Beauty and the Beast

"Well, you know, I love to read. Actually, I'm looking at a book,

I'm reading a book, I'm trying to get started.

Grade:  C +

Director: Bill Condon

Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, and Audra McDonald

MPAA Rating: PG

Running Time: 2 hr. 9 min.

“Little Red Riding Hood,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and “Cinderella” are iconic children’s literature, but it's forgotten that the subject matter of these and other classic fairy tales are exceedingly dark and violent—in the original “Snow White,” the Queen, Snow White’s actual mother, wants her daughter killed so she can eat her liver and lungs.

From the original 1740 French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont to its acclaimed animated and stage adaptations, the common narrative thread running through every iteration of Beauty and the Beast is the notion that love can tame even the most savage creature, unlocking its inner beauty. The latest version is a lavish, live-action Disney update that nonetheless mirrors the plot and songs in the 1991 Oscar-nominated film. Perhaps the patina of cel animation masked an unsettling underpinning that, 16 years hence, rings rather regressive to contemporary eyes and ears. It’s hardly politically correct to recoil from a romance spawned by a brute holding a young girl captive, positive that if she would only get to know him better that she’d learn to love him and cure his violent impulses. Our court system and women’s shelters are full of such stories.

When doddering dad Maurice (Kevin Kline) wanders across a seemingly abandoned castle and picks a rose for his lonely daughter Belle (Emma Watson), a monstrous Beast (Dan Stevens underneath lots of CGI), the lord of the manor, claps Maurice in his dungeon. When Belle discovers her father's whereabouts, she bargains with the Beast to take his place. That’s just fine with the Beast and the other inhabitants of his castle, all anthropomorphic finery ranging from a candelabra (Ewan McGregor), a brass clock (Ian McKellen), a harpsichord (Stanley Tucci), and a teapot (Emma Thompson). They’re former helpers of the house encased in these animate objects, and the Beast is actually a vain prince damned to this grotesque visage unless he can convince a woman to love him before the last petal falls from a hexed rose.

Belle, a bookworm branded “funny” by her townsfolk, has long rebuffed any romantic overtures, particularly the coarse advances of Gaston (Luke Evans), an arrogant would-be suitor accompanied by LeFou (Josh Gad), his long-suffering sidekick. Much has been made about this LeFou being the first avowed gay Disney character, and while Gad’s interpretation leaves little to guesswork, he doesn’t exactly play LeFou like Harvey Fierstein.

Condon’s coiffed, painterly set design produces its fair share of eye-catching moments, from the opening ball to the frenzied “Be Our Guest” feast. But further hindering the parochial plotline are the two leads. Stevens’ digitized voice makes him sound like a Transformer. Meanwhile, it’s hard to decide which countenance is more devoid of emotion: Stevens’ motion-captured mask, or Watson, who simply and quite unfortunately appears bored and/or lost in the part. She wanders aimlessly through entire scenes without design, and her go-to expression is a bemused, pursed-lip smirk for a role that demands a broader mien. Together, it’s the woolly mammoth meets the woolly personality—I’ve seen better chemistry in Fifty Shades of Grey.

There are the inevitable plot quibbles—the herd of snow wolves that prowl the forest encircling the Beast’s abode accost those approaching the castle as well as those attempting to escape, until the storyline needs them to mysteriously disappear. Beauty and the Beast’s insistent romance will lure susceptible viewers, but there’s little need for this revival to run a whole 45 minutes longer than the 1991 adaptation. The result is overstuffed pastiche, trying mightily to recapture the magic of a story that doesn’t age so happily ever after.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Let's make a deal - the Elder Wand for your nose

Grade: B +

Director: David Yates

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, and Helena Bonham Carter

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hr. 10 min.

As the action-filled climax to the acclaimed fantasy series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 dispenses with much additional character development or insight, save for Harry’s revelatory gaze through a prism formed from the tears of Severus Snape (Alan Rickman). Instead, the film draws upon a decade of Potter iconography to fashion a nostalgic quietus – with familiar creatures and supporting characters, both living and dead, given one last turn in the spotlight – en route to the fated Ragnarok between Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

It is a wistfulness bound to be shared by the British film industry, which the “Harry Potter” franchise has almost singlehandedly buttressed since 2001. Indeed, the entire “Potter” saga has always been best interpreted from a British standpoint. “Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is no exception, with the assault on Hogwarts by Voldemort and his dark army especially evocative for a country that over the last 70 years has suffered The Blitz, decades of IRA terrorism and the 7/7 London Underground bombings. An image of students and faulty tending to the dead and injured amidst the rubble of Hogwarts is eerily, perhaps purposefully reminiscent of the aftermath of Luftwaffe air raids during World War II.

Formerly a savior in waiting, Harry Potter is in full Messianic bloom. Instead of a conquering king, however, Harry discovers that his true destiny is to die so that the world might live. He’s even given his own Garden of Gethsemane moment, during which he communes with the heavenly apparition of his father, mother and others.

As BFFs Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) again help Harry try to vanquish Voldemort, Deathly Hallows: Part 2 carries an enjoyable but inevitable air. Director David Yates, whose four Potter films saved the series from a critical standpoint, dutifully fills in the narrative blanks amid what amounts to a special effects extravaganza.

The singular saving grace comes late in the film at the end of a chat between Harry and Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) inside an ethereal incarnation of King’s Cross railway station. “Is this real, or has this been happening inside my head?,” asks Harry. “Of course it’s happening inside your head, Harry,” answers the undead headmaster. “But, that doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

The exchange – slightly reworded from J.K. Rowling’s prose – lands like a load of bricks. Even the cursory suggestion that events occurring beyond – and perhaps even before – this scene might be figments of Harry’s imagination is itself a ruse.

In truth, Dumbledore’s response is directed at the viewer, underscoring the porous line between fiction and individualized reality as insightfully as François Ozon’s Swimming Pool or anything written by Charlie Kaufman. Moreover, it is an instance of utter symbiosis between art and audience, both an acknowledgement and validation of the Potter faithful that have queued up to buy the books and donned capes and makeshift wands to watch the movies.

Capped by a sunbathed, symbolic coda, the enduring moral of the Harry Potter series is the timeliness of art. Nineteen years hence, Harry, Ron and Hermione won’t be the ones introducing their grade school children to the magical wonders of Hogwarts; it’ll be the now-teenage fans who grew up with them.

Neil Morris

Originally published at www.indyweek.com: http://goo.gl/XCDxV

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Harry's not feeling quite himself today

Grade: B +

Director: David Yates

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Brendan Gleeson, and Imelda Staunton

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hours, 26 minutes

In a film rife with depictions of torture and genocide, the most haunting scene in the decidedly dark but tremendous Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (hereinafter HPDH1) is a wordless, isolated moment during its opening sequence. Forced like her Hogwarts schoolmates to flee home in order to escape the encroaching forces of Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) casts a spell on her unsuspecting parents that erases any memory of her, a process that also literally removes her image from the family portraits lining their mantelpiece.

This isn’t your grade schooler’s Harry Potter – no quidditch matches, classroom hijinks, or school dances. Indeed, Hogwarts is never seen at all. Instead, the still-suffocating Potter vernacular is mercifully co-opted by a story steeped in genuine human emotions: love, friendship, racism, loyalty, betrayal, etc. As Harry, Hermoine, and Ron (Daniel Radcliffe, Watson, and Rupert Grint, respectively) have aged before our eyes, so too have the challenges facing them grown more treacherous.

With Harry’s friends shielding the Chosen One from Voldemort’s omnipotent pall, the dark lord’s minions capture control over the Ministry of Magic and initiate their “Final Solution” to exterminate Muggles and any other non-pure-bloods. Wizards-in-waiting are now indoctrinated with such propaganda as “Mudbloods and The Dangers They Pose” and “When Muggles Attack,” written and illustrated to resemble Julius Streicher’s anti-Semitic Nazi invectives.

With the death of Harry’s father-figure Dumbledore and minimal assistance from their dwindling adult mentors, it now falls to Harry and Co. to defeat Voldemort by gathering and destroying Horcruxes that sustain the villain’s immortality…or something like that. Also figuring into the equation are the so-called deathly hallows, which we learn about via an ancient fable director David Yates tells using a clever animation sequence.

In HPDH1, Harry, Hermoine, and Ron’s task assumes an epic grandeur, more atmospheric, meditative, and slower than previous installments. Accompanied by the plaintive refrains of composer Alexandre Desplat, they hopscotch from dungeons to Piccadilly Circus to endless sweeping vistas, battling not only Death Eaters but also their own hormonal angst. In particular, Yates brings to the surface Ron’s festering resentment towards the more popular Harry as well as his insecurity over their respective relationships with Hermoine.

The evening after Ron storms out on his friends, Harry and Hermoine console each other with an impromptu slow dance set to “O Children” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Forgive us now for what we’ve done/It started out as fun/Here, take these before we run away/The keys to the gulag.” It’s an affecting scene redolent of an art-house coming of age picture, much less a multi-million dollar film sequel.

The darker, worldly themes in the last three Harry Potter films – the best of the bunch, and all directed Yates, not coincidentally – are unsurprising once you realize they are adapted from the only books J.K. Rowling wrote post-9/11. Moreover, the first hour of HPDH1 is the most provocative in the entire film series, although that does amplify the monotony that takes root during the film’s second half as Yates applies the narrative brakes in preparation for Part 2’s finale next July.

Still, even if the battles for Hogwarts and Harry’s soul have yet to be fought, the merit of the once vapid Harry Potter films has finally been established. Luckily, they saved the best for last.

Neil Morris

*Originally published at http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-1-is-decidedly-dark-and-tremendous/Content?oid=1808900

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Next up on QVC: selections from the Hogwarts Collection

Grade: B +

Director: David Yates

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Tom Felton, Robbie Coltrane, Helena Bonham Carter, and Bonnie Wright

MPAA Rating: PG

Running Time: 2 hours, 33 minutes

During the heyday of James Bond films, it seemed every successive 007 movie was tagged as “The biggest Bond of all.” Similarly, the principal critique of each new entry in the Harry Potter saga is whether it is the “most mature” or “darkest” Potter film yet.

While devotees may prefer the childlike charm of the two Chris Columbus offerings, the visual skillfulness in Alfonso Cuarón’s Prisoner of Azkaban, or the post-9/11 zeitgeist of Order of the Phoenix, the truth is that differentiating between any two Harry Potter films is rather like choosing between Wonder Bread or Sunbeam: Each are satisfying, but at the end of the day, they’re both just white bread.

Until now. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince not only dramatically distinguishes itself from its forerunners, but also validates the series as a whole. In the able hands of returning director David Yates, this is the funniest, most visually sublime, and, yes, darkest addition to the Potter canon. You are taken in from the opening dissolve, in which Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), now trumpeted as the Chosen One, is caught in the crosshairs of Paparazzi flashbulbs, just starting to bear the weight of expectation and shielded only under the protective wing of his mentor/surrogate father-figure, Dumbledore (Michael Gambon).

Lord Voldemont and his Death Eaters continue to tighten their grip on both the magical and outside Muggle worlds. Although we never glimpse Ralph Fiennes, the film wisely spends time informing us about Voldemont’s dark past when he was a student at Hogwarts named Tom Riddle. Along the way, Harry also uncovers an old textbook full of secrets scribbled by its former owner, the mysterious “Half-Blood Prince.”

More than any other, this Potter film grasps the fact that the series’ true magic rests not in passageways, potions, and periphrastic spells, but in the relationships between the characters. Of course, there is the seminal trio of Harry, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), now steeping squarely in the hormonal whims of adolescence angst. At various points during the Quidditch matches, the flying broomsticks straddled by competitors vying for the affections of female onlookers conspicuously assume a phallic form.

But, the story’s principal couple has always been Harry and Dumbledore, and their bond has never been more personal than here, taking on a heightened father-son air, even including Dumbledore making repeated causal inquires about Harry’s love life.

Virtually the entire film is pitch-perfect, from the pacing to the visual effects to the best ensemble acting thus far in the series. In roles they have played since their preteens, Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint have matured as actors along with their characters, although still overmatched against their Royal Shakespearean Co. costars. Indeed, Gambon has made us forget Richard Harris, while Jim Broadbent steals the movie as the dotty, yet haunted Professor Slughorn.

The real star of Half-Blood Prince, however, is Yates, an experienced television director who is already tabbed to adapt J.K. Rowling’s final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yates has taken hold of the franchise reigns so firmly that he is comfortable imprinting it with his own filmmaking style while also being given license to depart occasionally from Rowling’s literary blueprint. The happy result is a Harry Potter film that not only stands apart, but one you’d want to see again. That might be the most amazing magic trick of all.

Neil Morris