When a tale as old as time enchants you with new magic?

Saw the new Beauty and the Beast movie this past Saturday.

In 3D.

With shivers.

And gained an even deeper appreciation for Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice.

 

There’s something about that surround sound.

Action. Amped.

With incredible performances from the cast—Emma Watson and Dan Stevens both embodied the title roles.

When you think you know how the story of the rose goes, watch the new live action Beauty and the Beast for some new creative insight.

Let’s talk character. Beauty and the Beast emphasizes many qualities and virtues that can be applied to our lives as well as that writers and musicians can consider for creative works.

Creativity. Belle appreciates reading. She appreciates art—her father designs music boxes. She invents a washing machine to give herself more time to read. Her creativity is practical. She’s an innovative problem solver who wants to give herself time to think and dream.

Confidence. As the only bookworm in town, Belle’s got a reputation for being odd. She doesn’t let that bother her. She stands her ground.

She tells Gaston, “I’ll never marry you, Gaston.”

When someone asks her what she’s doing as she sits teaching a girl to read while a donkey walks around the pool steering her washing machine, she gives them one-word: “Laundry.”

How does she practice this confidence? She owns who she is. Ownsyour inner oddball. Celebrate who you are.

Sacrifice. When Belle finds her father in Beast’s castle, she makes a deal and trades her father’s life for freedom. Let the adventure begin.

Patience. Sometimes what you think you want doesn’t end up how you thought. Belle’s adventure in the great wide somewhere leads her to a castle with a beast, talking objects. In trading her freedom to save her father’s life, Belle is beyond frustrated. Although she tries to leave after the Beast catches her in the West Wing and makes it out into the winter night and runs into a pack of wolves she decides to take the Beast back to his castle after he saves her.

Compassion. Beast lives under a curse. And he loses hope by the day as each petal falls from the enchanted rose. When Belle learns of the curse, although she isn’t told about how the curse can be lifted, she feels for all of those impacted—Beast, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip, Lumiere, and the other castle staff—and begins to see that maybe, just maybe, Beast isn’t all that he appears to be.

Hope. Although Belle doesn’t know of the curse’s conditions, Beast and his staff— hold on to the hope that Belle could break the spell and help them all become human again. Life has looked bleak for them for a long time—and hope can help you keep your sanity when life looks bad.

Listened to the album about four times before seeing the movie. Alan Menken’s score is beautiful. The strings in the title ballad gave me the chills. The horns used throughout added to the story’s fairytale feeling.

Hearing the new numbers and being somewhat familiar before seeing the film made listening to the songs in the movie more fun.

Maurice’s lullaby-like rendition, as he works on the finishing touches of a music box, is beautiful. Emma Watson reprises the song later in the film. Both performed as gentle ballads.

Days in the Sun, shared by the Beast as a child, the Beast’s staff and Belle, is a nice group ballad.

Beast gets an epic solo. Evermore. Heart-wrenching. Phantom of the Opera meets Jekyll and Hyde? Sort of. Dan Stevens owns the song. He gives a beautiful performance.

The story is timeless. And the music helps make Beauty and the Beast bigger than life.

The tale as old as time is as timeless as ever.

The lessons are still as relevant today as they were 25 years ago.

So if you haven’t yet, go see the movie—3D or not.

Go see it.

You won’t be disappointed.