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

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Andrew Knight

Writers:

Flip Kobler (writer) &
Cindy Marcus (writer) ...

Release Date:

11 November 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Music

Plot:

Belle prepares the castle for Christmas against Beast's wishes, trying to bring him happiness for the season...

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Sequel | Pipe Organ | Flute | Beauty And The Beast

Awards:

2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Paige O'Hara	...	Belle (voice)
Robby Benson	...	Beast (voice)
Jerry Orbach	...	Lumiere (voice)
David Ogden Stiers	...	Cogsworth (voice)
Bernadette Peters	...	Angelique (voice)
Tim Curry	...	Forte (voice)
Haley Joel Osment	...	Chip (speaking) (voice)
Frank Welker	...	Phillippe / Sultan (voice)
Jeff Bennett	...	Axe / Poke (voice)
Jim Cummings	...	Various (voice)
Kath Soucie	...	Enchantress (voice)
Paul Reubens	...	Fife (voice)
Angela Lansbury	...	Mrs. Potts (voice)

Also Known As:

Beauty and the Beast 2 (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Sweden:Btl | Germany:o.Al. | UK:U | USA:G | Iceland:L

Company:

Walt Disney Animation Canada

Trivia:

In the early stages of production, the film was planned to be a direct-to-video sequel to the original film, taking place after the events of the first film and featuring Gaston's vengeful younger brother, Avenant, as the villain. Interestingly, Avenant was the villain in the 1946 French film, and the inspiration of the Gaston character, but did not appear in any way in the 1991 film. As the film would no longer be "Beauty and the Beast", however, the filmmakers felt it would lack the magic of the original, and decided to change the story entirely, making it into a midquel. Avenant's goal (to ruin the lives of Belle and the Prince), however, was used in the final scenes of the movie for the film's antagonist, Forte the Pipe Organ (who decided to kill them both to stop the spell breaking).

Goofs:

Continuity: During the course of the movie, the character, Fife clearly has 4 keys/arms, but at the very end of the film, he is seen to clearly to have 6 keys/arms.

Quotes:

Chip: Doesn't look so special to me.
Belle: Oh, Chip, I'm sorry. Nothing's changed.
Angelique: I told you nothing would change. I told you the master would not allow this. I told you Christmas was a hopeless folly. But, I was wrong.
[singing]
Angelique: When I felt lost and lonely, not a dream in my head, your words lifted my spirits high. Remember what you said: As long as there's Christmas, I truly believe that hope is the greatest of the gifts we'll receive. As long as our guiding star shines above...
Belle: [at the same time as Angelique] That hope is the greatest of the gifts we'll recieve. As long as our guiding star shines above...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999) (V)

Soundtrack:

As Long As There's Christmas

It just didn't seem to fit

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.