Beauty and the beast 2017 reviews

Once upon a time, before the acronyms VHS and DVD were commonplace, Disney would quaintly safeguard such animated classics as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Pinocchio” like priceless gems while benevolently re-issuing them every few years on the big screen before stashing them back in the studio vault.

But in the 1990s, with the advent of home entertainment, the studio started to consider new ways beyond revivals to cash in on the same beloved stories.

First came Broadway productions, followed by direct-to-video sequels, TV series spinoffs and then, starting in 2010 with Tim Burton’s effects-laden “Alice in Wonderland,” digitally-enhanced live-action renditions.

It was therefore all but inevitable that a property as adored as 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast,” the first animated film to not just compete in Oscar’s Best Picture category but also top the $100 million box-office mark, would receive a 21st-century makeover after “Cinderella” and “The Jungle Book” follo