Taking a page from their successful live-action remake of Cinderella—which starred Downton Abbey’s Lily James as the would-be princess in 2015’s flesh-and-blood reconfiguration of Disney’s 1950 animated classic—Bill Condon’s widely anticipated update of the Mouse House’s 1991 smash, Beauty and the Beast, stars the Masterpiece fave’s Dan Stevens as the selfish prince-turned-titular Beast.

Well, kind of. Rather than being outfitted in a hulking costume or covered in furry prosthetics, the lanky British thespian has supplied his voice and a motion-captured performance to aid an army of visual-effects artists in bringing this tragic figure to life. It’s a shame that they failed. Unlike the awe-inspiring digital animals that populated Jon Favreau’s 2016 retelling of The Jungle Book, this computer-animated Beast contains little of the life of the hand-drawn counterpart that won audiences over in Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise’s surprise Best Picture nominee from a quarter century ago.

Emma Watson (Harry Potter’s Hermione) was still an infant when the film that revived Disney’s stagnant animation division debuted to raves, and the 26-year-old actress fares a bit better as the living, breathing version of Belle. Nevertheless, even she can’t bring as much life as Broadway actress Paige O’Hara breathed into her animated counterpart, although Watson does a respectable job of singing many of the Oscar- and Grammy-winning compositions of composer Alan Menken and the late, great lyricist Howard Ashman, who sadly died shortly before the 84-minute masterpiece from ’91 was completed.

As with many remakes, bigger is often equated with better, and so Condon and writers Stephen Chbosky (writer/director of 2012’s well-regarded The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Evan Spiliotopoulos (co-writer of last year’s not-so-well-regarded The Huntsman: Winter’s War) have built off of Linda Woolverton’s animation screenplay, fashioning a film that’s 45 minutes longer than the original. Unfortunately, this also means that new songs have been composed by Menken and Tim Rice to supplement the tracks that Ashman and Menken perfectly conjured for the ’91 film. And although Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborator Rice is known for his memorable lyrics for a pair of Disney’s animated hits (1992’s Aladdin and 1994’s The Lion King), his work here only adds to the unnecessary bloat, which extends to a new prologue and bits of backstory that were clearly not needed. After all, the animated film is beloved for a reason.

Like Kenneth Branagh’s far more successful update of Cinderella, this version of Beauty and the Beast isn’t interested in reinventing the wheel. While both films fill their kingdoms with multicultural faces not found in the lily-white originals, Condon’s movie offers very few of the modern touches that Branagh peppered throughout his fairy twist. Don’t expect a feminist take on a Disney classic, a la 2014’s Maleficent, either.

No, this is still primarily the Beast’s tale, an Ashman decision that’s remained intact—along with a few too many other elements. As much as Condon and company have tried to expand an already-perfect story, they were obviously afraid to change too much of what was in place. As such, the film plays like a listless cover version of a song from your favorite band: The notes and lyrics are the same, but you’d rather be experiencing the original. No one talks wistfully about the first time they saw Beatlemania.

All your favorite characters are here. Along with Belle and the Beast, the motley menagerie of household objects brought to (computer-animated) life are back, from the tea set, Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson) and her son Chip (Nathan Mack), to French-accented candelabra Lumière (Ewan McGregor) and wind-up clock Cogsworth (Ian McKellen). Truth be told, “Be Our Guest” is still a show-stopping song, even though you’ll miss the pipes of Angela Lansbury and the late Jerry Orbach. Oscar-winning actor Kevin Kline takes over for Rex Everhart as Belle’s bumbling dad, Maurice, but Kline is fairly miscast in the role, as is Luke Evans (Furious 7) as the preening Gaston, who was hammy, sexy and vain in animated form, while Evans is simply mean. (Kline in his youth would have knocked this role out of the park.)

One notable change finds Gaston’s sidekick LeFou (Frozen’s Josh Gad, taking over for Jesse Corti) presented as a gay man who’s secretly in love with his friend, but this thread is half-hearted at best, which pretty much sums up the whole film.

Condon is no stranger to musicals, having directed 2006’s Dreamgirls and written the screenplay for 2002 Best Picture winner Chicago. Alas, all three films are full of hyperkinetic edits, and none can hold one of Lumière’s candles to the streamlined elegance of the original Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast   **

Starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Hattie Morahan, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Nathan Mack, Audra McDonald, Stanley Tucci, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Kevin Kline. Directed by Bill Condon. Written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos, based on the animation screenplay by Linda Woolverton, with songs by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. At Assembly Row, Boston Common, Fenway and in the suburbs.