If we’re being 100% honest, Disney’s promotional campaign for their live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast wasn’t doing much for me. Considering how much I love both Disney animation in general and the original 1991 animated Beauty and the Beast specifically, it was making me question if cynicism had finally crushed the last of my remaining ability to enjoy fairy tales. But then the final trailer came out and suddenly, the spark was back.
Part of my sudden interest may be chalked up to Disney simply mimicking the trailer for the original animated film. In the video above, YouTuber XBenQCatX (a classic YouTube name if ever there was one) did a side-by-side comparison of the two trailers and the similarities are too close to be accidental. However, there are a few key differences in order to update a tale as old as time for modern audiences. Tastes have changed since 1991, and it looks like Disney has done their best to fill in some of the plot holes that happen when you create a family film with a runtime of less than two hours and no idea the Internet will one day question Belle’s upper body strength.
The live-action adaptation trailer not only emphasizes Belle’s intelligence, it gives her the space to utilize that intelligence as an inventor. Instead of the Beast being a brute, he’s transformed into a bookish hermit (who still has serious anger issues). The quick-cut of the wardrobe magically creating clothing for Belle explains where all those beautiful clothes came from. The first trailer even remembers that humans age and had the Prince’s destroyed portrait portray him as a child instead of a time traveler.
Now if they can just explain how Chip — a child younger than the curse — even exists, we’ll be all good.
(Via IndieWire)