iTunes Exclusive Episode Beauty And The Beast

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it's time for another.
Number 270 The numbers keep climbing, brother, welcome.
My name is Rob, I am the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast and sometimes
I feel like I am a tune as old as song.
But I'm not alone for this particular episode, joining me across the desk as he tends
to do from time to time is the official fact checker of this show and a man who knows what
beast mode is but he doesn't like it when it happens against his Steelers.
You may know him as fun, don't go but his Mum and even Don Ford, I'm going to call him
Don Ford.
How come people say I smell like a beast a lot?
I've never said that.
Well, not you but other.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I actually didn't even have to worry about Beast mode anymore because he retired.
Whatever we do one of these bad boys, it is to review something.
This is no different.
You may have figured out by now that I tuned, I tuned, I tuned JxClosion.
Number 270 Is about the brand new live action Disney version of Beauty and the Beast.
For which I have the whole thing.
Yes, we have to thank some of our favorite people.
We love them.
Susan, Jenna, everybody at Susan Jacobs and Disney.
For the chance to see Susan, she was at the screening.
She's right behind me.
Big fan.
We love them all.
And Jenna is so great to us.
So give us the chance to see films before they come out.
So we can tell you about what we think of them.
This was directed by Bill Condon.
He directed movies like Chicago.
He directed a couple of the Twilight films.
Well, you know, I mean, the guy's got skins on the wall.
He's got a lot of directing.
He did dream girls.
Yeah, of course.
You know.
So he knows how to do musicals.
Yes, he does.
1991.
Did you Chicago, too?
I think he said that.
I said that.
In 1991 Disney did the animated version.
This was part of the new era of Disney animation that started off in 1989 with the
little mermaid.
I have very specific memories of beauty in the beast.
The 1991.
It came out in November.
I actually saw two movies in one day that day, a two separate theaters.
Not going to go into everything.
Just know that this film, while they very, very special place in my heart.
And when I found out that they were going to, they had already done the live version
of Cinderella and the live versions of the jungle book, and this was the next one on
the docket.
I was a little concerned because it's a classic.
Right, and they added 30 minutes to it.
Yeah, and not so you had to add the other part that you know, they made a live Broadway
show, which we saw last year.
So going into this screening, I was a little concerned about what was going to happen.
You've got Emma Watson playing Bell from Harry Potter fame, always.
You've got Dan Stevens, who many people would know from Downton Abbey.
Currently, he is the main character on FX's Legion, which I am watching.
He's playing Beast.
You've got the great Luke Evans is Gaston.
You've got Josh Gads is Lifu.
You've got Kevin Klein is Maurice.
And then you've got voice actors Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, you and McGregor, Audra McDonald,
Google Mbatharaw, Stanley Tucci.
I mean, I think to yourself, you know what, there might be something going on here.
Yeah, because good cast, incredible, I mean, you've got some icons in there.
But I was still a little concerned going in because again, this is also, which is
low, the following fact is actually located in both of our written reviews, conveniently
located at www.theclaphousepodcast.com, which is our website.
The 1991 film is the very first feature length animated film in history to be nominated
for Best Picture.
And so because, you know, and you add that to it.
So going in, I mean, we saw an IMX 3D, so I was a little excited about that, so you have
a high bar.
The bar is set high.
I am pleased to report that I very much enjoyed this film.
Me too.
I was very impressed.
I like how some of the shots in the film were directly out of the animated version.
I liked how it didn't try too hard to be the animated version.
There are certain little tweaks they made to it that made it its own thing.
You could definitely tell some of the newer songs because the songwriting styles a little
bit different.
But it's still done by Alan Minkett, who did the original, but they had to add some stuff
to add to the extra time.
But they still had some of the classics.
No, no, all the classics were there.
Yeah.
Even the theme song, which in the original was done by Celine Dion on Pebo Bryce and Celine
Dion still on this soundtrack, she sings a song over the end credits.
Like this time around, it's done by Ariana Grande and John Legend.
This concerned me.
Because I make no bones about the fact that I'm not a huge fan of the Ariana Grande.
She oversees everything.
Huge fan of the John Legend.
Always have been.
Yeah, of course.
Well noted, but you know what?
This version of the theme.
Not bad.
They both kept it on the rails, which made me happy.
I really enjoyed this film.
I really, really did.
I was worried a lot going in.
Again, the runtime at two hours and five minutes, almost two hours and ten minutes, was
a little concerning.
But it was very, the pacing was great.
Watch gauge?
40 minutes.
Well, that's almost record.
45 is your record.
45 is the record.
This was 40.
So I didn't feel like it dragged at all.
There was a couple of points where I was kind of like, it got a little wonky for me,
but the wheel's got back on fairly quickly.
Emma Watson is great as Bell.
She plays a part perfectly, I think.
And he was kind of puts her own spin on it.
I know, but I think she's a good, a good person for that role, that she did this.
I don't think maybe one or two actors in Hollywood who may have fit the role as well as
her, if that.
So I mean, this was that, but she is, she's like a good, incredible, smart pick.
And just so that we're clear, in case you just joined us from the bunker, it is the
story of a young lady in France, it lives in a village who winds up being imprisoned
by a beast who's actually a prince that's under a curse that the curse won't only be
broken when he learned how to love because he was very selfish.
That's what you need to know.
Because I was like, we didn't talk about the films about, but there's like nine people
on the planet that may not be for my or the story.
We want to make sure everybody's caught up.
It just Disney does what Disney does.
You know, you remember what I said when we saw the jungle book?
I don't know how Disney found a bunch of talking animals, but they did it.
You know, they also did Pete Strack in this past year.
A lot of people have been giving Disney gear fits like you're all you're doing is you're
remaking your movies, but they're doing it well.
So where's the complaint?
If it's entertaining and it works, like you couldn't have pulled this off 25 years ago.
Oh, no, visually there's no way because visually this thing is gorgeous.
It's absolutely beautiful, but now that you have the technology because I don't
know if you know this, but Dan Stevens was really the actor playing the beast from his
neck down.
Yeah.
That was his actual clothing, his face was CGI.
Okay.
They originally wanted to go completely practical, but they realized the CGI looked
better for his face.
So it wasn't like it was just a bunch of stunt people doing this stuff.
He was there on set and there's a great attention to detail in this film.
There are some changes made and there are some alterations, but nothing made me go, you
know?
Okay.
This all worked.
Here's the thing.
You would kind of, I don't have the Greek cred, that is well documented, and I remember
beauty in the beast.
I remember the main stuff.
It's not like I know this story or the original cartoon scene for scene like I do aliens
or the breakfast club.
That is true.
Okay.
Some kind of that main stream kind of guy, but you didn't see the musical last year,
so it was still kind of fashion.
Yeah, and I still seen it.
But not the every detail, everything like, you know, some people do, correct it.
Going in, I was kind of worried like, you know, do they have to, they have to, it's still
kind of worried me.
You know, you know, my feeling is I'm Pete's right and so different, but Jungle Book
to hit out the park in my opinion, we all agree on that, and we've also coming up, we've
got the Lion King, we've got Mulan, we got the Jungle Book sequel coming up, so this
is going to continue on.
They got the little mermaid in the works, possibly, and all that, yeah, yeah, here's my
thing.
Now, if you go, the big thing is, the big difference is, it's live action.
It is.
That's the only big difference.
And as a normal mainstream person, the only big difference is, from knowing the main
plots is that it's live action, okay.
If you go to my rate of the WWW, that the club has podcasts.com, I was blown away, you
were visually, you were, there were so many times, I'm going to say this, the, the dining room
scene.
Look, colors, for me, they for me, that is so beautiful, this is visually gorgeous on
every level, the CGI, it's CGI, we know that, but after, for a couple of minutes, you
don't even think of it as CGI, you even didn't know what CGI, because the technology
is so good at blends with it, with the pride of stuff, real like, the clock, the candle,
the candlestick, all those character, loomy and very cognizance worth, and Mrs. Cops,
which is in chips and all that, they worked, I was blown away by the clock, that
clock's worth, that's right, clock's worth was beautiful, that was, I'm sorry, clock's worth
was, it was you and McGregor, I'm sorry, let's try again, clock's worth is Ian McKellen,
you and McGregor is loomy air, Stanley Tucci plays my stroke of Denza, I've really got
to learn how to do that, and then you go to the scenery, not just as scary, just as
scenery, some of the shots of the castle, the beast castle, beautiful, some of the shots
of the home village in France, beautiful, so the big question on this, does it work visually,
absolutely, I was forced, and you know, we got to see this in three, we did, and I'm
max 3d, I'm not 3d, again, thank you to Susan, everybody there, because they're amazing
people, and we're fans, we're fans, big time, this, my girlfriend faith, took her to
that she is my plus one, the screenie, she's normally, this was her first film she's ever
seen in 3d, really, loved it, good, loved it, excellent, we were both leaving that thing
going visually, visually, beautiful, I just, that's the big difference, does it work, especially
visually, and it absolutely does, beyond, absolutely does, out of the park, grand slam, out
of the park, out of the state, you know, out of the country, on this hit, the story works
still just as well as well, everything works here, it's the plot that you know, I tell
everybody, you know, it's the story that you know, but it's live action, that's the
big thing, I, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful visually, and he critiques
of it, it did seem a little long, did they really need to add a little too much extra
name, I can say, acting, beautiful, great job, my, my shadow goes to climb, you were a big
fan of, can I climb this, yes, because the way he, the way he, his many rhythms when he walked
into the castle that first time, and he kind of, he just played that old man very well,
when he's driving the cart with the donkey, you know, he just had that roll down, so he
got my shadow on that, but Watson did good, everybody else, if I have any critiques, I liked
Luke Agavins as Gaston, but there was still something missing for me. He definitely took
the character a little darker than we were used to, which didn't really bother me, but
something was missing, and I thought that Gad was a little over the top, more than he
normally is, because I'm a huge Josh dad fan, of course, this was a little weird for
me, but it wasn't enough to take away my enjoyment of the film. So, to ours, five minutes
like you're saying, two, five, two, ten, it did seem a little long, but still paste well,
went well, overall, but just seemed maybe it tapped it, they have to add those extra 30 minutes,
maybe 2015 minutes could have been added. It didn't bother me that much, but I could see
how you'd see that. If I had a critique on that, but still, you know, here's one of
the things that I are questioned. We sat in 3D. We did. Is it worth the extra cost? See,
I go back and forth on that with this film, because certain parts of it, I was like,
ooh, but certain parts I was kind of like, it wouldn't offend me if somebody said they
would pay the 3D for it, but I also wouldn't go out of my way either if that makes any sense.
Like, it's good, but I don't, I don't think it's require 3D. Like, I felt Dr. Strange
like in the IMX 3D, like that, if you were going to see that in the theater, that was the
way to go. With this one, it wouldn't bother me, but it wouldn't, it wouldn't be my default
of that make, if that's okay. My question to you, if they, if they father wants to take
him his wife and the two kids to, let's say, the matinee showing of this or the twilight
showing, and they got the choice of the regular or a 3D, do they pay the extra cost of
about with 4 people, maybe $12 extra dollars? If it'll bring it to bank, no, but if you
can afford it, go ahead. Okay. Now, I will say there has been a little bit of controversy
around this film and around one of its characters. I had a conversation about that with
one of my co-workers who has young children, and he asked me if it's that big of a deal.
In God that doesn't have kids, I would say no, but here's the caveat. If you are a parent
and you're concerned about said things, I would say go see this yourself first, and then
come back and say and make that call. Maybe go catch a matinee, sit through it, say, is this
kind of thing something that I would have to talk to my kids about?
You know, that one, not 3D, but if they say, hey, go for it, then bring that call. Exactly.
I would say make the call on your own, because I'm not one of the committee either way
on this, because I see it from both sides. But again, I don't have kids, so maybe I don't
see them through the proper lenses. So, there's that. Anything else to get to the final
analysis? No, I think we can't from the most.
All right. The way we do the final analysis on this show, we're not going to give you
thumbs up, thumbs down, we're not going to give you two paws up, anything like that.
The way we do that on this show, we're going to ask two questions. Question number one,
is would we see this film again? If the answer is no, we're done here. But if the answer
is yes, then we want to know how would you see it again? Here is the spectrum from top
to bottom, full price at the theater, then down to Twilight, down to a matinee, down to early
morning, down to second one at the dollar theater, down to red box, down to Netflix, down
to cable. Don't, would you see this again? Definitely. How far you wanted to go? I would
recommend this even for the, for the family. I would recommend this as either the Twilight
or full price in between the two. So, you're right there on the page. And I am saying
add the 3D, the 3D is worth the cost. Okay. I'm going to go matinee. I think this is a good
matinee kind of on a Saturday, take the kids and then go do something or do something before
go see this and then do something after. But the big thing is the visuals and I think the
3D really enhances it. This is one of the few times where I say yes, pay the extra for the
3D. We have another fun. Yes. Yes. So again, we have to thank Susan, Jan, everybody. Susan Jacobs
is in a great Disney people for the invite to this thing. We will never be able to repay
them for everything they've done for incredible people. It is the brand new live action version
of Beauty and the Beast directed by Bill Condon. Let us do the plug, shall we? Totally.
Visit our website, please. The aforementioned www.theclubhousepodcast.com. Find out
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come to a live show for you. We've got a lot of live shows coming up. If you're listening to this
like as the movie has released, we're very excited about all of our live shows. You can email me
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Our normal show every Sunday night, seven Eastern, four Pacific is your one-stop shop for all things
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So until next time, for Don for the Empire, I'm Rob. Clubhouse is closed. I mean,