Summary:
We all know how Beauty and the Beast ends, but what untold tales were there during the course of the movie? This is one such story, when Belle and the Beast still did not get along, and the Beast is haunted by the circumstances behind his curse and how he absolutely despises Christmas...
Merry Christmas to everyone, and a Happy Holidays to those who celebrate other holidays or don't celebrate. Either way, 'tis the season to be jolly, to look back on the past year, remember the good times we've had, and celebrate this time with friends or loved ones. It's a time for goodwill towards men, to try and spread some holiday cheer towards everyone they meet.
And this review will be my part to try and spread that cheer. What we have here is quite a combination: A Disney movie centered around Christmas. Christmas movies are of course a staple to watch during this time of the year, and I think anybody can name a Christmas movie off the top of their head, be it something like Home Alone 1 & 2, The Grinch, A Christmas Story and the many adaptations of The Christmas Carol, or TV specials like A Charlie Brown Christmas, adaptations of classic Christmas tales like Frosty or Rudolph, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Or some people may just scrape the bottom of the barrel for some truly obscure flicks. Like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
Yes, this is a real thing that was made back in 1964
So what about Disney Christmas movies? While sure they certainly made some, like Jim Carrey's The Christmas Carol and Tim Allen's The Santa Clause, there wasn't one made specifically in relation to their main body of work: the Disney Animated Canon.
I've briefly gone over the Disney Animated Canon back in my Big Hero 6 review, but I've gushed about them so much already that anybody who knows me are aware of how much I trumpet their good movies as cinematic masterpieces. So the only thing I'll say on praising them is talking about my personal favorite of the entire lot: Beauty and the Beast.
The 1991 classic that needs no explanation
Why is this one my favorite? Well, because it seriously manages to be the perfect animated movie. A perfect movie is, in my opinion, impossible, but there are some movies that can come close, and Beauty and the Beast is one of them; perfect story, perfect characters, perfect voice acting, perfect animation, perfect music, just perfection all around. No other animated Disney movie I've seen has come close to Beauty and the Beast...except for Frozen, and even that one has some problems for me despite my perfect rating. But when I give Beauty and the Beast a perfect rating, I can think of absolutely no flaws. To say it's regarded as a Disney classic is an understatement, and if you haven't seen it yet, you better have a good reason why you didn't.
THAT BEING SAID.
Just because I love Disney doesn't mean I love everything about them. Disney has made plenty of lame and horrible mistakes over the decades, most especially the "tweenage" decade of the 2000's when live action sitcoms that were subjectively funny dominated the scene. Even their Disney Animated Canon has some stinkers, like Home on the Range and Chicken Little.
Another one of Disney's horrible mistakes is their direct to video sequels. Key word here is "direct-to-video". The Rescuers Down Under and Fantasia 2000 are not counted because they were released widely theatrically and they are part of the Disney Animated Canon. I'm also not talking about Pixar's sequels like Toy Story 2 & 3, Cars 2, and Monsters University.
I'm talking about these.
Six of the 22 Disney DTV sequels based of the Disney Animated Canon
Now, if you were growing up during the 90's and 2000's, chances are that you watched at least one of these. But just to be clear, they may be Disney, but they're not made by Walt Disney Animation Studios.
These were made by DisneyToon Studios, a division of the company that focuses primarily on smaller animated film projects. If you have watched A Goofy Movie, any movie about Tinkerbell's universe, or those horrendous Planes movies, those were made by this division. However their filmography is dominated by TONS of DTV sequels all based around various movies of the Disney Animated Canon. Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians, Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh, Fox & The Hound, Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Tarzan, Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear all had sequels/prequels/midquels that took the stories and characters in other directions.
And most of them were preeeeeeeeeeeeety bad. I think the accusation of Disney being a money-milking machine stems from here because of the besmirching of their masterpieces. They were plagued by subpar stories, less-than-average animation, songs that are far from classic, and a recycling of plots from the original movies. But I don't think it's really fair to blame Disney completely; after all, this is only a division of the company and not their main studio. And it's not as if they're the worst movies ever made. They certainly have an appeal, and are better compared to other stuff Disney has made *cough Tweencoms cough*. When they're good they're certainly enjoyable, but when they're bad they're pretty bad. Point is that there are certainly some gems tnat stand out amongst the garbage.
This particular one, Beauty & The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, is probably middle of the road. Not gonna lie, I watched this one quite a lot as a kid, so this has some sentimental value to me. However looking back it's not all that particularly good, but it's enjoyable in a way. It has some good things about it, and it's not as bad as other DTV sequels.
But anyway, let's finally get started. As with my Big Hero 6 and Frozen reviews, I'll be doing this more systematically. I might as well do this for every Disney movie I review on here.
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Story:
The prologue and epilogue of the movie take place roughly one year after the events of the original film on Christmas. As such we get to see characters Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and Chip as actual human beings. Doesn't mean much but it's nice to see what they look like when not cursed into inanimate objects. Lumiere and Cogsworth are arguing over who saved Christmas the previous year, and Mrs. Potts reminds them of who really did, and begins to tell a tale that's not as old as time.
Yes this DTV movie is less a sequel and more a midquel, and takes place during that undisclosed time in the original movie after The Beast saved Belle from the wolves and before their ballroom dance. This story idea of telling tales in an unspecified time gap is both good and bad. Good, because of story potential and ideas. Bad, because there's that argument that sometimes you don't need to see what went down; implications are just as good, if not sometimes better. In my opinion in this case, it's a mix of both. I'm not against the idea of seeing more stories during that undisclosed time, the problem is that the story needs to be fun or entertaining.
Anyway, the story flashes back to shortly after Belle was rescued by The Beast from the wolves on Christmas Eve. The castle servants, of course still inanimate objects, try to get Belle and the Beast together, in hopes to break the curse. However there is trouble afoot. In one of the Beast's private chambers is Forte (Tim Curry, Home Alone 2), former court composer and now fittingly a pipe organ. Forte is The Beast's confidant and advisor, soothing The Beast when he is brooding. With so much power and The Beast in his thrall, he naturally doesn't want the curse to be broken. Because Forte is permanently bolted to the wall he instead uses his piccolo minion Fife (Paul Reubens, Peewee's Playhouse) to sabotage the couple's ice skating date. The Beast, enraged at Belle's snow angel, leaves in a huff, angrier than ever.
After creating a Christmas gift for him, Belle decides that throwing a Christmas party might liven his spirits. All the servants agree too, and Lumiere introduces Belle to the Christmas angel ornament Angelique (Bernadette Peters, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance), who was once the castle decorator. Despite her misgivings at The Beast making sure he'll hate the holiday, Belle and the servants push through without his knowledge. Fife however spies on them, and relays to Forte, who in return relates to The Beast.
And then we discover exactly why The Beast hates Christmas so much and forbids it at the castle: Because the curse that doomed him happened on Christmas!
And we get a flashback sequence of what just happened. One that I really have to scratch my head on,
Now according to the prologue of the original movie, the prince dismissed the old woman twice, and she warned him about the deception of appearances and finding beauty within. Upon being shown her true form, the prince tried to apologize before he and the rest of the castle were cursed. But according to this movie, the prince just acts like a jerk once, and boom.
Inconsistencies however are the least of my problems with this scene. It's mostly the idea of making this set during Christmas. While scrooges around Christmas are expected, the entire premise of the movie, the core problem, revolves around The Beast hating Christmas because he was cursed on that day. Really, the curse could've happened on any other random night given what we know of the Beast's personality before he was cursed. By making it on Christmas, it just gives an excuse for the prince to be even more unkind than usual. It's almost a little too convenient. Though I suppose the flashback got one thing right. It happened on a winter's night. :P
Back to the present. Despite Belle and the Beast arguing and forbidding Christmas, Belle doesn't give up. After Belle secretly slips her gift into the Beast's chambers, she and Chip try and fail to look for a good Christmas tree in the castle grounds. Beast meanwhile discovers Belle's gift and is in a much better mood. He orders Forte to compose a song for Belle as he steps out. Forte then enacts his plan. First, he has Belle come to him and convinces her to search for a tree in the forest outside the castle grounds, thereby breaking her word of staying forever if the Beast finds out. Forte orders Fife to follow her to ensure she won't come back.
The Beast orders Cogsworth to summon Belle for a romantic get-together, but naturally she's not there. Forte eggs the Beast to give into his anger or something like that, and he leaves in a huff to get her back. On the way out, still furious, he destroys the Christmas decor, leaving Angelique heartbroken. In the forest, Fife orchestrates an accident for Belle to freeze to death in the cold water, but he has a change of heart. Just in time, the Beast arrives and rescues her, but the damage had been done. Upon returning to the castle on Christmas midnight, the Beast locks Belle in the dungeon, with any hope of breaking the curse gone. The castle servants visit and try to console Belle, and Angelique has a change of heart when she and Belle realize together that Christmas cannot truly be forbidden. You don't need fancy decorations, gifts or anything, as long as you have each other.
It's of course a good, natural message. But I think it's conveyed really poorly here. Again, this stems back to the fact that the Beast's motivation for hating Christmas is poor, and the fact that we don't see Beast 'hatin on Christmas throughout the movie beyond just lip service. Actions speak louder than words, Beast. Your big blowup in destroying the décor and flashing back to your bratty past isn't good enough. Not to mention, How The Grinch Stole Christmas did it before you, and much better handled. The other problem with this is that Belle and the servants had absolutely no problem with just talking about the superficial elements of Christmas before. They were perfectly OK with celebrating Christmas in their own way. I suppose there's Angelique's realization, but that's just as flimsy because the last time we saw her was despairing over the hopelessness of Christmas being destroyed by the Grinch-I mean, the Beast. It's like this plot cul-de-sac is trying to remake How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and trying to mix it with Disney characters. It's a mess of a combination to say the least.
But back to the plot. Forte almost convinces the Beast to destroy the rose and let go of his suffering, but at the last second a rose petal falls on Belle's gift. Beast opens it to reveal a book she wrote herself for him, talking about the one shining ray of hope that is always there no matter how bleak the circumstances. And I guess Belle must be a good writer, since Beast immediately has a change of heart, apologizes to Belle, and vows to give the best Christmas ever. Forte, enraged at his failure, decides to go for broke and play so loudly that the entire castle will crumble. Fife finally turns his back on Forte and tells the Beast how to stop him. In a rather weak climax with the Beast mostly just being beaten around, the Beast attacks his weak point 4MASSIVE DAMAGE, and kills Forte. Afterwards, the Beast and Belle make up, and their story continues in the original (and massively superior movie).
Characters:
I won't go into full detail on the original characters. For the most part it's as if they were taken straight out of the movie, with a major plus being that all the original voices came back for their roles.
So instead, the three newcomer characters. First is the villain Forte. I would question why he in his pipe organ form has some ability of magical control, but as the curse was magic in nature, whatever. It's strange to think that such a being would exist during the time of the original Beauty and the Beast in the implied months of Belle's and Beast's relationship. With the power he has he could've easily been a major antagonist in the original movie, but instead just becomes pissy because he and the Beast will no longer be BFF's. All in all, a good villain in theory, but poor in his execution.
His voice actor Tim Curry did a good job in my opinion, but what also really takes us out and unable to take him seriously is his design. He is CGI....AND HE JUST LOOKS SO HORRENDOUS.
Have a nightmare fueled Christmas, kids!
Next is Angelique. She was...there. As I said previously, her being jaded about Christmas could've worked if they did much more with it, but her change of heart was just out of nowhere without any real buildup. I do compliment the choice of voice though. Bernadette Peters is a Broadway vet of many stage productions.
Fife is pretty much the same. He was there mostly as slight comic relief as Forte's lackey. By the end he turns his back on him. That's it. Nothing much else to say.
Themes:
One of the downsides to any Christmas movie really is the idea of "been there, done that". Usually all Christmas movies revolve around change, appreciating the goodness of Christmas, looking beyond superficiality, all that stuff. The trick is to either tackling these themes from a different perspective, or putting such an original spin on it that it can trick people into thinking its new.
And this movie...does not. As I said previously, the idea of Christmas being at the core of the Beasts's troubles because its when he was cursed just makes it too convenient for the Beast to act like Ebenezer Scrooge, or the Grinch. When the Beast manages to overcome his troubles, it does not feel satisfying because a lot of the drama just feels so forced. Then the idea of briefly forcing the something similar onto Belle and the servants is haphazard because earlier in the movie they already knew how to appreciate it. Angelique being the stick in the mud among the group of goody-gooders was set up, but again, her change of heart just came out of nowhere. Her being the voice of comfort for Belle didn't feel at all natural.
As such, I think I feel that there was absolutely no reason to set this during Christmas. Considering the villain of the movie is more about keeping his position instead of something being tangentially related to Christmas, this could've been set any other holiday, heck any day period, and it would've made no difference.
Music:It of course wouldn't be Disney without music of some kind, so naturally even the cashgrab DTV sequels need songs. To be quite honest, they really don't offer much. There are one or two songs that are just too short to have any real impact, and the few that are really there aren't really necessary in the long run. One of the reasons Disney manages to do so well with its songs in their Animated Canon is because they push the story forward while conveying themes or setting up character in them. In this movie though...if you take them out, nothing much is lost in the grand scheme. Only one song really stands out among all of them is Forte's obligatory villain song, and even then it's not all that great.
Heck, this movie has "Deck the Halls" as its first opening song. Way to go in setting up the idea that they're just being lazy by not starting out with an original song.
Animation:
Nightmarish CGI pipe organs aside, I'll give this movie some credit. The animation design for the movie is pretty good. It's not as if this was done by a second rate animation team that just rehashes the designs or poorly animates them. In certain spots, the animation doesn't look all that bad. It does actually look like it can be a continuation of the original movie, and is probably one of the better animated Disney DTV sequels out there.
Final thoughts:
When you get right down to it, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a mess. It's an unnecessary tale given a lot more gravitas than it should have, its Christmas setting feels tacked on and unnecessary, and its music and animation is like a trick to make you believe that it's just as good as the original.
But is it really that bad? Not really. Don't get me wrong I don't think it's all that good, but watching it, you can get that sense that they were at least trying. As this was still in the early years of Disney DTV's, they still attempted to try and make it as decent as possible. It's certainly not offensive, and it doesn't have horrible things or messages, and there are far worse Disney DTV's out there. In fact I'd say that among the ones I've seen, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is probably in the Top 10. It's decent at best, and below average at worst, but certainly not horrible.
If you're a fan of the original Beauty and the Beast and are looking for a Christmas movie to show, I can recommend it. It's kind of heart to hate on this as a Christmas movie considering that it doesn't give bad messages about Christmas. You can see it, and take it for what it's worth.
Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Final Score: 2.1/5
Best song: Don't Fall in Love
Worst song: Deck the Halls/A Cut Above the Rest
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