Beauty and the Beast is in theaters now! What should you know before you go?
It lives up to it’s predecessor.
Live action remakes of animated classics are always met with a little anxiety from the fans of the original. I get it. But you loved The Jungle Book, right? And Cinderella was so beautiful. And Maleficent was amazing, wasn’t it? My point? They’ve proven they know what they’re doing. If you’re a fan of the 1991 classic, you’ll be a fan of the 2017 version, too.
There’s new music.
I can sing every song, word for word, from the original movie. I’m getting close to that same skill level on the new soundtrack. The original songs you love are there, occasionally with some slight changes to the lyrics. There’s also a new prologue, which includes an opening aria, along with the new songs How Does A Moment Last Forever, Days In The Sun, and Evermore. Although there had been plans to use the additional music from the Broadway show, they didn’t make it into the film. Sorry if you were looking forward to hearing If I Can’t Have Her. (I think you’ll dig Evermore just as much, though!)
It’s the same movie, but different.
The live action remakes all seem to follow their own path when it comes to the source material. You have Pete’s Dragon, which is basically an entirely new story. You have Maleficent which is the same story from an entirely different point of view. Beauty and the Beast closely follows the animated original, but it also significantly expands upon the story. In some cases, the story was changes slightly and it clears up questions you might have had from the original film. (I’m tempted to overly analyze the original and bring up the changes…but…since I want to avoid spoilers I’ll just let you figure them out on your own.)
It’s probably worth the 3D.
I saw a screening in IMAX 3D and it was intense. I see a lot of screenings in 3D and I’ve said many times that I can take it or leave it. The visuals in IMAX 3D for Beauty and the Beast were pretty amazing so I’m assuming it would cary over to the non-IMAX 3D version as well. I’m planning to see it again next week without the 3D just to compare the versions. (Well, that and because I really want to see the movie again.)
It’s perfect almost the whole family.
I remember babysitting two little girls who watched the 1991 Beauty and the Beast VHS tape on an endless loop. The three year old would crawl into my lap and turn away every time the wolves were on the screen. The wolves are back in the live action version, and as you can imagine it’s a little more intense with realistic wolves. School aged children should be fine seeing it in the theater, and use your best judgement with younger or more sensitive children. Worst case scenario-you can always tell when the wolves are coming and can step out as needed!
Beauty and the Beast is in theaters now!