I first saw Beauty and the Beast: the Enchanted Christmas in 1997 right after its release. I remember liking it then and thinking it was kinda fun and cute. Recently I watched it again and enjoyed it even more I think. No, it's not the original, as you might have noticed most of these reviews attest to, but it is an exceptional technical effort for direct to video. 20 years ago much of the the animation in the theaters wasn't even this good. The character work was outstanding and the original voices made the whole thing. Cogsworth and Lumiere were in great form and Forte and Fife added an interesting dynamic. The grandest instrument - the pipe organ - must use the least of instruments - a piccolo - to get his dirty work done, though Fife (Paul Reubens) is a somewhat unwilling accomplice... not too bright either, but perhaps the most interesting of the new characters. Tim Curry was perfect as the evil Forte, who is - of course - evil just for its own sake. He's kinda ugly and mean so it's easy to hate him. The CGI animation on him is good, but a little misplaced. I think it was just an experiment in animation that didn't quite work all the way, though it was perfected in the movie The Iron Giant where the main character - though animated by computers was given a hand-drawn look.
I think kids and adults (with a taste for some fun and a good suspension of disbelief) can enjoy this one. I actually think the story could have been a little longer and more involved, especially toward the end. There was a bit of character reconciliation which I figure must have taken place off screen, and a rather truncated musical number between Lumiere and Cogsworth which could have expanded to include everyone else. A couple of the songs were not bad for the budget that this thing was made on. The humor came across well, and even the Beast had a couple of funny moments, and it was nice just to see some old friends.
Though it pretty much leaves out the true meaning of Christmas, I think The Enchanted Christmas is a fresh approach to holiday fiction and it has a good message on hope and caring and stands well as a chapter in the Beast's journey back to humanity.
I think kids and adults (with a taste for some fun and a good suspension of disbelief) can enjoy this one. I actually think the story could have been a little longer and more involved, especially toward the end. There was a bit of character reconciliation which I figure must have taken place off screen, and a rather truncated musical number between Lumiere and Cogsworth which could have expanded to include everyone else. A couple of the songs were not bad for the budget that this thing was made on. The humor came across well, and even the Beast had a couple of funny moments, and it was nice just to see some old friends.
Though it pretty much leaves out the true meaning of Christmas, I think The Enchanted Christmas is a fresh approach to holiday fiction and it has a good message on hope and caring and stands well as a chapter in the Beast's journey back to humanity.