Beauty and the Beast Review: One of Disney’s greatest best live action fantasies yet, I see no reason for super conservatives to avoid it

Readers, please! I know some of you are wondering about the ‘big gay moment’ you’ve heard so much about in Disney’s latest live action version of Beauty and the Beast. Let me reassure you that the whole issue is nothing more than a ridiculously over-hyped tempest in a teapot. Blink and you’ll miss the few vaguely gay references. The rest of the film is a fabulous Disney epic, and you would be missing out on a superlative cinematic experience if you chose not to go for whatever reason.

The film is sheer delight from start to finish. If you’ve seen the animated version a million times, even better, because you can gleefully sing along, and you’ll note that many of the live action scenes are cleverly similar to the animated ones. The costumes are divine, and those big production numbers? Truly amazing — especially “Be Our Guest.”

So that you won’t spend more energy than you need to trying to figure out who voices what, let me fill you in ahead of time:

Ewan McGregor is Lumiere

Ian McKellen is Cogsworth

Emma Thompson is Mrs. Potts

Nathan Mack is Chip

Audra McDonald is Madame Garderobe

Stanley Tucci is Maestro Candenza

And of course you’ll recognize Harry Potter‘s Emma Watson as Belle, Downton Abbey‘s Dan Stevens as the Beast, Frozen‘s Olaf Josh Gadd as Lafoon, The Hobbit‘s Luke Evans as Gaston, and A Fish Called Wanda‘s Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle’s father.

Disney’s live action films based on best loved animated features have been hit or miss. Last year’s Alice Through the Looking Glass with Johnny Depp was a mess. But 2015’s Cinderella was great fun. This iteration of Beauty and the Beast is even better still.

My only complaint is that I can’t get the lyrics, “I’m especially good at expectorating!” out of my head.

Rated PG

2 Hours 9 Minutes

Get times and tickets at Fandango.com

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Review — It’s Your Loss if You Miss It