Beauty and the Beast: Live action film vs original animation

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Disney has released the posters of its remake of Beauty and the Beast – and they've had a rapturous reception.

They feature character portraits of the film's stars, Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, and "it goes without saying that they're completely magical", says Digital Spy.

Watson, who plays Belle, appears in a yellow dress similar to the one worn by her cartoon counterpart in the animated version. Other posters show a moody Stevens as the Beast plus his servants, who are turned into living furniture as a result of a curse, in their human form.

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Rocking the 19th-century look are Ian McKellen as Cogsworth the clock, Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts and Ewan McGregor as Lumiere the candlestick, sporting a particularly magnificent moustache.

"The images make it look as if the animated flick has sprung to life," says the Daily Mail , and "the cast looks whimsical as ever dressed in 19th century finery complete with wigs and corsets."

Elle writer R Eric Thomas is also keen on the finery, saying Audra McDonald as Madame Garderobe the wardrobe was "the single greatest thing I have seen all week".

"Listen, if Audra McDonald was my closet I would never have come out," he writes.

"Seriously, though, how is she even managing expressions under all of that hair? It's like the opposite of Resting B**** Face. She has Exuberant Wig Face."

However, not everyone was impressed by the lavish costumes on display.

"The film's aesthetic, one that might make Marie Antoinette go, 'Wow, that's maybe a little much', was evident in the trailers, and it's even more prominently on display in this series of character posters," says AV Club, which argues the furniture characters in particular have been "rendered largely unrecognisable thanks to some bold wig choices".

Beauty and the Beast comes out in the UK on 17 March.

See the gallery above for pictures of the live action film compared with the original animation.