Beauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a 1997 film made by The Walt Disney Company. It is a midquel that takes place within the timeline of the original Beauty and the Beast (after the fight with the wolves, but before the fight against
Gaston). But also, this movie is a sequel
to the original movie, because it shows enchanted objects in their human form reminiscing last year's Christmas festivities,
during which the majority of this movie's plot takes place. In this movie the Beast forbids Christmas (because his transformation from the
Prince occurred on Christmas) until Belle, Cogsworth, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, and Chip convince him that Christmas is a good holiday. The film also shows the time that the enchantress put the spell on the castle in the first film.
Plot
The film begins inside the castle, as the community from the village (sans the deceased Gaston and possibly LeFou, who fled
the castle afterwards) is allowed in for a great festival. Among the celebrations, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and the rest are human
after the spell was broken in the previous movie. Cogsworth and Lumiere are arguing over "who saved Christmas" last year. Mrs.
Potts agrees to tell the story.
One year earlier, the spell is still upon the castle. The objects begin looking for Belle; they are still in high hopes that
she will break the spell. Belle reminds Chip that today is December 24, Christmas Eve, but the others are completely unaware, and she leaves to go ice-skating. The Beast is
already there and, with some help, learns to skate with his feet.
Meanwhile, in an unknown part of the castle (through a secret door in the West Wing),
an enormous pipe organ is playing very creepy music while a small piccolo applauds. The organ
is Forte, the ex-court composer for the musicians during his human years. He sends Fife, his small piccolo servant, to break up
the merriment between Belle and the Beast, not wanting them to break the spell. He believes that "humanity is overrated" and that
he has more use and power in his enchanted form. Fife manages to break up the two, as the couple are making snow angels. However,
when the Beast sees his "angel" he sees it as a "shadow of a monster" and leaves in fury and depression.
Believing that Christmas will brighten the Beast's mood, Belle creates a wonderful new book for him, and with a little
persuasion for Cogsworth, Christmas is officially being prepared. The group goes to the
highest tower in the castle, which serves as a storage room for old decorations. In one of them lies Angelique, who once served
as the Royal Decorator. However, she is not pleased to hear about Christmas, arguing that she will not raise her hopes again in a
belief that they could all get together in celebration, only to have them destroyed by the Beast's foul temper and hatred for the
holiday. Belle sings to them about how "hope is the greatest gift", saying that there is always hope, even for breaking the
spell, and there will "always be a time when the world is filled with peace and love". Eventually, Angelique agrees.
However, Fife has been overhearing all this and rushes off to tell Forte. When the Beast finds out, he is not at all pleased.
The Beast thinks that Belle didn't know he feel about Christmas yet, but Forte lies to him by saying that she does now and that
she doesn't care, separating the two even more. The Beast reflects on his past: Christmas was the day he became very selfish, and
it was on that day that the Enchantress put the spell on him and the castle 10 years ago. Belle enters the boiler room to get a
Yule Log, explaining that it is a great tradition: "one log is chosen, then everyone in the house touches it, and makes a
Christmas wish". The Beast will not listen, shouting that she has no idea what it is to be a true prisoner, but she knows all too
well. Belle asks why the Beast is being so selfish, but he refuses to disclose that the spell occurred at that day in the first
place. At that rate, Belle won't give up, and concludes that they will have Christmas with or without the Beast, but not before
sending him her gift, the storybook.
Belle and Chip go along with an axe from the boiler room to go look for a Christmas
tree. The Beast finds his gift, but Lumiere won't allow him to open it as it is not yet Christmas. He explains that
everyone understands how the Beast feels about the holiday, but giving a gift to another is a way of saying "I care about you".
The Beast gets in the mood and decides to promote Christmas, and asks Forte to compose a song as a present, who agrees unhappily.
When he leaves, Forte puts his plans in motion, and plays beautiful music, attracting Belle to his room. Forte quickly
manipulates the situation, telling her that the tree has always been Beast's favorite part of Christmas, and that the perfect
tree lies in the Black Forest, the woods outside the castle. Getting the tree would break Belle's promise never to leave the
castle, but she wants to make Beast happy, so she agrees to go. The Beast is still waiting for Belle to show up, but Forte claims
"she's abandoned you!" and feeds the Beast's anger by hypnotizing him with his music. Forte orders Fife "to make sure they don't
come back", and mostly because of ice, a dangerous chain reaction starts that leads to the Beast having to rescue Belle from
drowning.
Belle is locked in the dungeon to rot there for eternity, but Anqelique admits that she was wrong to believe that Christmas
could never come. They all agree, they don't need decorations or gifts to celebrate Christmas; they have each other, and that's
the best gift they could ever ask for. The Beast prepares to destroy the Rose and end his suffering due to Forte's urging, but he
remembers the gift Belle gave him and he opens it, beginning to read the story:
- Once upon a time there was an enchanted castle. Its master seemed as cold as winter. Deep inside his heart ... His cries
echoed through the stone wall of the castle ... though surrounded by servants, he was all alone. ... And in that simple act of
kindness, he knew that someone cared. Christmas that year was spent exchanging humble gifts but the greatest gift that anyone
received was the gift of hope.
"Hope..." the Beast murmurs. All his life, he has lost a sense of it, but now he realizes, more than ever, that there is hope.
He then realizes that there is no reason to forbid Christmas, even though the spell was cast 10 years ago at that day in the
first place. There is hope to break the spell, hope to have someone to like him for who he is, Beast or not. So he decided to
free Belle from the dungeon and apologize to her. She forgives him, and they now plan to have the best Christmas ever.
But Forte won't fade into the background, though he's no longer needed. Playing a grand tune, he plans to bring the whole
castle down, threatening to kill everyone inside it, as they can't fall in love if they're dead, much to the disagreement of Fife
as it is extreme. The Beast, angered by this, manages to get into the room, and tells him to stop it("ENOUGH!!!"). Forte
refuses and attacks him with his music until Belle and Fife comes to help the Beast. As for the Rose, it was about to fall until
Cogsworth and Lumiere saved it. Fife reminds the Beast about the keyboard that is powering Forte up, and Beast moves to grab hold
of it, silencing the music and saving the castle. He then throws the keyboard away, destroying it. Forte, shocked by this, pulls
in to kill the Beast, but the bolt that holds him to the wall breaks off, making Forte crashing down to the floor, killing
him.
The others continue to have a happy holiday, which brings us back to the actual party, but of course, if anyone actually saved
Christmas, it was Belle. The others celebrate to a musical composition produced by the castle's new maestro composer, Fife, who
promtply has placed a Picolo solo at the start. The Prince then gives Belle a gift, a single rose.
Reception
While the film broke records with its phenomenal commercial success, surpassing the $180 million mark, critical reception was
extremely negative. It currently holds a rare 0% critics approval rating on Rotten
Tomatoes. However, it retains a rather high 70% user approval rating on the site.[1]
Soundtrack
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Trivia
- This film grossed US $182 million, making it the third highest grossing
direct-to-video animated feature film of all time.
- It is revealed that the footstool's/dog's name is Sultan.
- The word 'hell' is mentioned two times, only by the Beast("Where the hell is she!?") and Forte during his song "Don't
Fall in Love" (It's a hell when someone's always there!"). While Sleeping
Beauty and The Hunchback of Notre Dame both
contain the word "Hell", it is within the religious context, making this the only Disney film to use the word in a
vulgar context.
Goofs
- In the present day, the character Chip is shown to be a little boy around six or seven years of age. Apparently, Chip is
present during the flashback of the Enchantress putting the spell on the castle, whereas he was not yet supposed to exist, owing
to the fact that the spell's origin takes place ten years before the events of the film. Of course, this presents no problem if
one were to assume that Chip did not age while he was in his teacup form.
- In the forest, Belle is being pulled into the icy cold water by a tree that is sinking. But in reality, trees float, and
there is no possibility for Belle to be pulled by one.
- In the dungeon, when the Beast is about to apologize to Belle, he leaves the door open. But when Forte tries to knock down
the castle (along with the dungeon), the door is closed.
- In the first film, the Prince who was turned into the Beast, knows that the rose given to him will wither away in his 21st
birthday, proving that he was 11 years old (much more of a spoiled brat) at the time the spell was cast. But in this film, during
a flashback, the Prince is presented in his late-teen or early-adult years before the spell was cast. It could possibly be that
he looked older than his actual age, or does not age during the beast transformation.
Voice actors and their characters
References
External links
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