The tale as old as time has finally arrived in cinemas and Disney fanatics can rejoice.
The live action Beauty and the Beast, starring everyone’s best friend Emma Watson as Belle, is a magical adaptation of the classic story.
This new version of the 1991 Oscar-winning animation brings more depth to all the characters and works to address the troublesome Stockholm Syndrome-esque plot.
To recap, Belle, a bright and educated young woman in 1700s France visits a mysterious wintery castle to rescue her father, who has been taken prisoner by the occupant – the Beast – for attempting to steal a rose.
Belle offers the Beast (Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens) a trade, her life for her father’s, and remains in the castle.
Through a series of events that reveal the Belle and Beast’s personality’s to one another, the pair grow close in the castle.
Back in Belle’s village her wannabe suitor Gaston is growing ever frustrated with her father’s explanations of her location.
Luke Evans (The Girl on the Train) is an absolute standout as Gaston.
He has all the arrogance and self-importance one could hope for from the villainous character and has brilliant chemistry with oafish sidekick LeFou (Josh Gad, Frozen’s Olaf).
In fact, the cast are all very much on point.
Watson proves that she was the obvious and appropriate choice to play the lead, refusing to be a distressed damsel and going toe-toe with the beast.
Stevens brings a lot to Beast, especially in the second half of the film when he shows more vulnerability.
He is menacing, aggravated and unrefined in his introduction, but grows into a somewhat charming, even funny, partner for Belle.
The castle staff – candelabra Lumiere, clock Cogsworth, crockery pair Mrs Potts and Chip, among others – are thoroughly enjoyable.
Ewan McGregor plays Lumiere with a questionable French accent but all of the charisma and fabulosity the character deserves.
Ian McKellen is appropriately curmudgeonly as Cogsworth and he too has great chemistry with Lumiere.
Emma Thompson is brilliant as Mrs Potts and delivers a fine performance in the titular song.
Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are also brilliant in their smaller roles as household objects.
While overall the film is really enjoyable and a top adaptation for the House of Mouse it does still have its flaws.
Firstly, the mix of accents is exceedingly frustrating – are they supposed to be English, French or American (looking at you, LeFou).
But the biggest drawback is the overabundance of computer-generated imagery.
Instead of utilising make-up and prosthetics to bring the Beast to life the filmmakers chose to animate his face with CGI and it shows.
There’s something just not-quite-lifelike about his facial movements and it does detract from the performances.
Elsewhere in the film too the sets and backgrounds are enhanced with graphics and it makes it just that little bit harder to connect.
But in the grand scheme of things these are small gripes in a well-constructed, magical movie.
If the rest of Disney’s slew of planned live-action remakes maintain this quality, there will be a tonne of happy fans singing the studio’s praises.
Beauty and the Beast is in cinemas today and is rated PG.