Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

Disney’s 1997 Christmas video release was a direct to video midquel to Beauty and the Beast. Starring most of the main voice actors from the original film, plus Paul Reubens, Bernadette Peters, Tim Curry and Haley Joel Osment, The Enchanted Christmas has not been very well received.

Set around the Christmas season in the middle of the events of the first film, Belle (Paige O’Hara) wants to celebrate Christmas. But the Beast (Robbie Benson) won’t allow it as Christmas was when he was transformed. Forte (Curry), an organ, and his music have been the only thing keeping the Beast happy. He wants to remain under the curse as he didn’t have any significance in the castle before then. He uses his lackey, Fife (Reubens) to break Belle and the Beast apart.

The only good thing this film has going for it is Tim Curry. Because no matter what crappy film that man is in (like Ferngully), he’s always able to provide an enjoyable performance.

It’s a shame Disney thought the story of Beauty and the Beast needed to be continued in some manner. Because here, we have things that didn’t need to be seen, old characters who get derailed, and new characters that are, mostly, unlikeable with a plot forced into the events of the first film with all the gentleness of a speeding locomotive.

Bear in mind, this takes place between Belle running away and getting attacked by wolves and Beast giving her the library.

For one, as said above, Beast hates Christmas because it was the night the enchantress transformed him. The first film showed this via stained glass window. This film outright gives it a fully animated sequence, thus ruining the beauty and charm of the original telling.

Then there’s our old characters. In the first film, Cogsworth, Lumiere, and Mrs. Potts had an idea of social norms and that falling in love takes time. Here, they want to rush everything without any care of how social graces work. And Belle changes from someone who acts like her life completely changed (BECAUSE IT DID!!!) to happily loving her life and joyously giving Beast lessons on ice skating.

And then we have the new characters. Bernadette Peters as the castle decorator got turned into a Christmas angel. She got locked into a tower with all the other servants turned Christmas ornaments and pretty much spends the film telling Belle how celebrating Christmas would be a bad idea, but helps her anyway. We also have a Jewish axe that spends the majority of his time in the film kvetching with Jewish humor. But it’s not funny.

The kicker is, I hear this is the better than the other Beauty and the Beast sequels.

#52

Beauty and the Beast

I like 1991. Mainly because it was the year I was born, but other than that, a lot of great stuff happened. The Soviet Union fell, Comedy Central was launched, the first Starbucks opened in California, and Beauty and the Beast was released to theaters. Starring Paige O’Hara, Richard White, David Ogden Stiers, Angela Lansbury, and Robby Benson, it made $399 million at the box office. It was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture, had three songs nominated for Best Original Song (“Beauty and the Beast” won) and won the award for Best Original Score. It also won three Grammys and two Golden Globes and The American Film Institute recognizes it as its #22 Greatest Musical, #7 animated film, #62 Greatest Song (“Beauty and the Beast”) , #34 Greatest Passions, and nominated Belle as one of their 100 Years… 100 Heroes and Villains. Eventually, it became a musical and was featured in the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

When Belle’s (O'Hara)  father doesn't return from his trip to a fair, she searches for him and finds a caste hidden in a forest. She finds her father in the dungeon and offers herself in his place. The Beast (Benson) that imprisoned him accepts.

However, he is actually a cursed human prince who hopes her love will break the enchantment on him and his servants (Stiers, Lansbury, and Jerry Orbach) . With time limited to a wilting rose, the prince must tame his temper and she must learn to see his goodness.

But the vain Gaston (White) sees Belle as his and vows to marry her.

Remember when I said the Big Ben scene in The Great Mouse Detective was the definitive use of CGI in the 1980s? Well, this film could possibly the greatest use of it in animation in the early 90s. And whenever it’s used, it looks spectacular. The “Beauty and the Beast” number would not have been nearly as good without it. Which leads me to say that this film’s production value is nothing short of amazing.

But we can’t stop there! Disney subverted “love at first sight again!” And this time, not only is it central to the story (unlike The Aristocats), but it’s actually pulled off very well, tying it into character development and a well-placed song. He went from unpleasantly mean, angry and abrasive to gentle, kind and loving and she went from being afraid of him to seeing him for who he truly is. And that’s what’s interesting. Beast wasn’t angry and abrasive because he wanted to be, it was because he hated himself. And since Belle was the first one to get past that exterior, he was able to get over himself.

Beast is also a great foil for Gaston. He starts off absolutely loving himself as God’s gift to women. And for some reason, the entire town seems to love him. He was a vain jerk that thought that since he was attracted to Belle, she should drop everything and marry him. But when it becomes clear that he’s not getting what he wants for the first time, he devolves into a complete psychopath and leads on of Disney’s greatest third acts.

And then there’s the music. I’ve mentioned two songs already and the fact that three of them were nominated for an Oscar. That’s because they’re all great songs. Except for one. See, I watched the Special Edition. And got “Human Again.” They were right to cut it out of the theatrical release as it just stops the movie dead cold for the song before picking it up again.

But if the only problem with a film is that a previously cut song is out of place, then it’s a pretty strong movie that got robbed by Silence of the Lambs. #2. 

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

In 1971, Disney released another hybrid film, Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Based off the Mary Norton books The Magic Bed Knob; or How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons and Bonfires and Broomsticks, the film stars Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson and was the last film released before Disney’s brother Roy O. Disney died. It won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and currently has a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes.

During the Blitz, Charlie, Carrie, and Paul (Ian Weighill, Cindy O’Callaghan, and Roy Snart) are evacuated and place in the care of the reclusive Eglantine Price (Lansbury), who is an apprentice which. She hopes her magic can bring the war to an end. After the children find out her secret, Price enchants a bedknob which will transport them to any location when attached to her father’s bed.

Price receives a letter that says her college closed down so she goes to London to speak with the headmaster Emelius Browne (Tomlinson), who is actually a con artist with meaningless formulas. Price asks him for the second book, and he produces it, but half the pages are missing. They go to Portobello Road to search for it and attract the attention of a petty thief. They are taken to the Bookman who has the other half, but the final spell is missing. The Bookman explains the author, Astaroth, used the magic to give wild animals anthropomorphism. They killed him, stole the medallion and sailed to the Isle of Namboombu.

The group heads to the island, only to learn that no humans are allowed. Browne speaks with King Leonidas (Lennie Weinrib) a soccer loving lion, who wears the Star and offers to referee an upcoming soccer match.

The king is victorious and Browne steals the star. But when they return home, the star has vanished. Paul finds the incantation for the Substitutiary Locomotion spell in his book and Price tests it. However, its power is too strong. Browne leaves as he is worried he is too attached to Price and the children.

A Nazi raiding party sneaks onto the coast, occupies Price’s house and places her and the children in a weaponry museum. Browne finds a way to join them and they use the spell on the museum’s displays and lead an army of armor to fight the Nazis. The commander destroys Price’s workshop, which knocks her off her broomstick and the army collapses. The Nazis retreat as the Home Guard fires at them.

Afterwards, Browne enlists and marches off while Paul reveals he still has the enchanted bedknob.

You may remember I said in my review of Mary Poppins that the animation was unnecessary and was only there for the sake of being animated. Well, I feel the exact opposite with Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In this film, the group goes to an island that is only thought to exist in the world of a book. And a sorcerer made the animals anthropomorphic. It could be that after a while, the animals just became animated or Asteroth simply made them that way. It’s not really explained and doesn’t need to be. The animation simply feels like it fits, which it didn’t with Mary Poppins.

The story is interesting and fun, especially with living suits of armor chanting in Latin fighting off Nazis. And the Portobello Road number shows off Disney’s casting and choreography very well. There’s a not-so-subtle moment where two prostitutes show up and even then, it’s handled very well and tastefully. I like Browne’s character arc. He first shows up as a con artist, peddling magic he doesn’t believe exists. And when he’s first presented with it, all he wants to do is market it. But when he comes to realize he’s growing fond of the children and Price, he understands how bad of an idea that is and leaves so he doesn’t grow fonder of them. But the coward found at the beginning of the film has turned noble and comes back, using the magic he once wanted to make money off of to help them and ends up joining the army. He’s got an inner conflict that everyone can relate to in one way or another.

My only problem with the film is that the children aren’t too good of actors. They’re not terrible and don’t ruin the film, but they’re just not all that great.

Final call: interesting ideas with a fun climax. Won’t make the Edge of Satisfaction, but it will become #12.