Beauty and the Beast (2017)

I must be getting soft in my old age. This is not the hit-it-out-of-the-park masterpiece that it should have been. There are a number of problems with the movie, in particular a tendency to make everything epic, even in moments that should have been more intimate. Also, as always, the usual message comes through loud and clear: if you want love, you'd better be pretty. Doesn't help a lot of us out here. So why is the Bad Cat purring? Mostly on the strength of the sweetness and charm of Emma Watson, who grounds the proceedings and makes its excesses forgivable. It's a movie worth your time, especially if you're really a sucker for the romantic stuff, but this was perilously close to a take-it-or-leave it proposition.