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

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dame Angela Lansbury and Bernadette Peters worked on Don Bluth's Anastasia (1997). They recorded their dialogue for the two movies during the same time period as this movie, although for different studios (Disney and Twentieth Century Fox, respectively).

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Goofs

During the flashback of the prince turning into a beast, the enchantress only offers the rose in exchange for shelter once before the prince slams the door in her face and she turns him into the beast, but in the first movie, it was said that the enchantress offered the rose twice before turning him into a beast.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Beast: Maestro!
Fife: Yes, master?
Beast: Would you do us the honor, old friend?
Fife: I'd be delighted!
[starts leading the orchestra]

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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 The Nostalgia Chick: Nostalgia Chick & Rantasmo: Disney Needs More Gay (2013)

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Soundtracks

O Christmas Tree
Traditional tune, lyrics by Ernst Anschütz
Performed by Paige O'Hara

User Reviews

Commentary on the Special Edition DVD

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.