Beauty and the Beast 3D has the exact same story line as Beauty and the Beast. A selfish prince turns away an ugly witch. The witch turns into a beautiful fairy and casts her spell. By the time that Belle meets the Beast, the rose has began to whither. They must fall in love before all the petals fall to break the spell. The story doesn’t change at all in this 3D version. Because of that, this review is more about the graphics and transition to 3D than the story itself.
The first few scenes of Belle and the town are quite mesmerizing. There is a real depth to the town, and you actually get the feeling of people on the street in different places. However, the difference between the 3D version and the regular version is not so obvious in other parts such as when Belle sits down at the well with her book.
The biggest problem actually came in when Belle was climbing the staircase to the “forbidden West Wing.” The scale seemed to be very off. Belle was very small when visually compared to the castle staircase and hallway. It was here that the 3D effects failed somewhat, because this tended to detract a little from the story.
It wasn’t only Belle who had scaling issues. Lumiere and Cogsworth had some issues as well. In some scenes, they were just teeny-tiny figures, and in others they were much bigger. It probably wasn’t as noticeable in the 2D version as it was in 3D.
Another problem came during the fight scene. It was almost if the 3D effects were completely missing from this part of the movie. Sure, you got some graphical changes but it seems if there should have been more.
Other than these small issues with 3D, the story is still very captivating. It loses none of its character and charm in this 3D makeover. So, if you or your kids are fans of Beauty and the Beast, it certainly is worth a trip to go see this 3D version. Strive for the afternoon run on this movie to save a little on the 3D ticket price.
