Where does the original fit into the canon of film these days? Classic? Good for its time?
The studio released the full pencil test edit (if I recall) on laserdisc (workprint or somesuch name). Don’t know if that was included with the DVD.
Wasn’t there computer assist at least on backgrounds or shadows?
I guess the remake may hold favor for those looking for musicals or pageantry.
When I saw the digital transmission of the final Monty Python reunion performance, they aired some trailers indicating you could see live hi-def stage performances from London and New York in movie theaters too. So that is one way to translate the “stage” experience.
But on the pageantry is there anything to rival this film (which I have not seen, only saw the trailer theatrically screened before it opened). Period musical all filmed on one single continuous take with a cast of 2000, 3 live orchestras, and elaborate staging:
Russian Ark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV1kphEEXn8
It doesn’t tell the same tale as Beauty and the Beast or have those songs or anything but the scenery appears to be the sort the palace was modeled after, the costuming is close, etc. With the novelty of one continuous take and such involved participation, I don’t even care if it is any good. I watched Richard Linkletter’s 3 hour “Boyhood” tale and was unimpressed but aware of the novelty of watching the cast grow up over 10 years. David Carradine was making a film with his daughter as Mata Hari that was filmed over 30 years I think but who knows if it will ever be completed.
The original Disney animation is firmly a classic. They did use computer animation for the ballroom scene, which was considered a massive breakthrough in animation at the time. This new version is pervasively photorealistic computer animation, well done (with a few quirks which few will notice). The hand-drawn classic being being so famous, much of this one had to follow the same musical score, though there are a couple new songs worth revisiting.
To wit: this version is a faithful remake of the prior Disney foundational classic, featuring much of the same musical pageantry. It just takes the hand-drawn excellence and brings it into photorealistic rendering.
As for your mention of “Russian Ark”:
I watched that twice - once with my wife (who fell asleep 3 times), and once alone listening to the director’s commentary. It was a tour-de-force (single take, 2000 actors, extremely dynamic set), yet staggeringly boring. Today’s Beauty And The Beast is far more engaging.