A bookish knockout (Emma Watson), an outcast in her picaresque French countryside village, finds herself the unwanted object of affection from a boorish lunkhead (Luke Evans) then prisoner to a cursed, crude beast (Dan Evans), whose enchanted castle reeks with personality and whose charms she gradually succumbs to. While this and the other CGI'd remakes to Disney's cherished 1991 animated feature are largely unnecessary, the endearing, magical elements are retained while new story directions, lyrics, and songs are added, mostly beneficial and without doing damage. The cast is particularly strong, especially Evans, Kevin Kline as Belle's absent-minded father, and most notably Watson who I was surprised to learn did her own singing.
*** out of ****
