Today I will be reviewing two very highly anticipated blockbusters of the year. I will be reviewing "Beauty and the Beast" which is the live action remake of the 1991 classic of the same name. I will also be reviewing "Kong: Skull Island" which is a reboot of "King Kong." Before I get started, I'd like to give a shoutout to the Free Gamer's Alliance YouTube channel. Their videos cover everything from walkthroughs, glitches, easter eggs, and various amusing video game related content, all of which is delivered with some colorful commentary while they have buckets of fun doing it. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC03E6K3QHRMp7Vs0S6wHm6Q
Lets start with "Kong: Skull Island." Here is the trailer:
- This movie is very well paced, it feels way shorter than it actually is.
- The cast is clearly having a lot of fun and it shows. Samuel L. Jackson in particular is an absolute joy to watch.
- The monster fights in this movie are absolutely crazy and a lot of fun to watch. There are a lot of "oh snap!" moments in a lot of these fights.
- There are some moments in this movie that are so ridiculous that they will make one laugh. This may or may not be a good thing depending on the audience member.
- As mentioned above, this movie has some truly ridiculous moments, whether or not they are enjoyable will depend on the viewer.
- The script is frankly written very poorly. The audience is give no reason whatsoever to care about the characters and some of the dialogue is absolutely cringe-worthy.
"Kong: Skull Island" is a fun yet poorly written action movie that is quite enjoyable if one is willing to turn off their brain when heading into the theater. I would absolutely recommend this if the above is what you are looking for. If you are looking for any depth or a movie that won't get silly, I'd say stay away from it.
Let us move on to "Beauty and the Beast." Here is the trailer:
- The major musical numbers are absolutely fantastic. There is no shortage of spectacle when it comes to these which is a lot of fun to watch.
- With one major exception that I will get into later, this movie is visually spectacaular.
- A lot of the cast is fantastic. Ewan McGregor and Ian Mckellen do an excellent job voicing Lumiere and Cogsworth. Luke Evans, however, is the one who really steals the show with his portrayal of Gaston. He really brings that character to life in a way that I didn't think was possible.
- The costumes and sets are incredible to look at.
- I did like the way Belle was written as a character, they did some things to make her a bit more modern. It was nothing too major but I appreciated it. I can't get any more specific without going into spoiler territory so I won't.
- The major exception to the visual fantasticness that I was mentioning earlier is the beast. The CGI on him looked so bad and I found it really distracting.
- Unfortunately there are two cast members who could not keep up vocally with the rest of the cast. To make things worse, the two I am referring to are Emma Watson and Dan Stevens who play Belle and the beast. They aren't as horrendous as Pierce Brosnan in "Mamma Mia!" but it does get distracting. Also there are a couple added musical numbers (one of which prominently featured the beast) that are super unnecessary.
- Finally, there are some extra things added to the plot to beef up the script that really felt like shallow padding.
"Beauty and the Beast" is a solid attempt to remake the classic animated movie but due to some glaring flaws it is nowhere close to living up to it. I would recommend this movie if you want a bit of nostalgia or a musical full of spectacle. If you expect it to live up to the original, however, you will be quite disappointed.
Thanks for reading everyone! As usual, feel free to leave a comment but please be advised that if you read any potential comments, spoilers may be present.