SimonJack This musical film of "Beauty and the Beast" is a good rendition of the 1740 French fairy tale by novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. The cast are not top star names. Their performances are okay, but nothing beyond the ordinary. The music is quite light, and with so few songs, one wishes that the filmmakers could have included more songs. The production is very interesting and well laid out. It's a more contemporary version of the fable, but with very good sets, camera work and performances overall. The costuming is especially good for Beast. The movie was filmed entirely in Israel. It's a decent family film that most children should enjoy.

Amy Adler Beauty (Rebecca De Mornay, young and very, very lovely) lives with her father, sisters and brothers in ye olden times. Beauty is the unspoken "caretaker" of the family, the one who makes their lives easier with her devoted attention to their needs. The father, a merchant, has been struggling but he hears that a ship of his has come in. Before he travels to port, he asks his children what they would like as gifts from afar. All of the girls asks for expensive presents but Beauty asks only for a beautiful rose. Alas, when the patriarch arrives at the docks, he finds that the ship did not arrive but was, in fact, lost at sea. Terribly distraught, he runs into a storm on the journey home and finds shelter in a large mansion with beautiful grounds. After a night of comfort, and without meeting the home owner, father is exiting the gardens when a rose catches his eye and he picks it for Beauty. Immediately, a man-beast (John Savage) rushes into view and snarls the bad news. For stealing a rose, father must remain on the estate forever. However, after much pleading, dad convinces the beast to let him return home to say goodbye. But, once back home, the whole story tumbles out and Beauty agrees to take his place and spend the rest of her days at the distant mansion. Since she won't take "no" for an answer, Beauty soon is installed in her new surroundings. She receives beautiful new clothing and lovely rooms. She even dreams of a "handsome" prince. But, reality soon comes calling with the entrance of the beast. Will Beauty be able to endure her "pretty" prison in the company of such a monster? This is a lovely, long-ago musical adaption of the classic story but not, of course, in the same category as the brilliant animated version. This one succeeds mainly on the presence of the two stars. De Mornay makes a beautiful beauty while Savage does a fine, sympathetic turn as the spellbound beast. The other actors work ranges from fine to acceptable to laughable but that is of small importance. The music, while pleasant, is not very memorable but the costumes and sets are more than adequate. Best of all, the film is a very "family-friendly" flick. Therefore, if you want to show a nice romantic film to a crowd of young females, this is a wonderful choice, for it has no objectionable material or themes. I happened upon the film at Kroger's for $3.99 and I consider that to be money well spent indeed. Why don't you keep your own eyes on the lookout during your next trip to the supermarket?

smoothhoney1265 Ohhhh my God, that was dreadful. Okay, DeMornay is quite nice to look at, but the prince looks like a cheap body builder from a cheap advertisement.Yeah, the costumes were nice. But the story was totally empty, lacking emotions, suspense, style, ah, just everything. In the end you just don't understand why she stayed with the prince and fell in love with him cause the dude is boring as hell and delivers one stupid line after another.Never before have I felt less while watching a movie.I guess the two best adaptions of this tale are still the Disney one and the one by Jean Cocteau, with Jean Marais playing the prince / the beast. Go watch those instead and save your time on this empty flick.

iremadon This movie is a delightful live action musical rendition of the beauty & the beast tale. My family throughly enjoyed it, despite the obvious low budget production. Rebecca De Mornay does a great job as beauty (although I personally don't care for her singing voice) and John Savage is wonderful as Beast.Possible spoiler**** I was especially impressed with the scene when Beauty dances with the statues. They were wonderful! No high tech, computer generated action here. Just old fashioned theater acting. It was terrific!For those of you who enjoyed Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella movie with Leslie Ann Warren, you will enjoy this one. I'm waiting anxiously for this to come out on DVD!