BEAUTY AND THE BEAST- ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS Featuring the voices of Angela Lansbury and Tim Curry
I was rather surprised when Disney decided to recently release a direct-to-video sequel to the animated feature they made in the early 1990's called BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The Disney animated features have gone down-hill since THE LION KING (1994). However this direct-to-video release surprised me- it is quite good.
The thing that surprised me the most at first was how they kept the animation quality to a high standard. Computer graphics are used in spots, but look best when they animate the evil church organ Forte (voiced by Tim Curry, who was Dr. Frank N Furter in ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and was the Butler in the movie CLUE). The animation isn't cheap looking, as it was in RETURN TO JAFAR for example... I haven't seen the third ALADDIN sequel yet, so I can't comment on its animation. Anyhow, this movie has great animation quality and uses a wide variety of camera shots.
Also the plot is not a re-hash of the original film. The plot involves Belle wanting to celebrate Christmas, even though she knows from her silverware and furniture friends (among which are Mrs. Potts, voiced by Angela Lansbury (star in MURDER SHE WROTE tv series, among many other things) that the Beast despises the holiday. Meanwhile the evil organ Forte "helps" the Beast by releasing his dark side, sort of like what the Emperor attempts to do to Luke Skywalker in RETURN OF THE JEDI (1984). Tim Curry does a marvelous job as the villain. The script is rather good, with some cheesy lines you would expect from a movie like AIRPLANE! (such as the line 'Don't whine glasses...'. get the pun? :) ).
The songs are very good, unlike songs from HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and HERCULES. While the animated features I just mentioned contain maybe one song I like from each of them, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST- ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS contains songs that are at least hummable and enjoyable all throughout. I noticed the person who composed the music and wrote the lyrics was the same person, but not the standard Disney Menken/Rice team. She should move up to doing songs for feature films!! The plot is darker, which I liked. Watch this film. It has a high production quality while using the same voices from the original movie, as well as new ones. It is a little bit over an hour long, a bit short, but still is quite good. I give BEAUTY AND THE BEAST- ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS ***1/2 out of ****. Little kids might not like the dark aspects to it.
Review By: Mathew Tschirgi
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