Beauty and the Beast

Today I took the kids to see Beauty and the Beast in the movie theater.  There is only one showing a day of the non-3D version, and it was right during lunch time.  (Do movie executives not have small children?!?  I do not know many children 5 and under who will leave those awkward 3D glasses on for an entire movie.  Not to mention I just don’t like watching movies in 3D.)  So I chose our little theater hoping it would not be crowded.  It was perfect!  There were only two other moms and children in our movie.  Everyone else at the theater was at least 70 years old and going to see some artsy movie.

I had been planning to take the kids to the movie and had been talking about it for a few days.  Abbie scares very easily.  She is also extremely sensitive.  Carter is not.  Anyway, so I had been preparing Abbie that the movie would have some scary parts, and she assured me that she still wanted to go.  She loves all the princesses and knows the general stories from books.  However, the only movie she has ever seen is Cinderella.  I knew the only way I would ever get her to watch Beauty and the Beast was in the theater.  If we were to watch it at home she would just run upstairs and hide or make me turn it off!  Carter was excited to go just so he could eat popcorn.  He is a little popcorn monster!  He practically eats his weight in popcorn when we go.

This morning both kids were very excited and kept asking me if it was time to leave.  Abbie asked if she could wear her princess dress and was thrilled when I said yes.  She initially chose her Cinderella dress, but switched to Snow White because it had yellow like Belle’s dress.  (We do not have a Belle dress.)  We left for the movie theater about an hour ahead of showtime.  I knew we would have to buy our tickets, go to the restroom and get our popcorn before finding seats.  I wasn’t sure how long all that would take since there was no one with us to help watch the kids.  Fortunately it did not take too long, and we were settled in our seats with plenty of time.  Both kids were scared during some of the darker scenes.  Abbie hid her face in my arm while Carter just said he wanted to go home.  Eventually, Carter ended up on my lap.  Abbie was in tears during the fight scene between the Beast and Gaston.  I just kept assuring her that it would all be okay in the end.  By the end of the movie, everyone was happy again and left the theater on a positive note.  No one insisted on leaving the theater or even had to leave to use the restroom during the movie!  I would say our outing was a success!