The movie Beauty and the Beast has a special place in my heart and in our family. Hannah has never been an over the top girly-girl.

As a kid, she enjoyed Legos more than dolls. She was never into princesses but rather thought she’d be a firefighter. Yet there was that one Disney movie that fascinated her – Beauty and the Beast. She watched that movie until the DVD wouldn’t play anymore. She had all of the characters and would line them up on the window sill and sing the theme song at the top of her lungs. Just last Christmas we replaced that DVD and at age 17, I still find her watching it now and again.

You can imagine her enthusiasm with the release of the new Beauty and the Beast movie this past week.

Hannah’s First Movie

On Thursday night Hannah learned that she wasn’t admitted to one of her favorite colleges, and she was feeling quite low. So, we had an impromptu girls day and went to see the new movie on Friday. For two hours we were captivated. Neither of us checked the time wondering when it was going to end (which I often do during movies – I’m not good at sitting for that long).

The movie was magic and lifted Hannah out of a sad place. She’s a movie geek – fascinated with the whole of the movie – the script, music score, production, computer graphics, etc. She said that Disney fleshed out the story in this movie and filled in the plot gaps from the animated version. She particularly liked that Belle was portrayed as strong, smart, take-charge woman.

Looking back, I feel like we’ve come full circle with Beauty and the Beast. It was such a memorable part of Hannah’s childhood and the movie has “grown up” to be part of her adult life, continuing to bring her joy.

The movie and our mother/daughter day lightened Hannah’s spirits. As did the late-day email from Denison University with an offer of admission. All-in-all, a perfect day!

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