Beauty and the Beast Teaser

Yes I know I haven’t really been up to date with all the posts that I should be focusing on, and yes, I know I haven’t posted my review of Captain America Civil War which should really be my priority… but… GUYS! THERE’S A BEAUTY AND THE BEAST TEASER!

So this teaser was released earlier this morning and I just happened to have a bit of a lull in my work. I thought that was a sign I should write a quick post about this Beauty and the Beast teaser because… Guys… this is probably one of the best teasers I’ve seen in a long time.

We live in a world where a Teaser trailer is no longer a teaser. Teasers have been showing more and more of the film and have become more of short trailers rather than giving you a taste or a tease of the film before the actual trailer. Having watched a lot of trailers in the past year, I do understand how it might be a difficult process to actually make a teaser trailer. But guys… this is really a fantastic teaser.

Beauty and the Beast has been the live action Disney film that I think almost everyone who knows it’s been coming out has been the most excited for. Every single bit of news about this film just made it sound better and better. Emma Watson as Belle, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, etc, casting news after casting news just made this movie sound like it’s going to be a great film. Along with that, this movie seemed like it was going to be the live action adaptation that people are actually calling for.

I’m not knocking good adaptations that have come out like Cinderella or The Jungle Book, but they’re not the most popular Disney cartoons we remember from childhood. Those are both really good films but they had their own tone and felt like a more up to date adaptation then a true to the cartoon source material they came from. On the other hand of that, you have movies like Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent who don’t feel like the cartoon at all and are really just using the name to branch off and make their own story with the property. As it happens, both examples range from okay with Maleficent, to really kind of terrible with Alice in Wonderland.

What sets Beauty and the Beast apart, especially with this teaser, is it feels like an actual adaptation of the cartoon. It’s not just taking the property and making its own flare on it and calling it an adaptation (which is not necessarily a bad thing) it feels the movie I watched and loved in my childhood is actually coming to life on the big screen in a live action adaptation.  

The teaser isn’t that long but there are a few distinct points that make it one of the best teasers I have ever seen.

The first thing to mention is the music. That opening music is just iconic Beauty and the Beast. Everyone nostalgia should be freaking out when they hear that music if they’re a fan of the movie because that is just quintessential Beauty and the Beast. This is what sets it apart from The Jungle Book which was a pretty close adaptation all things considered. The difference though comes from the fact that The Jungle Book trailers had different indicators that while they set off nostalgic alarms, they weren’t as poignant as this teaser. Hearing that iconic music is a lot different, and in my opinion a lot more effective, than Kaa just saying Trust in me, or them whistling the Bare Necessities at the end. I got goose bumps the first time I heard this trailer just because of the music, and that is a sign of an effective teaser. One last thing worth saying about the music is that it is just magical. The music for Beauty and the Beast was always pretty mystical, but seeing it contrasted with the imagery of the castle, and the voiceovers of Ewan McGregor and Ian Mckellan, it just works perfectly. 

The other thing that was so distinctive about this teaser was the imagery. There’s only one character that you physically see in the trailer and that’s Emma Watson as Belle. And even then you don’t see her totally clearly but just enough to give the movie some star credibility. But the great part about the imagery is that it serves the purpose for both people who are really familiar with the movie and the story, and those who may not be. The castle and the sets that they pan through incredibly resemble the castle from the cartoon so the nostalgics are going to get warm fuzzies just from the sets. But both people are going to get that magical feeling from the combination of the music and the sets falling into disarray from the passing of time.

Perhaps the majority of movie goes don't know for sure, but this is a stacked cast and you should be excited about it because not only is it a lot of people you might know, its a lot of talented people. From Emma Watson as Belle, to Luke Evans as Gaston, to Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, or Ian Mckellan as Cogsworth, the casting just goes on and on. And not only is a number of talented actors, they're also perfectly casted based on what they can do as actors and what they look like. 

It should go without saying, but the claw marks and not showing the Beast was a phenomenal choice. I really hope they continue to shroud the Beast in mystery until the release of the movie. I know that’s a highly unlikely scenario since we live in a world where trailers give away so much, but how great would it be to wait until you see the movie to actually see the Beast. That would be awesome! But back to the claw marks, a picture is worth a thousand words. Even if you don’t know the story of Beauty and the Beast, you can guess there is turmoil, there is conflict and it includes a Beast of some sorts. And if you know the story, you see all the foreshadowing and that’s another aspect that makes this trailer amazing.

And of course, there’s the iconic rose that absolutely needed to be in the teaser that you see when you see our main character.

And then on top of that all, all the voice overs create a perfect tease as to what the familiar story will be. It’s a girl! Could she be the one? Conflict is set up with the claw marks on the portrait and the solution is brought right in front of us.

This is not a very long teaser so this won’t be a very long post, but all I can say is, I loved this. This movie is very much one of my most highly anticipated movies of 2017 and this only heightens that excitement.

But what about you? What did you think of the teaser? Are you excited for Beauty and the Beast? Were you excited from the news about it and made less excited by the teaser? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for future reviews (yes Civil War is on the way). If you follow me on Twitter you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.