Beauty and the Beast
Opens March 17in theatersnationwide.
Like so much about Condons film, the new songs are perfectly fine, but theyre just not transporting.
More than movies or theme parks, Disney has always been in the business of selling magic.
(Should the many sacrifice a few?
Belko trends too proudly toward ultraviolence, but theres true-pulp transgression in the films shamelessly sick kicks.
A mass execution starts off troubling and then, somehow, becomes hilarious.
(Paraphrasing Stalin: One death is a tragedy, many deaths are farce.)
If hilarious mass execution sounds upsetting, I shouldnt mention the exploding heads.
We live in disturbing times.
Returning writer John Hodges script doesnt have a go at overreach.
In fact, its pretty anemic, especially in the less-than-satisfying final third.
Near the sequels ending, McGregors Renton is being chased by Begbie through a parking lot.
He almost gets run down by a car.
For a second, its 1996 again.
As for subtlety, there isnt a whole lot of that either.
Meanwhile, Reilly and the mighty Kong are left to save the picture.
And mostly, they succeed.
Or, at least, well enough.
Kong swats the military helicopters out of the sky like a giant swatting pesky flies.
Jackson barks his great vengeance and furious anger.
Hiddleston smolders and briefly wields a samurai sword.
Larson takes surprisingly few pictures for a photographer, but she does get her Fay Wray moment.
And Reilly delivers sorely needed punchlines between exposition about Kong and the islands backstory.
Meanwhile, Kong does his thing and does it well.
The poor misunderstood guy seems destined to keep proving to humankind that he comes in peace.
Mangold shoots the film in a grungy, south-of-the-border Peckinpah palette.
There isnt a lot of hope in the movie.
The stakes arent grandiose, no ones saving the world.
Since Lauras mutant physical gifts are so identical to Logans, theres a melancholy to their relationship.
Shes the daughter he never slowed down enough to allow himself to have.
The loner has to learn to put someone else first.
For a film thats asking hard questions, it takes the easy way out.
Still, Peele is undeniably a born filmmaker with big ambitions and an even bigger set of balls.
But theres also something about the film that leaves a sour aftertaste.
Its answers are offered up too easy.
Theyre too spoon-fed and trite.
It makes light of the grueling process of grieving for a loved one.
Just have faith, the movie says, and you too will be at peace.
All thats missing in the films bucolic spiritual way-station is a cornfield.
It flirts with being too much of a good thing.
