Beauty and The Beast (2017) 3D Movie Review

Written By: Adolph Vega

3D

Initially the stereoscopic 3D visuals of this movie didn't impress me, but as the movie progressed my opinion changed. It seems like only a few scenes were meant to be in 3D. The 3D is a mixed bag with maybe 50% of the movie having awful and forgettable 3D visuals, and the other 50% having excellent 3D. Scenes with heavy computer graphics really shine in 3D and work with both pop and depth based 3D. Some scenes the camera pans a little too quickly and it become disorienting in 3D. The ballroom dance scene and the "be my guest" dinner scenes both look fantastic in 3D. The 3D really drawns the audience into the scene and make for a more magical viewing experience. 3D depth helps to make the castle seem taller and scarier. One minute the 3D is very impressive and the other minute it is totally worthless. Overall I enjoyed the 3D element of this movie even if it was hit or miss.

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Movie

Beauty and the Beast (2017) is essentially a remake of the classic (1991) animated movie of the same name. This isn’t a pure remake because it adds several key new elements to the story and in many ways improves upon the already masterful original animated movie.

This movie is focused on the beautiful young woman named Belle who lives in the French countryside. Belle yearns for more with her life and is portrayed with grace and charm by Emma Watson. The Beast was a prince whose life was changed because of a curse. Their lives intersect when Belle’s father goes missing. Only if the Beast finds true love can his curse be lifted . The characters of Belle and the Beast have fantastic chemistry together and this is a key element of the story . Can Belle help the Beast become normal again? This movie is a musical and is beautifully sung with many familiar songs and a few new ones. "Be my guest" is my favorite song within this movie, and this version is excellently choreographed , is easy to understand and is super catchy. When the song came to an end I wanted to stand up and cheer . Like I said earlier in this review this movie has many new scenes and those scenes work well to plug in previous plot holes from the animated version. The new scenes are touching and are well integrated into the story. The story flows well and feels tight with some excellent character development. Belle's father has so much depth and personality and is very likeable. I appreciate the added depth to the characters and the new scenes only enrich an already excellent story. The computer graphics displayed within this movie are exceptional and I loved how they appeared on screen. When I watched the trailers for this movie I was off put by the computer-generated characters, but as I watched the final product thier appearance didn’t bother me at all. Excellent is the best word to describe this movie, it’s entertaining, smart and a magical cinematic experience that the entire family can enjoy. I hate to compare movies but I feel that this movie is superior to the 1991 animated movie. That being say I consider the 1991 animated Beauty and the Beast movie to be a modern classic and one of the best-animated movies of all time. The fact that this movie excels beyond that excellence is an amazing achievement, that Walt Disney would proud of. The movie feels both familiar and new and is the perfect showcase to how to make a remake that adds to the story yet honors what made the original so great to begin with .

Before I conclude this review I must speak on the controversy that this movie has created regarding a “gay scene”. This is a ridiculous controversy, based on silly character regarding an awkward hug. Yes this whole spectacle is based only on a hug . The character of LeFou is fabulous and eccentric and is finally made into a well-rounded person. In the animated version of this movie he is a simple minion of Gaston , but now he is a three-dimensional character. I never understood why LeFou would follow around the brutish Gaston but now it makes sense. I think that 99.9% of people will like his character change and have no problem with his eccentric humorous nature. This is much ado about nothing and is a moronic worthless controversy created by foolish people! I strongly disagree with government censorship of art, and I applaud Disney studios for making this wonderful movie.

In closing I loved this movie and I found it to be a spectacular movie with no significant flaws. The story is richer than ever, the characters are more established and they completely nail the musical performances. The only possible issue that I had was that some story elements fell a little too perfectly into place, but I can forgive that element because of its fairytales origins. Beauty & The Beast (2017) is a wonderful movie and is an excellent remake and is a truly magical theatrical experience.

Final Verdict: 10/10

Beauty & The Beast Official website

Click here to listen to my audio podcast review of Beauty and the Beast 2017

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

3D Movie Review Written By: Adolph Vega

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3D

At no point during this movie was I wowed by the 3D visuals. The 3D visuals looked sharp, and I was aware of them, but they just didn't do much with it. Sometimes the 3D visuals were used to assist jump scares. Sadly, many scenes were shot in darker locations that don't typically work well in 3D. The 3D depth gives this movie a decent diorama effect, but no scenes really stood out or were dramatically enhanced because of the 3D visuals . Overall the 3D element is a mixed bag (just like this movie) and is neither wonderful nor awful but is an adequate visual addition .

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Movie

This is the sixth Resident Evil movie in the long standing franchise, and if you have seen any of the predecessors, you know exactly what to expect from this "Final Chapter". If you haven't seen any of those previous movies, then you should expect a movie that is very loosely tied to the popular video game series of the same name. The Resident Evil movies are known for their over-the-top action scenes and overly complex plots regarding the global zombie apocalypse.

I have watched every Resident Evil movie and played several of the video games within this popular franchise. The forth Resident Evil game is my favorite, and I don't have a favorite movie because they are all equally mediocre. The movies share some basic story elements from the video games, but the vast majority of story is new lore created exclusively for the movies.

The story of this movie revolves around the main character Alias, who is attempting to undo the zombie apocalypse caused by the T Virus. The T Virus was created by the evil Umbrella Corporation. The movie starts with a very informative scene that helps to reintroduce key aspects of this movie franchise. Considering it's been several years since the previous movie within this series , I found this preamble to be very helpful. It's almost too helpful because it essentially resets the continuity of the franchise and makes many of the predecessors seem irrelevant and almost worthless in retrospect.

Overall the story is a mess with many plot points that simply make little or no sense and are totally ridiculous. The irony of this movie franchise is that the original Resident Evil video game was a in some ways a spoof of terrible horror movies, so it's a fitting tribute that these movies are all so cheesy . Is this narrative mess done on purpose to allude to the other cheesy horror movies or is trying itself to be a meta cheesy horror movie? The acting is cheesy and the writing pathetic, so you really don't care about the characters. Many characters only exist to later have a gruesome ridiculous death. Maybe I'm a twisted person but I was laughing constantly from all the dark humor within this movie. I also laughed at this movie for how ridiculously stupid it was. One example of this stupidity , is one early scene where Alias is driving a Jeep and being chased by a large dragon monster. Alias is able to escape from the dragon monster but decides to make a u-turn and crashes her vehicle into the dragon monster to make it explode and thus kill the beast. She literally puts herself back into unnecessary danger to make a "cool action scene".

This raises several questions that cannot be logically explained. First of all, why are dragons in zombie movie? Second of all , If Alias already escaped the danger of the dragon, why is it necessary to go back for the kill ? Third and finally why destroy her own means of transportation? This movie makes no sense and yet I somehow enjoyed myself. I really believe that the movie is intentionally over bloated with plot that isn't meant to be taken seriously. Many times I rolled my eyes and laughed at the events that happened on screen. So many scenes within this movie are just too convenient, too silly, and just plain ridiculous. I don't know what the true motivations were in making this long standing movie franchise. These movies play it totally strait, so it's not clear if I was laughing at it or because of it . Regardless of the intent I found this garbage of a movie to be hysterical and entertaining .

The movie has many examples of stupid decisions made by the main characters that make no logical sense but to give the plot an excuse for another elaborate action scene. The action scenes within this movie are over-the-top and entertaining but must importantly ring hollow. The character of Alias is totally overpowered and I can't believe that she is ever in any real danger. One major issue I have with the action scenes is how it is edited. The movie has many super quick cut edits, and is overly zoomed-in at times. Some of the action is incomprehensible and difficult to watch because of the editing. The editing feels dated, like it's from 2005 and makes this movie difficult to watch and enjoy.

Without any spoilers I must briefly mention the ending to this movie, which I didn't find satisfying. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter attempts to wrap up everything a little too perfectly and sends a very mixed signal for a "Final Chapter". Like other parts of the story, the ending just doesn't make any sense and is immensely stupid. My first reaction when the movie ended was to do a literal face palm. I was in complete disbelief as the movie concluded , and I kept repeating the word really in my head as the credits rolled .

Overall, Resident Evil the Final Chapter is a ridiculous, hilariously stupid mess of a action movie. The choppy editing ruins a few action scenes. I enjoyed laughing at this movie, and I'm not sure if that was intentional or not. On pure entertainment value I enjoyed this idiotic movie. It's not exactly a serious zombie action movie. It's not exactly a horror comedy movie. It's something in between, and is exactly a trite movie.

Final Verdict: 5 / 10

Resident Evil The Final Chapter Official Website

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