Beauty and the Beast

Disney really hit this one out of the park - it was like a Broadway show - even at 139 minutes the movie went by really fast.  Great voicing of the music and instrumentation.  I expect that this was a Broadway show (like the Lion King) and they used what they learned to make the movie even better than the animated version (1991).

This was live action in part only - as the CGI characters were like animation.  Belle (Emma Watson) carried the start turn well.  When the CGI characters (Lumiere, Mr. Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts) turned back into people, the characters took shape as well.  Beast (Dan Stevens) played the role well.   You may remember him as Matthew Crawley from Downton Abbey.

Big and bold, it was a lot of fun to see and gets:

* * * * * (highest rating)