Beauty And The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas Special Edition - DVD

This is one of those movies that will disappear into the Disney "vault", only to be released every 10 years or so. I unfortunately did not get it the last time it was out, and have regretted it ever since. This movie is a wonderful tale of Belle's first Christmas in the castle (it is supposed to be during the time the last movie took place, only before the beast's transformation back into a man- it is presented in a flashback form.) The same old characters from the original Beauty and the Beast are here, along with a couple new characters- including Fife (a picollo) and Forte (a huge pipe organ voiced by the always fabulous Tim Curry) and Angelique (the Christmas angel who was once the castle's decorator voiced by the incredible Bernadette Peters.) Forte was once the court's composer but he is quite content with staying the was he is because, as he says, "humanity is overrated". He also feels more appreciated and needed as the organ, because the beast enjoys his melancholy music. The plot revolves around the castle trying to plan a Christmas, even though the beast banned it after being cursed because it brought back painful memories of his human years and the time he turned into the beast (which is portrayed in this movie as happening at Christmas), and Forte's attempt to stop Christmas from happening and also destroying Belle so she cannot fall in love with the beast and restore their humanity. The movie does not take anything away from the original and is rather a fantastic companion to Beauty and the Beast. It includes some great new songs, including "As Long As There's Christmas", "Stories", and "Don't Fall In Love". Like the original Beauty and the Beast, the film does have some dark moments- the beast's anger is once again shown and Forte is very sinister- but this is a Christmas movie and we know that Belle and the Beast do eventualy fall in love, so the happily ever after is inevitable.

...Disney will keep rereleasing their movies in new format for more profits. Kidding aside, I bought this film on DVD years ago after it had already gone out of print. I sadly admit that I must have paid near $80 just for the nostalgic feeling of watching this again at Christmas. Was it worth the eigthy dollars? Probably not, but now people will be able to buy it for less than $30 and that is worth the price, especially in high definition.

It doesn't have the animation quality that the big budget original had but they do the best they can with the budget they have and it will definitely be gleaming on Blu-ray. Some people say that the organ is too scary for kids, really? Is it the voice or what? I just don't see it. He is no scarier than the witch from Snow White, the Pleasure Island sequence from Pinochio, or even Gaston in the final scenes of the original. Parents all have to use their own discretion when allowing children to watch any film but I don't see how the villain here is any more frightening than those other acclaimed classics.

The only downside with this release, not really any new special features. I would have loved a commentary or some new look back, even some classic disney holiday cartoons updated to high definition. I would have loved them but I can't say I expected them. Disney isn't as great at including new material as they have been in the past. There is the new inclusion of segments from the old Lynsey McLeod series Sing Me A Story with Belle, which will be nice to revisit but doesn't seem to tie into the holiday theme upon first inspection.

I guess the fact that I'm now buying this to put it beside my Beauty and the Beast Blu-ray means I'll have spent over a hundred dollars on the film. It might not be worth it to most but I thoroughly enjoy this film and it's fun to find time to watch it every Christmas.

I say 5 stars because I do love it, but let's be honest and say that if the original film is five stars this one is somewhere between three and four in reality. The production quality isn't as good, understandably, and the songs aren't as sweeping. The story is quaint, fun for the holidays and better than most Disney sequels but there was no way it could live up to the masterpiece of the original. That said, I love the film and I find it hard to believe anyone can honestly say this film negates the impact of the original (which is something that can be said of other Disney sequels). Now I'm just waiting on the separate release of Lion King 2 on Blu-ray and I'll have all the Disney sequels I ever need or want to own.

(Correction: I may not mind purchasing the Aladdin sequels on Blu-ray someday but they feel more inclusive to the television series than the original film and as such I'd be more inclined to buy them in a series set.)

***So having watched it the PQ is about what you'd expect. It isn't a diamond edition wow factor, but it looks crisp clean and like it was just animated, much better than my old DVD did. The special features are all standard definition, so the Sing me a Story segment (which is only good for kids or one nostalgic viewing) is a little hard to watch due to fuzziness. I wish they had made some new features but as a direct to video sequel I knew that wouldn't happen.

I will say I'd only give this a 3.5 or 4 out of 5 for PQ overall though because the organ character, computer generated back in the late nineties, really shows a pixelated or digitized appearance. He clearly wasn't rendered in a high quality image and there was no way to change that now and it shows. I'm still happy I bought it, I love this film at Christmas and other than the pixelated digital organ, expected lower production values than the original that I was already aware of and no real new special features I thought it was great and worth the price after using the 5 dollar off coupon Disney is offering online.

In 1991, Walt Disney Animation Studios debuted their 30th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics line and the film would achieve commercial success as it earned over $377 million worldwide and was the first animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and the film also received six Academy Award nominations, winning an award for "Best Original Score" and "Best Original Song".

And to capitalize on the success of the film, Disney would release the two midquel's of the "Beauty and the Beast" trilogy: "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" (1997) and "Belle's Magical World" (1998). The films would take place when Belle was being held inside the mansion of the beast and both trying to get to know each other.

VIDEO:

"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1:78:1). For a direct-to-video "Beauty and the Beast" midquel, the production was obviously higher budget with the use of CG. Even the animation is much more fluid, colors are more vibrant, more detail and shadowing are utilized in "The Enchanted Christmas" and utilizes CG similar to the original animated film.

I saw no artifacts, no white specks and scratches. For the most part, picture quality is very good considering this is a direct-to-video release and it being released in 1997. It's unfortunate that this quality didn't transfer over to the third film in the trilogy "Belle's Magical World".

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 5.1 Dolby Digital French and Spanish language tracks. Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.

This film is primarily dialogue and musical driven and the audio comes clear through the center and front channels and music also is utilized through the surround channels. There are some mild action sequences, especially towards the end of the film which does utilize the surround channels but for the most part, this is a dialogue and music driven soundtrack.

Subtitle are in English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES

"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" comes with the following special features:

Disney's Sing Me a Story With Belle: "Stick To It (Don't Give Up)" - (22:54) A hybrid live/animated short feature featuring a non-animated Belle with cuts of animated and puppet-based characters. Belle inspires children to keep trying and never give up.
Disney's Sing-Along-Mode - While watching the film, you can sing-along with the film (ala Karaoke style) during the musical portion of the film.
Disney's Song Selection - Select you favorite song from the film to sing-along to.
Behind the Scenes Featurette - (15:48) The making of "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas". While watching the featurette, when a Mickey symbol shows up during the featurette, it will show additional information about the film.
Music Videos: "As Long as There's Christmas" - (3:20) Featuring a music video of "As Long as There's Christmas" by Play.
Enchanted Environment - Bring the castle's crackling fireplace into your home.

EXTRAS:
"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" comes with a slipcover case plus a DVD presented in widecreen (1:78:1), 5.1 Dolby Digital English, French and Spanish with English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Enchanting and an entertaining continuation to the "Beauty and the Beast" animated film. "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is a wonderful family film for the holidays featuring the fun and vibrant characters of Disney's popular animated film.

"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is the midquel to the popular animated film and an answer to the many fans who have wanted to see Belle and the Beast once again! It is no surprise that the film would receive a sequel or midquel as the original film literally made over $300 million in the box office, especially considering the original film only cost $25 million to make. So, it was great to see "The Enchanted Christmas" made but also to incorporate the beautiful painted backgrounds, the vibrant colorful characters, wonderful animation including the CG animation that made the animated film so enjoyable, but incorporating it to the direct-to-video film.

"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is a holiday film that brings the cast back together again and one of the enjoyable moments of this film is that we get to see how happy everyone as humans (post-spell) and seeing how Belle and the Prince are so happy together, but also a story that shows what happened during the Holidays when Belle was still being held captive inside the castle and seeing how she was able to bring Christmas back into the castle despite the Beast being against it (as he was turned into a beast on Christmas day).

A big question is if one should upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray. I would say yes, only if you are a big fan of the film. The Blu-ray definitely brings out the colors of the animated film, especially the detail. Everything looks much more clearer and the banding issues that were on the DVD aren't in the Blu-ray version. The Blu-ray version of "The Enchanted Christmas" looks very good and to hear the soundtrack via lossless is also another plus. If anything, the film looks and sounds great in HD and is definitely worth the upgrade.

Overall, "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted" Christmas is a wonderful holiday film for the entire family. And because it comes with both a Blu-ray and DVD, parents or grandparents can definitely benefit from watching this film via a long holiday commute or keeping the young one's occupied during the Winter break.

But if you are a "Beauty and the Beast" fan and looking for an enjoyable family Holiday film, "The Enchanted Christmas" is for you!

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