Entertainment : Disney's Beauty and the Beast coming to the Palace

Finally! This week the Palace is showing one of this year's most anticipated films- the live action and 3D version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Rated PG, this 3D live action film will be showing at 7 pm nightly at the Palace beginning Friday, April 21, with an additional matinee on Saturday, April 22, at 3 pm. The film will also play in a Monday matinee at 2 pm, as usual. Starring Emma Watson as our protagonist Belle, Beauty and the Beast has already become the highest grossing live-action musical film of all time. For those who may have missed the 1991 animated film, Beauty and the Beast is the story of a prince and girl. The prince, when approached by a beggar woman in the rain, turns her away in arrogant disdain. The beggar woman turns out to be an enchantress, who punishes him by turning him into a beast, and turning all of the people in his household into inanimate objects. A single rose marks the passing of time- if the Beast (Dan Stevens) cannot learn to love by the time the last petal falls, he and his household will remain under her spell forever. Meanwhile, Belle (Emma Watson) lives with her father in a nearby town. Belle is a bit of an oddball and a bookworm- the entire town thinks she's a bit strange, and she routinely turns down advances by the charming but overly pompous Gaston (Luke Evans). Her father, Maurice (Kevin Kline) is an inventor, and also seen as an oddball throughout town. One day Maurice get lost in the woods and soon is attacked by wolves. He stumbles across the Beast's castle and takes refuge inside it. The Beast, in return, throws him in the dungeon. When Belle realizes her father is missing, she searches for him in the woods and finds the same castle. The Beast agrees to let her take her father's place, and Belle is kept in the castle when her father leaves. Slowly Belle learns that it is no ordinary castle, and nothing is as it seems. Although the Beast is ugly and cruel on the outside, Belle could be the one that softens his heart, and finally, teaches him to love. The 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast won five Grammys, two Golden Globes (including Best Motion Picture- Musical or Comedy) and two Academy Awards. It was also the first animated film to ever be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture (the only two since then have been 2009's Up and 2010's Toy Story 3). It was largely due to the film's excellent music that the original Disney version was so successful, and why the 2017 version has been so popular with all age groups. Of course, since it has only been 25 years since the release of the animated film, Disney is hitting the nostalgia button hard with Beauty and the Beast. Add that to the timely popularity of Emma Watson, and the film couldn't fail if it wanted to! MAY Our May schedule opens for kids and animation lovers with The Baby Boss. The rest of the month will cater to our adult patrons - Going in Style, Fate of the Furious, and The Circle. Tickets for all these shows available online soon!