Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) Reviews

• It just didn't seem to fit

  Thornfield22001-08-29

  Don't get me wrong this was not a bad movie, I just didn't think that it fit somehow. It didn't seem like a sequel or the "missing middle chunk" of the beloved cartoon. The first film, to me, seemed to have been set in the middle to late fall, I can stretch my imagination and see it possibly being November but not December. I think they could have made Forte' much more interesting and menacing and Fife was cute, but I think the real kudos goes to Haley Joel Osment's Chip. Paige O'Hara's Belle sings a lovely song about story books and this little sequence was charming, but still it seemed to lack the essence that made the original so magical. I rarely watch these Disney sequels anyhow due to the animation not being what it's like in the originals. I took a gamble and watched this and it was good, but nothing like the first and finest.

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• Not as bad as most say

  Smells_Like_Cheese2008-11-13

  Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a sequel to Beauty and the Beast obviously, I wasn't too sure if I had wanted to see this because I thought it was just going to be one of those cheesy Christmas special things. But it turns out that this was just a semi-prequel for the story, just going for the stories in between when the time where the beast was still a beast, Belle was still trying to figure out her place in the palace as well as the servants who are still objects in this story. I actually thought it was a nice addition to the story, now I do think that this was unnecessary, because of course we always have to have a villain to these stories and this one somehow in between all the drama of trying to get the beast to turn into a prince, we have an organ that is trying to break the beast's heart away from Belle, yeah, it's silly. Belle is still a prisoner in the Beast's castle. All the servants are trying to figure out a way for them to fall in love with each other, but with Christmas coming up, they look at this as a great opportunity to bring them together. Belle is excited for Christmas, but the beast isn't happy seeing how it's the one year anniversary of his spell being cast upon him. The organ player though is not in the mood to be mortal again, so he decides to figure a way for the beast to steer clear of falling in love with Belle. Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a decent sequel, it's a little silly, but I think it wasn't that bad. It was nice little story to add to the fairy tale, it's for the kids for sure, but it's a nice family film as well. There are some good songs in here as well, also we have Tim Currey who is always an awesome villain. Over all, I'd say to give this movie a chance, it has decent animation, a charming story, and the original voices, how rare is that when it comes to a Disney sequel? But I do recommend Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, it's a nice Disney film, even for the holidays as well. 6/10

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• A Good Christmas Visit

  travisimo2003-12-31

  For a direct-to-video special, this movie isn't really all that bad. The animation was crisp and clean enough that I wondered if the theatrical animation department worked on this. The CG animation of the villain, Forte, was pretty impressive, even though it kind of stood out like a sore thumb compared to the traditional animated surroundings. All the voicework is back from the original movie, most notably Jerry Orbach as Lumiere and David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth. New characters were well voiced by Tim Curry, Paul Reubens, and Bernadette Peters. One thing that is definitely lacking in this movie is the quality of the songs. Most of them are kind of corny, sappy, and disposable. Compare that with the original where all the songs were magnificent and memorable, and you'll realize that Howard Ashman was definitely missed. As for the storyline, this movie provided a nice Christmas story. Recalling back when they were cursed, the characters detailed their struggle to bring Christmas back to the castle. I thought Forte was a very conniving and formidable villain. He added the conflict that made the story more interesting. It's not groundbreaking material, but it's sweet and nice enough around the holidays. So, overall, this isn't Academy Award material like its predecessor, nor was it ever intended to be. It's a good Christmas story with your favorite B&B characters. My IMDb Rating: 8/10. My Yahoo! Grade: B+ (Memorable)

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• Not as derivative as expected

  Erin1999-04-26

  When I heard that there was going to be a direct to video sequel of Beauty and the Beast, I was appalled. But I took a chance and rented it. Using the original cast was an inspired idea! The animation is great (much better than most DTV sequels), but the CGI used on Forte (the evil organ) is distracting. The songs aren't wonderful. It's nice to explore the section of the original movie that was skimmed over. Christmas!

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• Commentary on the Special Edition DVD

  Pelagia2002-11-27

  The original film is such a masterpiece that it sets the bar so high for this sequel, and you have to keep this in mind when you sit down to watch this. First of all, I think it is such a delight to have the entire cast from the original back and at it. I think the film would really have been hurt if even one of the voice actors had been replaced. I think what made the original so strong was the music and lyrics of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Every song was beautiful, witty, and did so much to develop the story and characters. There a but a few songs in The Enchanted Christmas, and the only one that is somewhat memorable is the song "Stories", whose melody becomes a sort of musical motif that recurs throughout the film. The interesting animation sequence during this song is one of the highlights of the film, and it is nothing like anything featured in the original. If you are a die-hard fan of Beauty and the Beast like myself, you will enjoy seeing the characters in action... but, sadly, it feels different and less magical than the original. The script is a little thin, and the voice acting isn't totally consistent with the original. For example, Robby Benson, who voices Beast, sounds very strange at times and seems to be overacting. But it seems that the Beast in general is very exaggerated throughout the film so this is probably not Benson's fault. Paige O'Hara as Belle as always has a remarkably beautiful voice, whether she is singing or talking. It is so wonderful to hear her put life into the character again. One thing that I feel was very wrong with this film is that an entire sequence was devoted to showing how the Prince turned away the Enchantress on Christmas and became the Beast. I think that the original film did a marvelous job by telling this part of the story through the stained glass sequence in the beginning, but seeing it portrayed here again sort lacks that fairy-tale wonder to it that the images in stained glass conveyed so well. Aside from this minor point, I believe if you enjoyed the original like myself, you won't have too hard a time of enjoying this film. Like I mentioned, it would be impossible to match the beauty and magic of the original solely in that the music just cannot match the genius of the Menken/Ashman collaboration. Even though the animation is low-budget, a wonderful soundtrack would have made the sequel great. My commentary on the Special Edition DVD is that I thought the behind-the-scenes feature was wonderful, and although it is short, you get some really great interviews from the voice actors including Tim Curry who makes his debut as the story's new villain. You don't get to see Paul Reubens though, whose voice and character I found rather annoying. No big loss. One problem I had, however, is with the quality of the image. The Special Edition of the original on DVD has an amazing picture quality, and the colors are so lucid and spectacular, yet in the Enchanted Christmas DVD the colors are somewhat dull and faded. Aside from that, the other special features are just some nonsense that is thrown in just to satisfy the Special Edition title, but the behind-the-scenes feature is good enough for me. On a final note, I noticed that there are Roman numerals on the side of the DVD cases of both films. Supposedly there will be a third Beauty and the Beast Special Edition coming out soon. Can't wait.

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