Beauty and the Beast
Disney’s timeless romance comes alive with Emma Watson
As an animated feature (with songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman), Disney’s 1991 Beauty and the Beast broke all records and almost single-handedly revived the movie musical as a genre. The story, a timeless fairy-tale romance about a lovely young maiden who learns to love—and transform—her gruff, hirsute captor, has been adapted many times before, most notably on film as the 1946 classic by Jean Cocteau. The Menken-Ashman Disney version has been further adapted to the Broadway stage (with runaway success) and now, 25 years later, into a live-action movie musical, directed by Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters; Dreamgirls; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn) and featuring Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as the Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston and an amazing supporting ensemble—Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Audra MacDonald, Stanley Tucci, Ian McKellan, Josh Gad and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. It opens in theaters on March 17. Watch the trailer, above.
