Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
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| Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas | |
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| Directed by | Andy Knight |
| Produced by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Written by | Flip Kobler Cindy Marcus Bill Motz Bob Roth |
| Starring | Paige O'Hara Robby Benson Jerry Orbach David Ogden Stiers Bernadette Peters Tim Curry Andrew Keenan-Bolger |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 11, 1997 |
| Running time | 72 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Beauty and the Beast (1991) |
| Followed by | Belle's Magical World (1998) |
Beauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a 1997 animated film produced by The Walt Disney Company. It is a midquel that takes place within the timeline of the original Beauty and the Beast (after the fight with the wolves, but before the fight against Gaston). But also, the film is a sequel to the original film, because it shows enchanted objects in their human form reminiscing last year's Christmas festivities, during which the majority of this film's plot takes place. In this movie the Beast forbids Christmas (because his transformation from the Prince occurred on Christmas) until Belle, Cogsworth, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, and Chip convince him that Christmas is a good holiday. The film also shows the time that the enchantress put the spell on the castle in the first film in more detail.
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Plot
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.
Meanwhile, in an unknown part of the castle (through a secret door in the West Wing), an enormous pipe organ is playing very creepy music while a small piccolo applauds. The organ is Forte, the ex-court composer for the musicians during his human years. 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.
He sends Fife, his small piccolo servant, to break up the merriment between Belle and the Beast, not wanting them to break the spell. He believes that "humanity is overrated" and that he has more use and power in his enchanted form. Fife manages to break up the two, as the couple are making snow angels. However, when Beast sees his "angel" he sees it as a "shadow of a monster" and leaves in fury and depression.
Believing that Christmas will brighten the Beast's mood, Belle creates a wonderful new book for him, and with a little persuasion for Cogsworth, Christmas is officially being prepared. The group goes to the highest tower in the castle, which serves as a storage room for old decorations. In one of them lies Angelique, who once served as the Royal Decorator. However, she is not pleased to hear about Christmas, arguing that she will not raise her hopes again in a belief that they could all get together in celebration, only to have them destroyed by the Beast's foul temper and hatred for the holiday. Belle sings to them about how "hope is the greatest gift", saying that there is always hope, even for breaking the spell, and there will "always be a time when the world is filled with peace and love". Eventually, Angelique agrees.
However, Fife has been overhearing all this and rushes off to tell Forte. When the Beast finds out, he is not at all pleased. Forte plays along, saying that "the girl doesn't care how you feel about Christmas", separating the two even more. Beast reflects on his past: Christmas was the day he was most selfish, and it was on that day that the Enchantress put the spell on him and the castle. Belle enters the boiler room to get a Yule Log, explaining that it is a great tradition: "one log is chosen, then everyone in the house touches it, and makes a Christmas wish". Beast will not listen, shouting that she has no idea what it is too be a true prisoner, but she knows all too well. Belle won't give up, and concludes that they will have Christmas with or without Beast, but not before sending him her gift, the storybook. Belle and Chip go along with an axe from the boiler room to go look for a Christmas tree. Beast finds his gift, but Lumiere won't allow him to open it as it is not yet Christmas. He explains that everyone understands how Beast feels about the holiday, but giving a gift to another is a way of saying "I care about you". Beast gets in the mood, and asks Forte to compose a song as a present, who agrees unhappily. When he leaves, Forte puts his plans in motion, and plays beautiful music, attracting Belle to his room. Forte quickly manipulates the situation, telling her that the tree has always been Beast's favorite part of Christmas, and that the perfect tree lies in the Black Forest, the woods outside the castle.
Getting the tree would break Belle's promise never to leave the castle, but she wants to make Beast happy, so she agrees to go. Beast is still waiting for Belle to show up, but Forte claims "she's abandoned you!" and feeds Beast's anger. Forte orders Fife "to make sure they don't come back", and mostly because of ice, a dangerous chain reaction starts that leads to Beast having to rescue Belle from drowning. Belle is locked in the dungeon to rot there for eternity, but Anqelique admits that she was wrong to believe that Christmas could never come. They all agree that they don't need decorations or gifts to celebrate Christmas, they have each other, and that's the best gift they could ever ask for. Beast prepares to destroy the Rose and end his suffering, but he remembers the gift Belle gave him and read it.
Remembering there is hope to break the spell, he asks for forgiveness and plans to have the best Christmas ever. But Forte plans to bring the whole castle down, as they can't fall in love if they're dead, much to the disagreement of Fife as it is extreme. Beast manages to get onto the room, and destroys Forte's keyboard, causing him to come crashing down. The others continue to have a happy holiday, which brings us back to the actual party, but of course, if anyone actully saved Christmas, it was Belle. The others celebrate as the Prince gives Belle a gift, a single rose.
Cast
- Paige O'Hara as Belle - A young woman residing in the Beast's castle in exchange for her father's freedom and the main protagonist of the film. She and the Beast are now friends, but they repeatedly clash over Christmas until the end.
- Robby Benson as The Beast - A selfish prince turned into a hideous Beast as punishment. His behaviour seems to be improving, although he still resents Christmas for the painful memories it brings, which he would later abandon when he allows everyone (including himself) to celebrate Christmas.
- Jerry Orbach as Lumiere - A kind-hearted but rebellious servant, turned into a candelabra. He is prepared to celebrate Christmas with or without his master's consent.
- David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth - The Beast's Majordomo and Lumiere's best friend, turned into a clock. He initially opposes celebrating Christmas, but even he can't resist the temptations of a happy holiday.
- Haley Joel Osment as Chip - A lively teacup and the son of Mrs. Potts. His presence in the spell flashback proves that he and the other servants have not aged during the ten-year spell period. Andrew Keenan-Bolger provides his singing voice.
- Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts - The castle maid, turned into a teapot. She is the storyteller of the events of the film.
- Bernadette Peters as Angelique - The castle decorator, turned into a Christmas angel. She initially opposes preparing Christmas, as she fears the Beast will destroy her hard work, but in the end, she relents.
- Tim Curry as Forte - The castle composer and the main antagonist of the film, turned into a Pipe Organ. As the Beast's private and personal confidante, he proves to be more useful to his master with the spell, and will do anything to keep the spell from breaking, especially to enforce the prohibition of Christmas and breaking the castle down with his loud music. In the end, he is killed by the Beast, and his keyboard is destroyed.
- Paul Reubens as Fife - A piccolo and Forte's unwilling henchman. He does Forte's dirty work under the false promise of a musical solo, but soon realises his mistake and allies with the Beast to stop Forte. Once human again, he becomes the new court composer.
- Frank Welker as Phillippe the Horse and Sultan - Belle's horse and the castle dog/ottoman, respectively
- Jeff Bennett as Axe - The Head of the boiler room.
- Kath Soucie as The Enchantress - The one who places the spell on the Prince and everyone inside the castle for the Prince's cruel ways. She appears only in a flashback, with a radically different appearance than in the original film.
Release
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas first debuted on VHS on November 11, 1997, with a barebones DVD release on October 14, 1998. Both editions were quickly taken out of print and remained unavailable until Disney released a "Special Edition" DVD and VHS on November 12, 2002, little more than a month after the original film's Special Edition DVD release. The new DVD featured a remake music video of the song "As Long As There's Christmas" by Play, "Click The Mouse" behind-the-scenes featurette, Forte's Challenge Game, Enchanted Environment, Disney Song Selection, and a sing-along subtitle track. This DVD and its VHS counterpart was taken out of print at the same time as the original movie's DVD and VHS releases on January 2003.
Soundtrack
References
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External links
- Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas at the Internet Movie Database
- Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas at Rotten Tomatoes
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