Yes, I have seen it in theaters when it first came to the US and I also bought the DVD I liked it so much. This is the latest movie by director Mamoru Hosoda, who I have been following ever since I came across his 2006 "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time". He seems to crank out a movie every 3 years. I also have his "Wolf Children" (2012) and "Mirai" (2018). I have not seen his 2009 movie, "Summer Wars", but apparently the idea of a virtual world is common to both "Summer Wars" and "Belle". Of all his movies I like "Belle" the best. The music is outstanding, even on the English dub, which is difficult to do when dealing with close-ups of people singing different languages. There is one particular somewhat humorous scene that goes on in a train station in which one static shot is maintained for about 5 minutes, even when two of the characters walk out of the frame. The static framing reminded me of director Wes Anderson's style. You may notice some similarities to the classic "Beauty and the Beast", but I assure those those similarities are purely superficial. The story is nothing at all like Beauty and the Beast, except that Belle in the virtual world might be considered the Beauty and there is a character in the virtual world they even call "the Beast" whose destruction is sought by those in power. And there are some symbolic rose petals. That's it. The core of the story is completely original, and involves more of Suzu/Belle's character arc than anyone else, starting with her losing her singing voice after the death of her mother. (That's not much of a spoiler. It happens right at the beginning.) I do hope you come back and tell us your reaction after you have seen it.
