So did we all…

A thoughtful, intelligent take. I'm glad it entertained you even if it wasn't transporting.

I know, right? Most of the added runtime involves backstory for both Belle and Beast that has no real impact on the plot, and actually opens up a new plot hole while much of the rest is trying to fix them!

It sounds like it, as Belle gets a backstory about why she and her father moved to Dullsville Village to begin with.

Yeah — for all the jokes about Watson making a lateral move from Hermoine Granger to Belle, Coleman's character on "Doctor Who" (Clara Oswald) is closer to Belle personality-wise.

Yeah, I felt the same way — and as I noted above, the actors were way too focused on getting laughs.

I saw the original tour in Chicago 20 years ago. The actors, by and large, were bad — they were playing it for laughs more than anything, even the Beast — but the show still had its moments. "Gaston" had a fabulous dance break involving clanking beer steins.

Yeah, no stage stuff appears here. As MaryAnn Johanson's review notes, those songs aren't Oscar-eligible, for one thing. Instead, there are four new songs.

Mrs. Potts even points it out, too ("She's lost her father and her freedom all in one day").

Roger Ebert's review of this one is extremely funny; look it up!

I suppose I need to check it out; I like his New Yorker writings too. ("Michael Jackson's Old Face" is one of the greatest pieces ever written regarding Jackson to this day.)

Finished Jim Gaffigan's stand-up special "Obsessed" yesterday. I liked "Beyond the Pale" more, but this was still an excellent set. I really need to catch up on his other albums/specials.

I think they prioritize Christian, Caucasian, and at least comfortably middle-class people for some reason.

Oh, yes. And there's a movie adaptation, and it's live-action.

Welp, chalk this up as the latest example of TV being the new movies these days, because this was far superior to any of the footage Disney has screened of their "Beauty and the Beast" remake so far.

Oh, it already has.

"Doctor Who" also benefits for its slightly different approach — since the TARDIS can go anywhere in time and space, it can have a lot more variety in its adventures.

Yeah, I'm surprised the article only gave it a passing mention, especially given that it's internationally popular and the revival launched in 2005, well before these other shows were even conceived. Not to mention that some of its actors are turning up on these newer shows (and/or other SF/fantasy programs)!

Definitely with you on point 2. Even though it has a much bigger budget now, "Doctor Who" is still pretty cash-constrained among modern SF/fantasy shows. It's easier to work with the odd journey-to-Earth's-past-or-future plot than realize faraway alien planets when it's time to change up the setting.

Lumiere's already paired with the feather duster Plumette in this movie's canon — which makes their relationship as humans interracial, as they're played by Ewan McGregor and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. It isn't even the only interracial relationship, as the Stanley Tucci and Audra McDonald characters are husband and wife. …