12 Reviews of Christmas - Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997)

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and given that I already talked about the Disney animated classic Beauty and the Beast for Disney Renaissance Month back in February, it stands to reason that I talk about this 1997 direct-to-video follow-up for 12 Reviews of Christmas . Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas sees the returns of a majority of the original film's voice cast, including Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, and David Odgen Stiers, with Bradley Pierce being replaced with Haley Joel Osment as Chip, and three new cast members this time include Bernadette Peters, Paul Reubens, and Tim Curry. 

        So, we open with the local villagers arriving at the castle for a Christmas celebration, and everyone from Cogsworth to Lumiere is getting ready to celebrate the holiday. However, both Cogsworth and Lumiere debate over who saved the previous year's Christmas from total disaster, and it's here where Mrs. Potts recounts the story, and we flash back to a point in between the Wolf attack and the ballroom dance from the original movie. 

         It's Christmas Eve in the castle, and Belle is really looking forward to the holiday, even to the point of going ice skating outside. The Beast, who is also outside, learns to skate with Belle's help. Unfortunately, the pair is being observed from within the castle by Forte, the former Court composer who was turned into a pipe organ, and his assistant Fife, who was turned into a piccolo. Forte sends Fife to try and sabotage the growing connection between Belle and the Beast. Why? Well, unlike the rest of the castle servants like Lumiere and Mrs. Potts, Forte DOESN'T want to be human again, having found a purpose in his current form, feeding the Beast's misery with music. And because of this, he sees Belle as a threat. 

        Somewhat undeterred, Belle still wants to celebrate Christmas at the castle, even to the point of writing a storybook as a present for the Beast. However, Cogsworth reminds everyone that the Beast forbade Christmas, and we are shown why. Apparently, the night the Enchantress arrived and cursed everyone in the castle, it was Christmas, and thus the holiday is a painful reminder of that night. Meanwhile, Lumiere takes Belle to an old friend in the form of Angelique, the castle decorator who was turned into a Christmas tree topper. Angelique is reluctant to help, but is convinced by Belle to join in. 

         Beast eventually confronts Belle in the boiler room, and tells her that Christmas can't be celebrated, because he's the master of the castle, and what he says goes. However, Belle decides to have Christmas regardless, and works with the boiler room's foreman, who is an ax with a Jewish background, to find and cut down a Christmas tree. Beast, meanwhile, finds his present from Belle, and has Forte come up with a holiday jingle for Belle. However, he decides to instead fool Belle into heading to the forest to find the perfect tree. 

         Belle finds the tree, but attempting to return to the castle with it proves most difficult. Beast, who has waited patiently for her, goes to rescue Belle from drowning in the frozen lake, and locks her in a dungeon for attempting to leave the castle. Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip, and Angelique ultimately cheer Belle up, and the Beast reads the book she made him as a present. Having a change of heart, Beast goes to release Belle, and agrees to give her the perfect Christmas. 

        But, unfortunately, Forte won't have it, and he uses his music to attempt to break the castle apart, leading to Beast destroying him by smashing the keyboard giving Forte life. With all of that done, the castle has a wonderful Christmas celebration. Back to the party, Mrs. Potts finishes the story, and the Prince and Belle arrive to enjoy the party, giving Chip a storybook as a present, and we see Fife is the new court composer who leads the band in song, while Belle and the Prince step out onto the balcony, where he gives her a Christmas gift: a rose. 

          Okay, so as far as the direct-to-video follow-up movies Disney was making back in the day, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is, quite honestly, one of the better ones. First off, the animation team worked to make it as high quality of animation as a direct-to-video movie would allow. It's not cinema quality, but it's also better than the television quality of animation we saw in such movies as Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves around that same time. 

        And, of course, it was great to have the main players of the original film reprise their roles, especially as it would be one of the last times that Jerry Orbach would portray Lumiere before his unfortunate passing in 2004. As for the newcomers, both Paul Reubens and Bernadette Peters were fantastic as Fife and Angelique, and while we didn't get to hear a lot of singing from Bernadette in the movie, her few moments of singing here and there were absolutely fantastic. Haley Joel Osment was decent as Chip, but didn't do much to distinguish himself version from that of Bradley Pierce. But, easily the best performance came from Tim Curry as Forte. Not only was he a fantastic villain, but he had an absolutely fantastic design. 

        Now, while the songs from the original movie are truly iconic, the songs from The Enchanted Christmas are decent, but not necessarily memorable, with the two exceptions being the song "As Long as There's Christmas" and the villain song "Don't Fall in Love," which was performed incredibly by Tim Curry. Other than those two, the songs in the movie are just okay. 

       All in all, this is definitely a fun one to watch for the holiday season. I'm giving Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas a rating of 4.5/5. Anyway guys, this is Chuck signing off, and 12 Reviews of Christmas will return tomorrow with season two of The Santa Clauses.