I saw movie Beauty and the Beast tonight, and some observations forthwith:

In the battle of the singing Emmas, it’s Watson 1, Stone 0.

And hey, Dan Stevens is pretty good, too!

When existing musicals add new songs (to get that coveted Best Original Song Oscar nomination) they usually toss it over the closing credits. (See Chicago, Hairspray.) Here, they added a new song in a place where a) it made sense and b) added to the storyline the way that good musical numbers do.

To the lady two seats over: I don’t care if you’ve “waited all your life to see this,” SHUT THE HELL UP. And that includes during the credits, too. Dan Stevens is a good singer, but Josh Groban is a great one.

Talking in a theater is an annoyance. Singing along over Emma Thompson is a sin. Singing over Audra McDonald should be a crime.

About that “gay Le Fou” issue… yeah, I can see why conservative Christians are up in arms. I’m not, but then I’m not a conservative Christian.

And even aside from the homosexuality issue (although I would argue that Le Fou appeared bisexual), Le Fou was more three-dimensional in this version. In every way. He wasn’t just a … cartoon figure. (Sorry about that.)

In short? I liked it better than the animated version. I liked the changes they made to several key characters, especially to Belle.

And it was nice to have a good movie to go to in March, the nadir of the cinema year.