Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997)

Astonished to find the Beast (Robbie Benson) has a deep-seeded hatred for the Christmas season, Belle (Paige O'Hara) endeavors to change his mind on the matter.

Director:

Andrew Knight (as Andy Knight)

Writers:

Flip Kobler, Cindy Marcus

Stars:

Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Jerry Orbach

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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 (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)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Judith Blazer	...	Chorus (singing voice)
Jeff Blumenkrantz	...	Chorus (singing voice)

Storyline

Belle (Paige O'Hara) prepares the castle for Christmas against Beast's (Robbie Benson's) wishes, trying to bring him happiness for the season. Forte (Tim Curry), a pipe organ, fears that Belle's plans may eventually bring about an end to the curse - the curse that brought him more importance in the Master's life. Forte uses Fife (Paul Reubens), a flute who desperately wants a solo, to destroy Belle's plans and get rid of her.

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Plot Keywords:

told in flashback | anger | bad temper | talking object | temper | 

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Genres:

Animation | Family | Fantasy | Music | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the Beast is getting ready for Belle to listen to her Christmas song, he licks his teeth in the mirror the same way Gaston did in Beauty and the Beast (1991) before he proposes to Belle.

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Goofs

In every shot of Forte's keyboards, the keys do not match the notes, let alone the rhythm of the music. In one shot, every key is pressed at the same time, but the music shows little sign of dissonance.

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Quotes

Angelique: [singing] As long as there's Christmas, I truly believe that hope is the greatest of the gifts we receive.

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Alternate Versions

When the film was re-released on Blu-Ray and DVD in 2011, the following edits for the remastered version brought some small changes from previous releases of the film:

• The film is matted to match widescreen formats, while the original release was held in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio.
• The colors obviously, are slightly pale.
• When Belle sings "It'll stay up until July..." in the original release, the camera is at a Dutch angle, where as in the later release, it is straight.
• When Forte introduces himself to Belle ("I am Miestro Forte, court composer...") the sound appears to be slightly out of synchronization and there is a slight pause focusing on the steps before the camera pans up to Forte.
• When Forte shouts "I THINK NOT!" there is a keyhole cutaway when the camera zooms out, in the earlier releases, there is none.
• The Christmas angel on the tree at the end of the flashback is replaced by one resembling Angelique.
• The end credits are golden yellow like the end credits of the first movie instead of chalk white like in the earlier releases.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 WORST Holiday Cash Grab Movies (2016)

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Soundtracks

Fife's Yuletide Theme
Written by Rachel Portman

User Reviews

A Good Christmas Visit

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)

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beauty and the Beast 2

Company Credits

Production Co:

Disney Interactive Studios, Disney Interactive, Disney Television Animation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1