Beauty and the Beast (2012)

All this setup, and more, happens at the speed of light. But it's all easily understandable and gets us right to the real attraction.

Beauty and the Beast won't hurt all that much to watch, but the dialogue and plot stretches can add up to a lot of little ows.

The show ill have to overcome the distinct lack of spark between hard-nosed detective Catherine Chandler ad her unpredictable love interest. [12/19 Oct 2012, p.98]

[Kreuk and Ryan are] terrible, but the material may have left them with no other option. Luckily, in this world of 1,000 channels, you have plenty of other options.

While the paper-thin revival might benefit from the presold title, its approach sidesteps any such dilemma--and as constructed, should be hard-pressed to get under viewers' skin.

The CW's Beauty is laughably bad in myriad ways. There's no sense of star-crossed lovers, just a plasticized romance between a Cover Girl and a glum, anger-prone male model.

[An] overheated, badly written, wretchedly acted and unconvincing drama, which makes mincemeat out of the traditional beauty and the beast fairy tale.