10 Changes That Make Beauty And The Beast Worse Than The Original

There's a scene where Gaston punches Maurice in the face after an argument.

That should be enough to tell you, without full context, that something is seriously wrong. Instead of portraying Gaston as proud yet devious, this new film instead makes him thuggish and unable to keep his temper.

Gaston actually offers to help Maurice at first when he reports that the Beast has Belle captive, rather than jeering and laughing him out of the village pub. After this offer of help, both men (LeFou accompanying) are lost in the forest. Gaston's response - after a heated argument about being lost and where Maurice denies Gaston Belle's hand in marriage - is to lose his temper, knock Maurice out with a single punch and tie him up, leaving him for dead.

Needless to say, the charm of Gaston has always been that he acts one way in front of Belle and quite another when with LeFou. He corrals others to do his dirty work: he is not a thug! Luke Evans' performance was, admittedly, strong: his singing was powerful and excellent. But the script forced him into scenes that just didn't work when held up against the original.