Disney as it's supposed to be

Rating: 9/10 (1 February 2014)

You know something's going on when there's a bunch of girls in the theater that know all the songs and also seem to know most of the lines. That's not to say that it isn't for the rest of us, my eight year old son didn't seem to like the audience sing along part but he hung through the whole movie, and he's not afraid to leave when he doesn't like what's going on. Without going into the plot, here's what's very good - 1) it isn't too long and there really isn't much filler at all, the story moves along very well, to make it go 1:40 or so they put an enjoyable Disney short before it, the way they should; 2) while sort of formula, the story didn't go quite the way I expected it to, nor did I feel particularly manipulated as in some other cartoon features; 3) the scenery was great and the characters were fun without being overplayed; 4) it is always appreciated when they don't do a lot of the smarmy, double meaning adult stuff, they kept that to a minimum; and 5) the songs are really very good, they could throw this on Broadway without much work. Has very much in common with The Beauty and the Beast, only a few notches better.