Over spring break, the highly anticipated “Beauty and the Beast” was released and racked in $170 million in North America ticket sales on its opening weekend.

“Beauty and the Beast” is a love story about a farm girl (Emma Watson) from a small village who teaches a society to love people for who they are and not what they look like. A very rich prince (Dan Stevens) was vain and full of himself, so a local witch noticed his vanity and wanted to teach him how to love others. In order to do this, she turned him into a hideous beast. To reverse the curse, he had to get someone to truly fall in love with him before the last petal on a rose fell. The girl from the village stumbled upon the village and wound up falling for the beast.

I would give “Beauty and the Beast” 4.5 stars out of 5. The movie captured the audience and won their hearts. Although the movie was lengthy, it had the audience engaged the entire time. “Beauty and the Beast” presented the important message that we should not form opinions of someone before we get to know them.

“Beauty and the Beast” was directed by Bill Condon and lived up to the 1991 animated classic. The movie was 45 minutes longer than the animated version. The film featured new songs and developed the characters on a deeper level. With the longer time frame, Belle and the Beast’s love for one another is developed more.

In the animated version, many questions were left unanswered. In the new film some of these questions were answered. For instance, you come to realize why Belle does not have a present mother. The Beast and Belle go to Paris using an enchanted book to travel over time and space. In Paris, they arrive at Belle’s childhood home and discover that her mother has passed on due to the plague.

The 1991 “Beauty and the Beast” received an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Numerous people were very excited for the release of the new one and many were skeptical if it would live up to the old one. It exceeded my expectations. Condon made the film staged as an over-the-top musical. With the new musical numbers they are likely to win an Oscar next year. For example, the ballad Evermore performed by the Beast is heartfelt and gets the audience to adore him.

I would recommend “Beauty and the Beast” because it appealed to all ages. It displayed a classic tale with new vibrant design aspects. Throughout the entire movie, I was on my toes wondering what would happen next.