Hello this is the Theatre Loving Fairy...I'm back! Sorry for not posting for months, but now I'm actually gonna focus more on musical movies than stage shows for a while since I have other things to focus on. Also, I'm gonna revamp the blog so don't be surprised in the future! I might go and see Once and I intend on seeing Miss Saigon next year, but besides that, I have no other plans of seeing any other musicals! Well, on with what I'd like to call the worst attempt of a mixing pop and country into a movie for pre-teen girls, Hannah Montana the Movie! Yes, I consider this a musical so shut up and let's review this piece of shit!

Hannah Montana the Movie
Rating: * (this is me being nice, believe it or not!)
Cast: Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus (both of whom can't act to save their lives), Haley Joel Osment's inferior sister, that guy from Metro Station's brother
Don't care about the rest of the cast (actually I care about none of them) moving on!
Here's the plot: Miley Stewart is struggling with her double life as Hannah Montana & her personal life as Miley which leads her to ruining best friend Lilly's My Super Sweet 16 style birthday party by upstaging her as Hannah, so her dad makes her do a 'Hannah detox' at her hometown Crowley Corners (what a creative name, huh?) full of bland & annoying people who for some reason have a hostility towards malls which could help their dwindling economy! There's a love angle with Miley & some cowboy guy which is contrived, bland & unnecessary like the entire movie!

Yes, this is an actual scene from the movie!

And there's another love angle with Billy Ray and Jan from The Office which Miley supports even though she wasn't happy when he dated a real estate agent in the show since she thought he was replacing her mother (yeah, I had a phase of liking it when I was 10 so my brain wasn't as prepared to realize it's a piece of shit)! And there's ANOTHER plot (see a theme?) involving some guy trying to find out Hannah's secret & follows her to Crowley Corners which contributes nothing to the main story! The ending is dumb & stupid, why?! BECAUSE EVERYONE REJECTS MILEY AND WANTS HANNAH AFTER SHE BEARS HER SOUL TO EVERYONE WITH A CRAPPY POP SONG!! Seriously, they want superficiality and lies, not Miley to be herself! WORST ENDING EVER!!

The chicken of the far left must've known this would be crap!

OK, the acting is atrocious & almost every character can't seem to tell that Miley is Hannah despite Hannah having a different hair colour & wear ugly Barbie clothes! It's what everyone notices, put the blonde wig on & you become Hannah Montana! OK, back to the acting! Like I said, Miley conveys no emotion whatsoever & she's just selfish throughout & doesn't change at all, making the whole movie entirely pointless! The cowboy boyfriend is just boring a love interest with no personality & the rest are just stereotypes with no personality & I do not care for!

Worst dance scene in a movie ever!

Now onto the songs...which are BAD! Worst one has got to be Hoedown Throwdown mixing country, pop, hip-hop & RnB together with an awful dance trying to be the Tim Warp! The Climb is just cliched & about nothing trying so hard to be like Britney Spears' I'm Not A Girl, But Not Yet a Woman which is equally as bad! The rest are forgettable, so I'm not gonna bother going over them!
Overall....HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE IS CRAP! I recommend avoiding it, it's a waste of 90 minutes with a washed down moral, an awful ending, atrocious songs & bland characters who can't act to save their lives!

Top 5 Worst Films Based on a Broadway Musical!

Hi and I'm sorry for not posting for so long, but I have exams coming up which I really have to focus on! However, I may see Singin In the Rain before it closes and to make up for it, I'm revealing my personal top 5 worst films based on a Broadway musical. Let's begin!

5) Mamma Mia! OK, I'll admit this is a guilty pleasure for me, but I'm being more analytical and there are some flaws with it. Firstly, the fact they got an all star cast really bothers me (before you say anything, I know Les Miz had an all star cast too, but the thing with Les Miz was most of the actors had a background in musical theatre) especially Pierce Brosnan as Sam! I just couldn't handle his singing, I had to mute it it was so bad, it sounded like he was drunk singing karaoke on a Saturday night! Also, I just feel like it was a fad to cram in every single ABBA song so the audience to sing along to instead of having a purpose to be there in the story. Most of them just come out of nowhere without warning and it really irritates me how they even reference them. Also, I feel like it's the perfect film to embarrass for parents to embarrass their kids with singing along to songs which are like 30 years old! However, not everything is bad. I do like the set, Meryl Streep and Dominic Cooper are really good as Donna and Sky and despite their bad singing, Christine baranski and Julie Walters are funny from time to time. Mamma Mia- sometimes, the winner doesn't take it all!

4) Rent. The main problem I have is that it shoves the whole 'misunderstood Bohemian' theme in your face unlike the show and it was just badly directed, which made it very boring. Also, the theme of homosexuality and AIDS is pretty outdated for the time of its release (which was 2005) since times have changed and we're more accepting. However, I do give them credit for getting a majority of the original cast back like Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel. The downside to it though is their ages. I refuse to believe that they're in their early 20s and I found most of the characters this time round annoying, especially Rosario Dawson as Mimi. Also, what happened to the Christmas Bells are Ringing song?! Rent- I won't be living La Vie Boheme any time soon!





3) Phantom of the Opera. Poor Andrew Lloyd-Webber, his chance to make his masterpiece onto the big screen, and it ends up as a total mess! Where do I begin with it? First off, the casting. I hated Emmy Rossum as Christine, she turned this strong and three dimensional character into an annoying bitchy damsel in distress. Also, her singing was much too weak and her vocal range doesn't fit the requirements. Gerard Butler was TERRIBLE, from his over the top acting to his shouting singing voice. I was not buying his performance one it and Patrick Wilson was just wimpy as Raoul. Also, the story is a complete mess and not coherent enough. It doesn't help that the changes made it even weaker, showing scenes which were unnecessary and cutting ones out which were relevant to the plot! Also, another thing is that the accents didn't match at all, which made it very confusing. I'm talking about British, Italian, Scottish and even American! The only person who attempted to do a French accent was Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry. I do give it credit that the visuals are spectacular with the costumes and the set, but it doesn't stop this train wreck of a film from being good. Phantom of the Opera the movie- Don't listen to this music of the night!

OK, I know this is too low on the list and it should be a number one, but there are films that are much worse than this!

2) The Wiz! No, I'm not racist if it's about the fact the entire cast is African American! I love Diana Ross and  Michael Jackson (rest in peace for always) but this film does not do any justice to them whatsoever. First off, Diana is much too old for Dorothy and is too weak as a protagonist and I swear she never looks invested in the film! Also, in the show she's a little girl and living in Kansas, not New York! Also, while has Nipsey Russell 4 musical numbers, Michael Jackson only has ONE and his dancing is just terrible (this was before the Moonwalk)! Yes, the King of Pop has ONE SONG out of over 20! The set of Oz is just crap and look like they were done in ten minutes. I've seen local plays which look better than this! Speaking of the songs, they are either too depressing or just stop the story from carrying on and just come out of nowhere up to the point the film barely has a minute for to rest. May I add that the camera angles are just terrible, especially during the Ease On Down the Road scene where the camera is 300 feet away and focusing on their backs! Yeah, I hate this movie and I was actually liking the Witch of the West cos her song was pretty much the only good one, but her death was much too stupid since ANYONE COULD'VE TURNED THE FIRE ALARM and her death was just so underwhelming with her throne being a giant toilet! I'll take it back- some of the songs are good, but none of them can help this botched up story and the large number of them just stop the film for nothing. The Wiz- This isn't a ease on down the road!

1) Now before we get to number one, I just want to say, I was going to put High School Musical as number one, but then I came across something much much worse! This travesty is so insulting to the original and I don't know why this existed in the first place! Ladies and gentlemen, the number one worst film based on a Broadway musical is...........................................................................................................................................................................................................THE KING AND I ANIMATED REMAKE!
First of all, I want to say that I absolutely love Rogers and Hammerstein. They have been beloved for years and even now I like to watch their classics like Sound of Music and Carousel. At the same time, it still confuses me why this animated version of the King and I was approved and made in the first place! I feel like categorising this as a parody because nothing in  it can ever function with the original. The story is so stupid and so confusing that it looks nothing like the original, with only the premise being the same. As for the songs, there are barely any at all and are so poorly executed and the singers were terrible, especially the singer for Anna! Also, the characters are either annoying, one dimensional, stupid or ripping off Disney, including one of the most racist things I've seen since Skids and Mudflap! Actually, it looks like the writers focused on it's sidekicks and side characters than the protagonists up to the point that we barely get to know any of them! Weeks after watching this, the pain and anger in watching it has just made me have trouble seeing the original! Also, the changes made are beyond jumping the shark, I'm talking about dragons, baby elephants, high fiving panthers and the Kralahome being an incompetent rip off of Jafar who changes his plans every five minutes! I love reviewing musicals and musical films, but sometimes, shit like this comes along and proves this isn't as glamorous as it seems!

Hi, sorry for not posting for a while, I just wanted to announce I'm starting production of a video called Top 5 Worst Films Based on a Broadway show! I've finished writing the script and I've just started collecting clips for it! And I'll release a sneak peek of how the cut will look with the numbers! Try to guess what number 1 is for now while I continue making it! I don't know the release date yet but hopefully it'll be done soon! Oh yeah, congrats to Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway for their Golden Globes and Les Miz for Best Film Comedy or Musical! Truly deserved and I hope the film will win at least 1 Oscar out of 8 nominations!

Un Monstre a Paris Review!

Je suis desole je parle un peu Francais! Je veux revoir un film français d'animation musicale j'ai vu l'année dernière qui s'appelle Un Monstre a Paris!
Sorry, I'm not gonna write in French for the whole review! By the way, I watched the French & English versions of the film so I'll be comparing them as well as the songs.

Un Monstre a Paris
Rating: ***
Starring: Vanessa Paradis, Sean Lennon, Gad Elmaleh, Adam Goldberg, Danny Huston
OK, take Beauty and the Beast and the Phantom of the Opera in 1910 Paris during the flooding of the Seine. What do you get? A rip off that's what!
OK, I'm being a bit harsh since there are some elements which are different like the scientist sub-plot & the flooding in Paris. OK, 2 friends Raoul, a delivery boy and Emile, an aspiring filmmaker are sent to deliver things to a scientist at the Botanical Gardens in Paris who happens to be away somewhere in Europe! Raoul (Gad/Adam) screws up an experiment & creates a potion which turns a flea into a monster which everybody fears & is instantly in the papers in Paris. Local cabaret singer Lucille (Paradis) makes friends with the flea & names him Francoeur (French for 'honest heart'). He becomes a musical genius & has to don a disguise so the police can't find him. The investigation is led by Comissioner Maynott (Huston/) who wants Lucille for himself so he can become a hero while in reality, he's an ass-hole (does that sound familar?)! So Raoul & Emile find Lucille & they team up to save Francoeur from the police.
OK, the plot is surprisingly complicated for a kid's film! I.e, there's the floodings in Paris as well as Lucille's aunt, voiced by Catherine O'Hara wanting Lucille to marry the comissioner so they can get money & so her niece can have a better life, 2 romance angles, one of which I don't care about but has relevance to the plot and the other is so pointless I didn't give a shit at all & had no point to be there! It's so predictable you know what's going to happen even if you don't know the whole plot! Also, the characters are rip-offs but some are given their own charm while the others are blatant rip-offs! Did I mention Lucille's aunt was called Carlotta & was a bit of a diva? Did I mention Raoul is a bit-shot & knew Lucille since he was a kid? Did I mention Lucille is constantly forced to sing at this event to lure Francoeur so he can be killed? Did I mention there's a line Lucille says which is directly stolen from Beauty and the Beast? ('There is a monster in Paris and I'm looking right at him!'/ He's no monster Gaston, you are!) However, there is some subtle comedy, like Francoeur writing music at a piano like The Phantom of The Opera!
One thing that confuses me is if this was made in France & distributed in France first, why is the lip syncing for the English dub? Did they do the English dub first? The text is all in French yet a sign the monkey holds up is in English, it seems a bit cluttered. And the grunts and sounds were clearly from the French dubbing so that would confuse kids with the French. Also, the trailers in English would call Francoeur 'Frank', yet he's always called Francoeur despite the fact the American actors never pronounce his name properly. Only Lucille does considering, I don't know, HER VOICE ACTRESS IS ACTUALLY FRENCH!
One other thing that confuses me is that, while Francoeur can sing, why can't he speak? He only roars, chirrups or hums as well as singing & it's never explained!
OK, with the voice acting, I much prefer -M- compared to Sean Lennon! I'm not saying Sean was bad, in fact he was better than I thought & sounded much like his father, the great John Lennon. It's just with -M-, his voice was much more soothing & more easy going to listen to & he has an incredible voice! Heck, he provided the guitar music Francoeur would play AND composed the score. Vanessa Paradis AKA Johnny Depp's now ex-wife, is the only actor to do both the French and English dubs of the film and is really good! While her character isn't so compelling or well developed & is basically every Disney Princess & Christine Daee in one, you can see she makes an effort and can be pretty funny. One example is when she says this line which always cracks me up 'Raoul, if we die I'll kill you!' OK, Adam Goldberg to me was a bad casting choice since, I think he tries too hard to make Raoul be cocky and to me is more like a car salesman who wants to live life! And the hatred since childhood turns into romance plot is pointless, since it's way too predictable & we never see any proper chemistry between Raoul & Lucille! So, I don't like the romance between Raoul and Lucille & don't be surprised, they basically French kiss at the very end in a scene which had no point to be at the very end of the movie! I think it would've been better to put it NEAR the end, but not at the very end! His friend Emile is only there for the romance I don't fricking care about so he's one-dimensional & pointless! It falls into the syndrome of a film which doesn't know what it wants to be: a musical, horror, POTO, comedy, a kid's film, a historical film about Paris?
So one of the biggest flaws is the voice actors in the English version! With Vanessa Paradis using her natural French accent and everybody else using their natural American accents, it seems really mixed up & are only there to appeal to an American audience in case there's an actor they recognize.
Also, the pacing is too fast & only takes place in maximum three days so it doesn't give me time to take everything in, especially the chase scene in Paris. The third act is the strongest part since it finally slows down & takes time to show everything.
The first act was the weakest since all there is is Raoul & Emile who I don't care for & stupid running gags which aren't funny the first time such as one of Raoul having a straw coat for some reason & him lying that it's fur while everyone knows it's made of straw! Also, the dialogue isn't very good, especially from the Comissioner who's the archetypal villain we all know & is just so boring!
While the character animation is clunky and lazy at times, the attention to detail with the background animation in Paris was perfect, especially the architecture of the buildings. One good example is in an actually funny chase scene leading to the climax at the Eiffel Tower, which was so beautiful to look at. Also, I think Lucille's costumes were the only ones to have any attention to detail and at least it's not like Hoodwinked! So it's not the best animation I've seen, but it's not the worst either while it's quite inconsistent. At times it can be smooth but at others it's jerky and the character design is also quite nice and fits in with the distinctive and bizarre look of the film (try to notice the gap in Lucille's teeth as a homage to her voice actress!)
The songs aren't bad, but I suggest you listen to the French versions because they're much better since the lyrics are more flowing while the English ones are a bit clunky.  The title song Francouer sings has a pretty melody while La Seine & Un Petit Baiser (a little kiss) makes you wanna tap your toes. Papa Paname (Papa Paname) also has a nice beat to it but Love is in My Soul is my favourite since it actually has relevance to be there and is expressing Francoeur's feelings, as well as showing the moral of the story. Also, the English lyrics are as good as the French lyrics in that song!
So, the French version wins me over with better voice acting, script and the songs being nicer to listen to. However, this didn't really stop me from noticing the plot holes & the one dimensional characters & the bad writing for the English version. But if you're a fan of French architecture and animation, then check it out! So overall ce n'est pas mal en anglais!
By the way, I have one question: WHAT THE HELL IS THIS OBSESSION WITH SHIPPING FRANCOEUR AND LUCILLE ON DEVIANART AND TUMBLR?!

Love Never Dies
Rating: **
Starring: Ramin Karimloo, Celia Graham, David Thaxton, Liz Robertson, Haley Flaherty
The show is set ten years after the events of Phantom in 1905 (though in reality it would be 24 years as Phantom was set in 1881, sorry for that trivia) and the Phantom, now a running a successful sideshow in Coney Island thanks to Madame Giry and her once sweet and innocent daughter Meg, is still pining for Christine and wants her to sing for him again, who's married to Raoul and has a child. She accepts, unaware of the Phantom's identity. Once the trio arrive, Christine is now forced to choose between the 2 men again and to reveal a secret she has kept since she married Raoul, now a drunk, with the money being used to pay off his gambling debts, which involves her son Gustave, who is strikingly similar to the Phantom with his musical skills.
The set design was alright but didn't have that spark that Phantom had and I could clearly see they tried to make it spectacular with the Coney Island Waltz but failed miserably. The lyrics were an improvement from how it started with the album I must admit, but they certainly didn't suit the show itself or anything really it just all seemed to clash. The background set was just awful clearly made out of cardboard and the Phantom's lair was just terrible, which included a walking skeleton with women's legs randomly walking around and a weird robot of Christine, which appeared in the prologue played by Celia. Also, the projections used gave me a headache and were overused for scene transitions they were clearly trying to hide.

The actors didn't necessarily benefit anything either, with only Ramin Karimloo (previously the Phantom in London and at the 25th anniversary concert which I went to) making an effort as the Phantom, with his stunning and seductive voice winning me over. Celia Graham (previously Christine in London) had a pretty voice indeed, but her acting skills needed to be improved and she failed to win me over with the grand aria of the title song, even though I could see she tried. Liz Robertson, in my opinion, was too stern and strict to play Madame Giry and she made her look like the Mama Rose of Phantom with her daughter Meg. Haley Flaherty made me and the audience laugh as Meg, and her transition from sweet and innocent to jealous and rejected was a moderate success. David Thaxton (well known as Enjolras in Les Miz) was unusual as Raoul, making him abusive and constantly changing his accent from English, to American, to French for some bizarre reason. I was just thinking 'Make up your mind, where's Raoul supposed to be from?!'
Overall, it's stupid with the story being cliche & so inferior to the original & I think we should do like Shaq Fu and try to get rid of every little speck of it so it never sees the light of day!

Les Miserables film review!

OK, I came back from the cinema last night,  feeling incredibly tired after watching a film for roughly three hours starting at 7:30 at night until roughly 10:00. By the way, I've always been a huge fan of the stage version of Les Mis, but that film, my God that film...WAS UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Les Miserables
Rating: *****
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen & Helena Bonham Carter
I think people know the plot by now, but if you're new to Les Mis, here it is: In a span of roughly 20 years, the film centres on an ex-convict turned mayor called Jean Valjean who's pursued by the vengeful inspector Javert and adopts his factory worker's daughter Cosette after she dies becoming a prostitute to get money for her. Cosette grows up and falls in love with a revolutionary student Marius, who is also the object of Eponine's affections, the daughter of Cosette's previous abusive caretakers who plan to steal from the students who'll die at the barricades. And that's the short version!
Let me start by talking about the singing, which to me is one of the most important elements of a musical film and most of the time, can fail! This film doesn't since ALL of it was done live with the actors wearing earpieces with a piano track so they can be in time with the music which the orchestra would record over during post-production. Considering Hugh Jackman had a Broadway background, it's no surprise that he does well as Jean Valjean and I could definitely see the emotional conflict inside of him during the Soliloquy and I could tell he wanted to show his all for Bring Him Home, which he sings amazingly! I could see Russell Crowe was making an effort with his singing, but at times I thought it was weak like at the end of Stars and Javert's Suicide, but he also shows his good acting skills and I could see he wanted to relate to the character. But Anne, my God, she stole the show for me, even if she only appeared for 20 minutes. She made me cry thrice and I wanted to applaud after she sang I Dreamed A Dream, which is one of the best renditions I've ever heard! Samantha Barks was utterly amazing as Eponine, who I saw her perform as in London 2 years ago, especially during On My Own and A Little Fall of Rain and Eddie Redmayne did show the drippy side of Marius (he even admitted in an interview that Marius was a drip!) yet he shows the emotional side especially during Empty Chairs At Empty Tables. By the way, Eddie Redmayne is definitely much better than Nick Jonas! With Amanda Seyfried, it's a mixed bag. She can sing, but at times it can be weak, sort of like Emmy Rossum from Phantom of the Opera, but I think Amanda has the upper hand, even though I don't like the character Cosette in general. Isabelle Allen was sweet though as young Cosette in Castle on a Cloud.
The production design is incredible, with the attention to detail being perfect, even down to the text being in French on posters and letters. My personal favourite sets were the garden in Jean Valjean's house in Paris, the barricades around the tavern and the convent at the end of the film, which were so beautiful to look at, just like the costumes which I'm actually glad that they didn't do replicas of them from the stage show, like in The Phantom of the Opera. My personal favourite costumes were Eponine's dress which looked really pretty on Samantha and any of Cosette's costumes, as well as the Thenardier's hilariously exaggerated costumes they wore to disguise themselves at Cosette and Marius' wedding.
One other element I absolutely loved was  the changes actually made sense like the rearrangement of songs, cutting verses and adding more dialogue because it helped the story flow more and made things closer to the Victor Hugo book, like adding Fantine selling her teeth, Eponine's death being more sacrificial and Gavroche delivering the letter to Jean Valjean instead of Eponine. I know people will be picky with the changes if they've seen the show like myself, but at least it wasn't like the Phantom film where the changes failed miserably with speaking the lyrics and completely cutting out scenes and adding in the unnecessary bits of older Raoul which made point at all. If you think about it, they only completely cut out one song Dog Eats Dog, but at least the actual scene was kept in with Thenardier and the actual plot and message was left intact.
An honourable mention goes to Frances Ruffelle and Colm Wilkinson, the original Eponine and Jean Valjean in the stage show, who play a prostitute and the Bishop of Digne! I enjoyed Colm as the Bishop because I always thought there was a kind and compassionate side to his voice which was perfect for the Bishop, espcially when he saves Jean from being arrested again when he stole his silver. Also, his addition at the end made more sense since 1) Jean doesn't interact with Eponine at all in the film and 2) the Bishop was the person who motivated Jean to become a better person in the first place and he kept his word even until his death.
By the way, I must warn you, I hope you have tissues in tow because this film will not fail to make you cry. I cried EIGHT times in 2 1/2 hours, and 3 of them were when Anne was onscreen for about 20 minutes! But the bits I cried most at was the ending and the scene of all of the students dying which was heartbreaking to watch, even though I knew what was going to happen and no other film has ever done this to me before. People were actually applauding when the film ended it was that powerful, so this film has definitely hit a core with people, even those who have never seen the show loved it! I must say, this is probably the best musical film I have ever seen in a long time and will hopefully be the comeback since the more recent ones went from meh to utterly terrible! So yes, I really recommend that you see this and you will love this much more than Rock of Ages or The Phantom of The Opera film! Overall, it's most uplifting tearjerker I have ever seen and it's also fun trying to spot the West End stars if you can like Hadley Fraser, Kerry Ellis, Killian Donnelly and Gina Beck if you're a theatre fan like myself! By the way, spotting Robyn North won't be that difficult since she's shown as a prostitute having sex with a guy dressed up as Santa Claus during Master of the House!

Beauty and the Beast Review!

Sorry about the delay, but turns out I have more work than I thought, but I will get round to doing it eventually! To make up for it, I'll review Beauty and the Beast!
Beauty and the Beast

Rating: *****
What can I say about this film? It's amazing from start to finish and isn't just my favourite Disney, animated or musical films, it's one of my favourite films ever! If anyone knows about my other blog RumbelleForever, I think you'll know how much I love the Beauty and the Beast story and Once Upon A Time's adaptation of it, which I absolutely love! When I found out the show was adapting the story, I was just so happy and when I watched it, it exceeded my expectations! OK, back to the Disney film before I go completely off-topic! I think you know the story by now, prince turns into beast, falls in love with a pretty young woman who's the object of the villain's objections, magic, romance, death and more magic and a happily ever after, we've all heard of it before! The way it shows these clichés is fantastic, the romance is just perfect since we don't even know how long it took for Belle and the Beast to fall in love (most likely months!).
The two main characters are very interesting and Belle isn't the generic love interest or damsel in distress, she's independent, eccentric, reads and doesn't take any crap from anybody (You gotta love it when she argues with the beast leaving him dumbfounded!) voiced by the amazing Paige O'Hara who that sweet, youthful yet firm voice I could imagine Belle having. She is my favourite animated character ever, she's actually a good role model for girls. Also, I love Robbie Benson as the Beast, so menacing yet soft & vulnerable and he actually has a good singing voice(yes, that is his normal voice when he's transformed into the prince!)! Whenever I pictured the Beast before I saw the film when I was 7 in 2002 when the special edition DVD was released, the design was exactly how I pictured it when I heard the story, sort of werewolf/lion/bear-like. The design of the prince thinking about it kind of reminds me of a young Robert Carlyle (yes, this is because of Once Upon A Time again) with red hair and being taller!
The villain, good God I love Gaston, just the antithesis of an archetypal Disney villain, young, selfish, the popular guy in town, initially you'd think he was the hero! Richard White's voice is perfect, especially his singing (you may not know he was the Phantom in Yeston/Kopit's version of The Phantom of the Opera!) I actrually heard Rupert Everett auditioned to voice him but he was told he wasn't arrogant enough, quite ironic considering he voiced Charming in the Shrek series who was exactly like Gaston, even down to wanting to kill the 'monster' of the story because he was in the way of what he wanted! His sidekick LeFou also manages to make me laugh at times!
I adore the sidekicks, they just make the film with their comedy and their individuality  not just because they're household object. I mean, Lumiere's like the funny, romantic yet kind guy who's a great entertainer, Mrs Potts is the kind motherly type of woman and Cogsworth's the proper, cynical and pompous yet kind-hearted man! Also, what I love is they know it takes time for people to fall in love instead of making it thrust upon and therefore making it contrived shit!
The songs are unbelievably amazing, it's like they were written for a Broadway show, like Gaston, Beauty and the Beast and of course Be Our Guest, written by the legends Alan Menken and Howard Ashman! My favourite one would have to be the title song since the melody's beautiful and Angela Lansbury's voice shines in it! Also, the only version i know is the one with Human Again which was added in which I loved since it showed the curse from the household objects' perspective, also wouldn't there be virtually no household objects if it weren't for the cursed servants? That ,may be just nitpicking but still, I think it's really creative.
Also the animation is just amazing and very beautiful to look at, the castle is just so Gothic and I can see all the detail put into it and I love the idea of the prologue being in stained glass, creative for the artistic approach, as well as the narrative! My main highlight has got to be the transformation scene, I was left jaw dropped when I watched it since it was all animated by the Disney animator legend himself Glen Keane, with the swelling and uplifting score by Alan Menken perfectly fitting the scene!
Overall, this film is just perfect, even after 20 years it still looks like it was made recently and is just so beautiful with well-developed characters, stellar songs, a flowing story and narrative with a lesson for children. I don't see any flaws and if you have the chance to now, go and see it or buy the DVD or Blu-Ray of the Diamond Edition! This was the first ever animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars so it definitely got to a lot of people that this just isn't a cartoon, but a work of cinematic art and is the perfect film to have been adapted on Broadway, which I went to see a few years ago in a UK tour which was also amazing! So yeah, this film is truly a tale as old as time!
By the way, don't watch The Enchanted Christmas or Belle's Magical World, they're awful and are a waste of money and don't even follow the story of the first film!