It turns out that if some people post something like, "Disney is terrible for this" or "How dare Disney!" or "SINNERS!" or whatever, I have to go see for myself if the subject of their scorn is worthy of their scorn. And I have to take the girls. We need three sets of eyes to evaluate the facts and decide for ourselves, right?
RIGHT!
Thus, the girls and I joined the rest of the world who prefers to see things for themselves and went to Beauty and the Beast this weekend.
Which, first of all, that sub-plot that had some people's panties in a wad? Was pretty darn fantastic. Good job, Disney. It has already been nearly two decades since I worked at Disney World and it's good to see that the rich rat is taking his inclusive policies and continuing to grow them. There's still work to do, but having characters who reflect reality and diverse relationships is a start.
Also, the scene at the end with the character with that super minor plotline that you only noticed because some people were upset about it? Totally made Alexis do the happy sigh sound and whisper, "They're so cute." So! I think maybe she gets that whole "love your neighbor" thing.
ANYWAY.
If you haven't gone to see Beauty and the Beast yet, you should go. Alexis has declared it the best movie ever. I'm not quite ready to go that far (10 Things I Hate About You can never be beaten), but I did think it was good. That said, I need other people to go see it so I can figure out if a little thing that caught me off guard is just me.
So, is it just me or is it more obviously weird that the movie is about a girl falling in love with a talking buffalo who is holding her hostage? Yes? Because I realize that was the story all along, but it felt more obvious in this version. Or maybe that was just because I was watching it with the girls, one of which is right smack in the middle of "ZOMG BOOOOOOYSSSSS" and the other who thinks every bad idea is an idea worth trying.
Yes, Mila will try to dance with a buffalo just to see what happens. She has THAT kind of dedication to her bad ideas. However, Mila also has achieved an important milestone. I can now officially say that she knows based on the music that is playing that it's time to hide her face. Why a kid who isn't scared of anything feels the need to hide her face during the scary parts of a movie, I don't know, but she does. Every single time the music grew a little intense during the movie, Mila hid.
She's really super snuggly when she's hiding her face.
Which, that falls in line as the third best reason we will need to go see Beauty and the Beast again. The top of the list is because it was so good. The second reason is because, as Alexis said, "It's Emma Watson from Harry Potter and now she's my favorite princess so BEST MOVIE EVER!"
And snuggles.
The third reason is snuggles.
Or maybe I should just play doomsday-something-scary-is-about-to-happen music everywhere we go. That might work, too.
