far more realistic. However, they still manage to be terrifying to other viewers, since the film's Nightmare Fuel page outright stated that they sound like monsters straight from hell itself.
    • After the curse is broken, Mrs. Potts tells Chip, "You smell so good!" While it did come out of nowhere, it does make sense considering that since Chip was turned into a teacup, he most likely smells like tea.
    • The clip of the Beast demanding Belle to join him for dinner has him looking less angry and more annoyed. In the context of the film, however, it makes sense, as the Beast never intended to let Belle live comfortably in the castle — it was the servants' idea, and he's just going with it and isn't pleased, hence the irritated tone.
    • Belle discovering the cause of her mother's death feels like it was supposed to be a big twist, especially given how she discovers it (via a Portal Book, of all things), but it's completely mundane and just raises the question of why her father was so reluctant to tell her about it. (Perhaps, because he left his wife while she was still alive, meaning she died alone and in agony over the course of several days, he felt guilty — even though it was what she wanted, for his and their daughter's sakes.)
    • Some of the stuff like Lumiere's accent and Beast's more annoyed-than-truly-angry things actually find some people to enjoy them.
  • Older Than They Think:
    • The concept of a war being part of the backstory originates with the original fairy tale where the Beast's mother waged war to defend her young son's kingdom due to her late husband being unable to do so.
    • The updates to the Enchantress's curse—namely, having the change into objects be a Slow Transformation and the ultimate fate of the servants if it's not broken be turning into lifeless bric-a-brac permanently—both originate in Broadway version.
  • Padding: The Backstory and associated Flashbacks added for Belle and the Beast are accused of being this, since they don't significantly affect any major events yet are a key reason why this film is longer than the original by 40+ minutes. For bonus points, it also seems to open up a Plot Hole: Why don't Belle and Beast simply use the Portal Book to save Maurice from the mob, and then return to the castle? There's an answer to that, but it's All There in the Manual (specifically The Beast's Tale, a manga adaptation), so...
  • Portmanteau Couple Name: "Gafou" for Gaston and LeFou, as well as "Stanfou" for Stanley and LeFou have gained some traction online.
  • Questionable Casting:
    • Luke Evans as Gaston. While Luke Evans is a solid actor, he lacks the same energy and physical stature that made Gaston such a fun character in the original film. It's understandable that it would be hard to find an actor physically large to match the animated one while also having a layer of charisma to him, but Luke Evans, despite his best efforts and doing an overall solid job with the actual acting part of the character, isn't able to provide the same charisma nor physical presence Gaston is known for.
    • Audra McDonald, one of the greatest musical theater singers of her time, is cast in a musical in a role with far less singing than the other characters. To add insult to injury, most of the other performers have minimal musical theater experience. The key exceptions are Dan Stevens, Kevin Kline, Luke Evans, and Josh Gad... and it shows, with many critics singling them out as the highlights of the cast even though their screentime (especially Kline's) is relatively limited.
    • Some of the reaction to Emma Watson as Belle has been this, with many feeling that she isn't nearly a good enough singer to justify being in the lead role for a musical movie (especially a Disney one).
    • The film also cast Harriet Jones — an acclaimed musical actress who at the time of the film's release was one of the two main actresses for Christine in the West End's The Phantom of the Opera — as the Prince's mother, who doesn't even get to speak, much less sing. There is, at least, an explanation for her casting: originally she was supposed to have a singing part (singing a lullaby to the young prince), but test audiences thought that she was Hattie Morahan (the woman who plays Agathe). This led them to believe that the Enchantress was singing to the young prince... for some reason. Thus they recast the prince, put Harriet in a dark wig, and reversed it so that the prince sang to her.
  • She Really Can Act: On the singing part, most people who positively reacted to this film were very surprised by how well Emma Watson can sing despite it being her first time. The fact that she got singing lessons before filming her role helps too. This is a bit of a Broken Base, however, as some other viewers also found Emma's voice to sound incredibly autotuned and ruining her performance rather than enhancing it. However most can agree that Emma sings much more beautifully when she sings a reprise of "How Does A Moment Last Forever", mainly because it's not autotuned like the rest and it was reported that she sang it live.
  • Signature Song:
    • From the new songs added to the film, "Evermore" is the most popular and is considered a strong contender to be nominated for Best Original Song at the 2018 Oscars.
    • From the classic songs reprised for the film, the new renditions of "Gaston" and "Be Our Guest" seem to have become the most acclaimed.
  • Special Effect Failure:
    • Many critics find the Beast's CG makeup unconvincing and wonder why the filmmakers didn't use actual makeup like in previous live action adaptations.
    • When the camera pans over the room Lumiere and Cogsworth gives Belle, it turns into a 3D-esque shot making it really blurry to watch.
  • Tainted by the Preview: When the first TV spot that actually featured Emma Watson — or anyone — singing arrived on January 8th, there was a general groan across the Internet regarding her voice, to the point that Word of God had to confirm no Auto-Tune was used.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: While its slavish faithfulness to the original film has elicited It's the Same, Now It Sucks! reactions, the changes that have been made haven't drawn much praise either...:
    • The Beast's more human-looking face received this reception, with people deriding it for not looking monstrous/animalistic enough compared to the original. It doesn't help that it does undercut both the characters' reactions to him in-universe and the "looks aren't everything" message.
    • Belle's golden ballgown is her Iconic Outfit, and has been faithfully recreated and elaborated upon for years by the Disney Theme Parks, productions of the stage musical, merchandise, and numerous cosplayers. Quite a few fans were seriously let down by the reveal of this movie's far less ornate take on it, with Donna Dickens at Uproxx describing it as resembling "a deflated balloon" and others likening it to a modern teenager's prom dress. The fact that the film is otherwise drenched in period appropriate Costume Porn doesn't help.
    • As said above, some foreign dubs (such as the Italian one) re-translated every song rather than keeping the original lyrics. Cue angry mob.
    • Foreign audiences (such as Brazilians) were disappointed that most of the better-known actors would not have their recurring voices in their local dubs.
    • A more minor case, but some of the conversations Belle had with Beast in the animated film, such as him giving her a new room and telling her to stay out of the west wing, were instead given to Belle, Lumiere and Cogsworth in this film, leaving some to question why they would remove important scenes between Belle and Beast to give to Belle and two side characters instead.
    • The scene of Belle going to the West Wing. In the 1991 version, the whole idea of the West Wing is that it's where the Beast resides and thus is the creepiest part of the castle, covered in darkness, broken furniture and even animal carcasses.note  In this version, the West Wing looks... mostly fine and not very different from any other room in the castle! It also removes Belle's wonder and fear as she slowly explores the room before eventually coming upon the rose. Instead, Belle in this version walks nearly straight towards the rose as she apparently knows exactly where she's going and has little interest in exploring the forbidden place she's entered.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • As much as fans were impressed with the backstory regarding Belle's mother, many were still rather disappointed by the fact that her name was never mentioned. The same goes for the Beast's mother; and truly, the film attempts to paint the subject of the dead mothers as something important and an element that Belle and Beast could bond over and their characters develop with, but aside from one or two scenes they're never integrated fully into the plot.
    • The Enchantress appears physically on-screen disguised as a villager called Agathe, but no attempt is made to understand why she fixated on this prince in particular, or why she cursed the servants as well (Mrs Potts does say they share some blame but it would have meant more coming from the Enchantress herself).
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
    • Two words: Portal Book. Here's something brand new that could have completely changed Act Three, and/or allowed Belle to truly have "adventure in the great wide somewhere" instead of just living out life in a castle near her hometown — a common complaint about the original film's denouement. No on both counts — it's used once, to allow Belle to find out what became of her mother, and then completely forgotten about for the remainder of the runtime. It's not a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment or Wacky Wayside Tribe, but it is pointless. Worse, while there's an explanation for why it can't be used to save Maurice it is All There in the Manual — specifically one of the two manga adaptations — and thus appears to be a giant Plot Hole going by the film itself.
    • For all the hype about Belle being the inventor this time, this only figures into the sequence with the washing machine, which has no real plot relevance. Not once after this sequence does the film mention it again.
    • The film expands upon Gaston's backstory by revealing he was a soldier before the start of the film. This is supposed to be used to try and humanize him better, but in the film itself, it really doesn't mean anything except to explain his physical skills. This is especially strange since Gaston is portrayed a bit more sympathetically than the original movie, but because we get little context for his backstory (despite it being made a big deal outside of the film), it feels like an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the character with promises of Adaptation Expansion that didn't happen.
      • Speaking of which, some viewers feel that Gaston should have been given his original death (where he survives his fall but gets eaten by wolves). The fact that he tied Maurice to a tree with the intent for wolves to devour him seemed like the perfect setup for a clever use of the original idea while adding a new spin on his death and still making it Laser-Guided Karma. This ends up making how he still dies just about the same way he did originally a big missed opportunity.
  • Unintentional Uncanny Valley:
    • Many find the castle servants' designs to be unsettling due to the more pragmatic art direction employed. One can argue that here is some Fridge Brilliance involved as they ARE cursed and are meant to be humans stuck in the bodies of furniture; their looking uncanny is more likely than their being cute. The script also plays into this, with Maurice and Belle's initial reactions being less the bemused wonderment of the original and more sheer terror.
    • There's an especially weird shot during "Be Our Guest" where the camera lingers several seconds on Mrs. Potts' face smiling at the screen which is probably meant to be a charming shot but comes off as incredibly unsettling instead.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
    • The villagers were given an Adaptational Nice Guy change by making them more wary of Gaston to the point of LeFou having to pay them to sing during "Gaston" and suspected him to try and killed Maurice. However, they were also given the Adaptational Jerkass treatment by being more bigoted towards Belle for less understandable reasons. Such as complaining to her about promoting female literacy in a time period where it's not looked down upon. In the end, it makes the ending where they regained their memories of being former castle residents and servants hollow since they never apologize for their behavior towards Belle or realize that they almost killed their friends and family.
    • Beast's decision to let Belle leave the castle to see her ill father ends up looking very foolish and callous given the specifics of the curse in this version. In the original film, all that was said about the curse if it wasn't broken was that the transformation of Beast and the castle residents would become permanent, given the denizens didn't seem to be too bothered by their transformation Beast letting Belle go wasn't seen as a bad thing. In contrast, the remake adds that all the denizens turned into objects will become immobile and inanimate if the curse isn't broken. While this could be seen as a Trolley problem dilemma, most instances of the Trolley problem force the user to pick between letting multiple people die by doing nothing or diverting the trolley to save more people, while sacrificing another. But in this scenario diverting the trolley (letting Belle go) will lead to more deaths than doing nothing, making Beast’s choice hard to agree with.
  • Ugly Cute: The Beast! He does look kinda cute for somebody who's referred to as creepy-looking in-universe. Even Belle seems to agree!
    Belle: How would you feel about growing a beard?
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: The visual effects used to bring the Beast, the servants and more to life are simply fantastic. The effects also really, really shine in the Be Our Guest sequence.
  • The Woobie:
    • Belle and the Beast are this as usual, but with their backstories, it's taken up a bit more.
    • LeFou becomes this when Gaston starts committing evil deeds, and finally abandoning him in his time of need. To see your best friend turn into a horrible monster and use you as nothing but a tool, you really want to give the poor guy a hug.
    • Maurice has had a sad life. Even before The Reveal about his late wife you can't but feel sorry for him, especially in the tavern scene where he's frantically trying to tell the villagers about his daughter being held prisoner and when it finally seems like someone will listen it was just a ruse by Gaston to ask him for Belle's hand in marriage and when Maurice (quite rightly) refuses Gaston tries to outright murder him!.
  • WTH, Costuming Department?: Considering the period-appropriate costumes of just about every other character, Belle's golden ballroom dress is utterly out of place and really doesn't fit the eighteenth century world that the film is clearly set in. It doesn't help that Emma Watson apparently had a close hand in designing the dress, instigating her 'no corsets/stays' rule, and that the outfit was finished with (among other things) glitter. To make matters worse, the disparity in style was a conscious choice (Watson thought the progressive and practical Belle wouldn't wear the typically elaborate and unwieldy fashions of the day). This wasn't taken well by the fans, many of whom thought the dress was underwhelming at best and hideous at worst. One review pointed out that:

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