Apart from unnecessary side-stories and sub-plots, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ features traditional villains as well. The background score for the film is adequate, the performances by the lead pair decent, but not remarkable. Cassel, who’s definitely older than the usual prince charming, looks glamorous and enchanting (even as a beast).

Beauty and the Beast takes more time to establish the premise than an Ashutosh Gowarikar film takes to end. Set in a universe that is probably the lovechild of Katrina’s Choc On advertisement and those insipid 3D animated Barbie movies, Beauty and the Beast is all silk, velvet and jewels with insignificant things like subplots and emotions thrown into the mix. A classic case of bad editing and worse dialogue, Beauty and the Beast certainly is not a children’s film.

Beauty and the Beast looks good. Visually, at least. The special effects are not too bad. You will laugh a lot more if you decide not to take it seriously. At the end of it, this isn’t a movie you should watch on your first date, but on the fifth date, when you can laugh at the screen with your better half.