A big shout out to my husband, who dutifully went to see this with me – without complaint – even though this is so not his thing!

I so desperately wanted to love this movie.

I tried really, really hard.

To embrace Hermione as Belle.

To feel the true beauty of the Beast despite his overly CGI-d beastliness.

But in the end, it left me …  meh.

There is a fine line between remaking a movie in a new a fresh way while still holding on to what made the original so amazing and attempting to copy the original unsuccessfully. This movie does not toe that line at all.

The tipping point – Ewan McGregor’s horribly failed attempt at a French accent.

Singing in a French accent no less. Blech.

I do love that they stuck to the original story but did not appreciate some of the additions – let’s not try to remove fantasy from a fairy tale. Puh-lease.

I love that they included all the songs from the original and they did a spectacular job here.

I sang. I tapped. If I were inclined, I might even have stood up and got my jam on.

The new songs were full of melancholy and angst and felt a lot like something from Les Mis.

I found myself singing the songs over and over for the next week, inspiring a great desire to watch the original again.

And again.

And again.

The story of Beauty and the Beast has a special place for me – I’ve even read the original in French.

But this movie just didn’t do it. The original is just better.

You just can’t improve upon perfection.