Emma Watson, Kittens and ‘Beauty and the Beast’!

Emma Watson made her debut as the live-action Belle yesterday as Disney’s remake of Beauty and the Beast opened in cinemas worldwide.

The film has been highly anticipated and reviews are already indicating positive reactions to Emma’s take on Belle. Emma recently met with Buzzfeed (who inundated her with lots of tiny kittens whilst they interviewed her!) to talk about the film prior to its opening.

Understandably Emma is slightly distracted by the kittens as one climbs on her shoulder and another is intent on attacking the green screen behind!

She told Buzzfeed how she helped design a ring for Belle, based on her own ring from her mother, which she got to keep, shared her life lessons, her motivation for women who feel brought down and her thoughts on the similarities between Hermione and Belle:

“They share their love of books. Hermione and Belle are like perfect head and heart girls — they have both. They’re super smart but they also have this incredible empathy and compassion and ability to see, kind of, beyond things and be nonjudgmental.”

Watch the adorable video below!

Disney have apparently captured the magic of the 1991 animation in this new tale, with the visual elements of the film being noted for  being particularly enchanting, with ” lots of snowscapes, gold flakes and images of rose petals”.

More political  reviews of the film note the movie being ‘updated’ for the 21st Century. The Guardian comments on the inclusion of Le Fou as Disney’s first gay character:

“This movie is allegedly updating its assumptions to include a gay character … while leaving the heterosexual politics untouched. Beastly ugliness is symbolic of tragic male loneliness even as the imprisoned pretty woman submissively redeems her captor’s suffering.”

The Mary Sue also explains that the story has been updated so the Beauty/Beast romance has less of a Stockholme Syndrome feel, giving more insight into the Beast’s tale:

“The story has been updated so that the Beast isn’t so… beastly. He’s more a of spoiled prince angry at being forced to walk in someone else’s shoes for a harsh lesson in humility. In this version of the story, we’re allowed to better understand him with songs like “Days in the Sun,” which also reveals how much he and Belle have in common.”

The Hollywood Reporter appreciated how the movie does well to capture the music of the 1991 classic, with other reviews commenting that though Emma’s singing may not compare to Paige O’Hara’s classic take on Belle, Alan Menken and Tim Rice do well to add an updated twist to each song, and Emma Thompson is particularly noted as making an excellent Mrs Potts!

“This remake of the company’s 1991 animated hit tracks closely to the earlier version’s plot and story beats, includes revamps of all the old songs and arrives just in time to exploit generational nostalgia — to lure viewers who loved the last version as kids and are just becoming parents themselves.”

James Corden recreated various songs from the movie outside his studio with the film’s stars, Dan Stevens (the Beast), Josh Gad (LeFou) and Luke Evans (Gaston). The spoof is hilarious and sees ‘Belle’ sing outside a gas station as passersby look on utterly bemused, ‘Be Our Guest’ is performed on a crosswalk, interrupted by the timer running out and screams of ‘CARS, CARS!’ as the cast disperse to get out of the road. It’s absolute chaos and definitely worth a watch, even if Emma Watson is M.I.A! :

In other Emma Watson news, hackers managed to leak photos of her at a dress fitting a couple of years ago without her permission, and after the threats of leaking nude photos followed her UN speech on gender equality, Watson was quick to take on these hackers by pursuing legal action.

Have you seen Beauty and the Beast yet? Let us know what you thought!