(CNN) "Beauty and the Beast" became the centerpiece of Disney's animation renaissance, and the first animated film to secure an Oscar nomination for best picture. A quarter-century later, the live-action version sumptuously holds up to that legacy, delicately expanding upon and updating the original in enormously crowd-pleasing fashion. Director Bill Condon (a musical veteran who worked on "Dreamgirls" and "Chicago") certainly hasn't reinvented the wheel. For the most part, though, the action hums along, instilling renewed emotional heft in the film's last act. Most prominently, "Harry Potter's" Emma Watson cuts a radiant figure as Belle, the village girl who dreams of a life beyond her small provincial town.

Source: CNN March 15, 2017 19:07 UTC