This tribute was entertaining. To sum it up:

Rita Moreno did great as the narrator. Martin Short didn't really live up to the role of Luimiere and Shania I had higher hopes for.

H. E. R as Belle and Josh Groban as Beast did well, although the tribute played most of these two characters in the portions where they showed the original motion picture.

That said, Joshua Henry made for an excellent Gaston and I was LIVING for Rizwan Manji as Le Fou. Seriously, Rizwan stole the role of Le Fou. He made it his own, but you could tell he certainly studied the part before performing it! I have re-watched the "Gaston" melody several times and cracked up every time at Rizwan's performance. It was pure comedy and I preferred this performance over the original animated one! Another interesting point about the "Gaston" song, is Disney certainly played into the relationship that everyone rumored for years was going on between Gaston and Le Fou. For those who don't know, or may have never heard/paid attention, it was rumored for years that Le Fou may have had a thing for Gaston, especially with the way they always portrayed their respective parts in the original animation.

Though there were area's that were lackluster, I'm still rating this performance a solid 8 due to the work that Disney put into it. Some people have made the comment that it looked thrown together, but I do not see that at all. To make this work, there were many moving parts.

Give it a watch, maybe you'll enjoy it too! Just keep Le Fou in mind when watching ;-)

I'm thinking they just tried to do too much here. They tried to combine storyboards, animated version footage and live actors to tell the story again, but it was too much of a mish-mash to make sense. Including the small live audience who applauded at the strangest times. Disappointing too that the couple never danced together nor kissed! Not very romantic. Josh Groban had gushed about the amazing costume/contraption they built for him but it didn't come off well with him peeking out from underneath. And as much as I admire H. E. R.'s talent I thought having her come down the stairs playing her electric guitar was just weird.

I have enjoyed this, but I can understand why others may have not.

This is not a direct adaptation of the story as much as it is an homage to the original story and how that came to be. It is part documentary, part adaptation with mixed results.

I have found H. E. R. To be a charming Belle, Josh Groban was great as Beast (though underused), Joshua Henry was a fantastic Gaston and Rita Moreno was a delightful host. Shania Twain was not bad as Mrs. Potts, but lacked the theatricality that Angela Lansbury brought to the role. Martin short was Martin Short, meaning a joy and David Alan Grier was well cast Cogsworth.

I liked the sets they used and the costumes, though I have found the Beast to me a little more frightening than it might have been intended. The musical numbers were well done and well sang.

The different styles flow better in the beginning than they do in towards the end and I feel that for what they intended to do they showed too much of the original movie.

Is this bad? No.

Do you miss out on anything if you don't watch it? Depends on how much of a Beauty and the Beast fan you are.