Belle's Unfabulous Life

As I did rewatch the Beauty and the Beast (2017) to make yet another critique and wishful thinking -- it's clear that I wanted Emma ROBERTS and not Emma WATSON for Belle. I don't think it'd significantly change things -- I thought that you needed someone who's pretty and doesn't have much sex appeal to be Belle. Roberts fits all that appearance-wise! So what's my reinventing of Belle? I did write about my ideal remake with the ideal cast -- now I thought about yet another wishful thinking of how Belle could've been carried out - by combining certain aspects of Addie Singer from Unfabulous into her.

Unfabulous? Well that could be the tag word that Belle could have said in the poor provincial town. No need to really re-sing the song "Belle" for the beginning -- auto-tuning ANYONE isn't going to work either! My ideal opening is where Belle can be seen helping her father home (like the 1946 movie) and gets a visit from Gaston who wants to marry her. Why I decided to give Belle an older brother is not just because of the novel but also because the character Addie from Unfabulous has an older brother named Benjamin Singer. He would be named Benjamin after the said character and how he would be that irresponsible younger brother (along with two irresponsible older sisters).

The plot is where Benjamin (acted by Brandon Kelly) actually works for his friend Gaston's (Zac Efron) pub. Rather than serve only juice -- he serves beer to customers. Benjamin does get some pay but he tends to waste it in nonsense get rich quick fast schemes. Gaston shows no interest in either the two sisters (who would be the mean girls in Unfabulous) but wants to marry Belle because she's the prettiest of them all. This would mean no Bimbettes (who were actually curvier than the rather nearly flat Belle) but just the two sisters. This would be the very issue that causes Belle to want to escape her provincial life --her own older brother has promised her to become Gaston's bride!

Belle hears her father gets into trouble for plucking a single rose after being granted shelter. She offers herself to Beast and promises to stay forever. Belle finds herself in a more unfabulous situation -- she must now choose between Gaston and Beast where neither is the likely suitor. However, Beast tries his best to be nice to Belle while finding himself lapsing towards his ill-temper at times, especially with the dinner scene. After Beast saves Belle -- he offers her the chance to return home to her father but she chooses to stay to tend to his wounds at first. She starts seeing Beast's troubled past and starts unearthing what's left of his humanity and falling in love with him in the process.

This version of Belle would have a little bit of a throwback to the novel -- Belle discovering her father has gotten sick. Beast uses the magic book (from the 2017 version) to transport Belle back home with her horse. Belle nurses her sick father unaware that Gaston has new blackmail. The asylum decides to imprison a very feverish Maurice. Gaston convinces the villagers to go with him (including Belle's two sisters) while Benjamin who discovers Gaston's true nature stays behind. Her repentant older brother sets her and Maurice free from the wagon instead of Chip. In the end, she earns her happy ending where her two snobbish sisters must carry the trail of her gown as she marries the Prince.