Movie Breakdown: Belle

Pre-Screening Stance:

A few weeks ago I caught the trailer for Belle in front of Nightmare Alley and right away I found myself pretty interested in it. Not only does it look wonderfully animated, but the music sounds pretty well done, too.

Post-Screening Ramble:

Belle is essentially a very modern take on Beauty And The Beast. The film is centered around Suzu, a self-conscious teen who hasn’t at all been herself since her mother passed away. To help, her friend Hiro encourages her to join U, a massive virtual world where people can anonymously exist as an alternate persona based on their biometric info. Suzu then becomes Belle and quickly rediscovers her love of singing. She also very quickly becomes a global sensation and finds herself entangled with a mysterious avatar called The Dragon.

Aside from the usual touch points that come with being based on Beauty And The Beast, the film also takes a good look at social media – and really just anything related to how people are online vs real life. I can’t say that its deep dive into the matter really uncovers anything that hasn’t been noted before, but it does provide some additional depth to the movie itself. In the end though, the real draw for this film is its visuals. Simply put, this is a beautifully crafted affair with a variety of very creative elements (I especially loved the whale with speakers as barnacles). I really can’t wait to revisit it in 4K (or in an IMAX).

Belle does have some parts where it meanders a bit too much, but it’s not enough to derail the experience. Seek this one out. The film is in theaters as of today, January 14.

One Last Thought:

A 19-year-old named Kylie McNeill sings all of Belle’s tunes in the “English Edition” of the movie (she also voices Suzu). That’s pretty wild on its own, but it’s even crazier to me that she has just under 900 followers on Instagram. Can’t imagine it’ll stay like that for long.