My Review of Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas · 1:12am Dec 25th, 2021
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, everyone! This is your jolly reviewer Mr. J back with another Christmas movie for this Disney Friday. I have the utmost pleasure in reviewing this absolute beautiful gem entitled Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. I have been waiting a long time for this moment... the moment that I get to express in how much I love this exceptional work of art. I don’t see it as a Disney direct-to-video sequel (although it technically isn’t a sequel); I see it as a story that shows us the true beauty of Christmas where it managed to give both Belle and Beast depth of character. This is by far one of the only Disney direct-to-video films I’ve enjoyed since childhood.
This takes place during the time Beast took in Belle and had her captive in his castle (for a certain period of time apparently). Belle and company make preparations for Christmas, and the former uses this as an opportunity to bring hope and joy to Beast. However, the latter expresses hatred for the holiday since that was the time he was cursed by the spell. Thus, Belle must work hard to bring hope to him during his darkest hour.
I loved this story. In fact, I thought Beast and Belle were more entertaining in this film than in the original. The plot was intriguing, the new characters were hilariously interesting and fun to watch, and the character development was more fleshed-out. I believe the interaction and chemistry between Belle and Beast in this movie won me over since we get to see more of them rubbing off each other and seeing what other things they do especially for a special holiday such as Christmas.
Of course, the voice acting of the retuning cast members was likewise top-notch. Paige O-Hara was great as Belle, Robby Benson was still good as Beast just like before, Angela Lansbury was heartwarming as Mrs. Potts, and the late David Ogden Stiers alongside Jerry Orbach were wonderful as Cogsworth and Lumeire respectively. Those two legends are still missed and loved! Loved their work! RIP!
But the best character of the movie is none other than the main antagonist himself.........
Maestro Forte! I. LOVE. THIS. PIPE. ORGAN. He is by far one of my favorite villains of all time and one of the most three-dimensional antagonists within Disney. Hands down! As a bonus, he was voiced by Tim freaking Curry!!!! His voice acting stood out the most out of everyone else. His voice was sexy as fuck, intimidating, silky, and distinctively evil. I can’t be the only one who wasn’t scared by his computer-animated face with black eyes when I was a kid. He stole the whole movie for me, and had also logical motivations in trying to keep Beast for himself. In my opinion, he is a lot more interesting and menacing than Gaston.
Oh, and I just love his iconic line:
I’M BOLTED TO THE WALL!!!!
This movie is well-animated and looks more fairly appealing than does the original movie which is a very rare trait for a direct-to-video “sequel”. Every character design of the new characters are very in-tact and don’t look out of place whenever they utter dialogue or interact together. Again, that is something I rarely see in Disney sequels. That just shows how much effort they put into making this movie.
Props to Andy Knight for directing this movie, Rachel Portman for the beautiful music composing, and to Bob Roth, Bill Motz, Cindy Marcus, and Flip Kobler for screen-writing for the film.
Therefore, I will rate this a solid 10/10! This is way better than the original and much more impactful in terms of the story, character development, and the animation.
Merry Christmas, ladies and gentlemen! 💜💜
I can't believe how selfish that Pipe Organ was.
I whole-heartily agree with you on this.
In my opinion, this movie is incredibly underrated. It managed to be an accomplished expansion of the original by delving further into what’s been going on between Belle and Beast in the first movie and the backstory on the enchantment, and the filmmakers were clearly very passionate about this movie. Plus, Maestro Forte is undeniably what I’d like to call one of Tim Curry’s best roles. Perhaps even the best.
I love this movie! Good thing you remind me of it