Once upon a time, before the acronyms VHS and DVD were commonplace, Disney would

quaintly safeguard such animated classics as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and P
inocchio like priceless gems while benevolently re-issuing them every few years o
n the big screen before stashing them back in the studio vault.
But in the 1990s, with the advent of home entertainment, the studio started to c
onsider new ways beyond revivals to cash in on the same beloved stories. First c
ame Broadway productions, followed by direct-to-video sequels, TV series spinoff
s and then, starting in 2010 with Tim Burton s effects-laden Alice in Wonderland, di
gitally-enhanced live-action renditions.
It was therefore all but inevitable that a property as adored as 1991 s "Beauty an
d the Beast," the first animated film to not just compete in Oscar s Best Picture
category but also top the $100 million box-office mark, would receive a 21st-cen
tury makeover after Cinderella and The Jungle Book followed the rousing $1 billion w
orldwide box-office reception for Alice in Wonderland.
The bottom line: This gloriously old-fashioned musical with gee-whiz trappings i
s a dazzling beauty to behold (with enough Rococo gold decor to gild all of Trum
p s properties) and is anything but a beastly re-interpretation of a fairy tale as
old as time. Also welcome is the more inclusive display of love in its various
forms, which go beyond the sweetly awkward courtship between brainy, brave and i
ndependent-minded bookworm Belle (Emma Watson, much cherished for her gutsy port
rayal of Hermione Granger in the eight Harry Potter films) and the cursed prince
in the ill-tempered guise of a ram-horned bison-faced creature (Dan Stevens of D
ownton Abbey, whose sensitive blue eyes serve him well amid all his CGI faux-fur
trappings).
As for that exclusively gay moment you have been hearing about? It appears near th
e conclusion when LeFou, a comic-relief character brought to life by Josh Gad (t
he voice of Olaf the snowman in Frozen ) who clearly has an unrequited man-crush on
his bulky and boorish buddy Gaston (Luke Evans of The Girl on the Train ), fleetin
gly dances with a male partner. That s it. If your kids aren t freaked out by Michae
l Keaton s coy in-the-closet Ken doll in Toy Story 3, they will be fine here especiall
y considering the central relationship in this PG-rated fantasy basically promot
es bestiality.
Still, this is a much denser and longer, by a considerable 45 minutes confection, on
e that doesn t always go down as easily as the less-adorned yet lighter-than-air a
ngel food cake that was the original. It s true that my heart once again went pitt
y-pat during the ballroom waltz as Emma Thompson voicing Mrs. Potts honors her s
ublime teapot predecessor Angela Lansbury by warmly warbling the title theme. Bu
t I couldn t help but feel that the more-is-more philosophy that lurks behind many
of these remakes weighs down not just the story but some key performances. This
Beauty is too often beset by blockbuster bloat.
The familiar basics of the plot are the same as Maurice, Belle s