I want adventure in the great wide somewhere

NB On some of my older blog posts many of the photos have disappeared! Apologies for the lack of (terribly taken) images. 

This week I finally got to see the live action version of Beauty and the Beast...and I bloody loved it. I could have rewatched it straight away and I have been listening to the soundtrack ever since. (Ok, I've been listening to it for at least a week already.) When Emma Watson was announced as Belle I wasn't 100% convinced, despite loving her and the Harry Potter series, but I take it all back. She was perfectly cast. I loved the music, the costumes (how do I get my hands on the jewellery from the yellow dress/ballroom scene?) and how this version reflected the original Disney animation but with some little plot additions. It was funny in places and just beautiful to watch.

So, did I ditch the kids in order to go to the cinema, I hear you ask? No, no I didn't. It was a nursery day for the toddler, so the littlest and I attended one of the Parents and Babies screenings at the Newbury Corn Exchange. Baby friendly cinema screenings are something I never braved with my daughter but I really wish I had. I know that a number of cinemas in the area have these sessions but I've only attended ones at the Corn Exchange. The Corn Exchange is made up of a 400 seat auditorium and a 40 seat cinema. The Parents and Babies screenings here are really good as you are given 2 seats with each ticket purchased so it's easy to spread out with your little one. It also means that there'll probably only be around 20 babies in there, rather than 40.

I pre-ordered a ticket online (definitely advisable given the small capacity of the venue), bought a coffee to take in from the cafe in the foyer, and took plenty of snacks from home for the little man. The lift is tiny so will usually only fit in one adult and one pushchair, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time; especially as there are no trailers before the feature. You can park your pushchair at the front of the screen but if your baby is asleep they are good at letting you park your pushchair at the end of the row, if there is room to do so.

Great. So the venue is awesome, film was fantastic, how was the baby? I can honestly say he was a dream. He didn't sleep (which would have been the ideal) but he sat on my lap scoffing snacks, having cuddles and a couple of feeds, he loved the musical numbers so was bouncing and clapping on  my lap. He loved it. I did think that we wouldn't still be attending by this age but he really was great. I suspect it won't be too long until our baby cinema days come to an end but I've certainly not been put off yet. If you've been thinking about giving it a go I'd really urge you to do so. Of course, there's the noise of babies chatting and crying, mum's bouncing their little ones trying to settle them, rummaging in bags and a bit of disturbance with people squeezing out for emergency nappy changes etc but if it's the choice of that, and missing out, I know what I'm going for.


Comments