In 1991, Walt Disney Animation Studios debuted their 30th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics line and the film would achieve commercial success as it earned over $377 million worldwide and was the first animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and the film also received six Academy Award nominations, winning an award for "Best Original Score" and "Best Original Song".
And to capitalize on the success of the film, Disney would release the two midquel's of the "Beauty and the Beast" trilogy: "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" (1997) and "Belle's Magical World" (1998). The films would take place when Belle was being held inside the mansion of the beast and both trying to get to know each other.
VIDEO:
"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1:78:1). For a direct-to-video "Beauty and the Beast" midquel, the production was obviously higher budget with the use of CG. Even the animation is much more fluid, colors are more vibrant, more detail and shadowing are utilized in "The Enchanted Christmas" and utilizes CG similar to the original animated film.
I saw no artifacts, no white specks and scratches. For the most part, picture quality is very good considering this is a direct-to-video release and it being released in 1997. It's unfortunate that this quality didn't transfer over to the third film in the trilogy "Belle's Magical World".
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 5.1 Dolby Digital French and Spanish language tracks. Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
This film is primarily dialogue and musical driven and the audio comes clear through the center and front channels and music also is utilized through the surround channels. There are some mild action sequences, especially towards the end of the film which does utilize the surround channels but for the most part, this is a dialogue and music driven soundtrack.
Subtitle are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES
"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" comes with the following special features:
Disney's Sing Me a Story With Belle: "Stick To It (Don't Give Up)" - (22:54) A hybrid live/animated short feature featuring a non-animated Belle with cuts of animated and puppet-based characters. Belle inspires children to keep trying and never give up.
Disney's Sing-Along-Mode - While watching the film, you can sing-along with the film (ala Karaoke style) during the musical portion of the film.
Disney's Song Selection - Select you favorite song from the film to sing-along to.
Behind the Scenes Featurette - (15:48) The making of "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas". While watching the featurette, when a Mickey symbol shows up during the featurette, it will show additional information about the film.
Music Videos: "As Long as There's Christmas" - (3:20) Featuring a music video of "As Long as There's Christmas" by Play.
Enchanted Environment - Bring the castle's crackling fireplace into your home.
EXTRAS:
"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" comes with a slipcover case plus a DVD presented in widecreen (1:78:1), 5.1 Dolby Digital English, French and Spanish with English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
JUDGMENT CALL:
Enchanting and an entertaining continuation to the "Beauty and the Beast" animated film. "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is a wonderful family film for the holidays featuring the fun and vibrant characters of Disney's popular animated film.
"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is the midquel to the popular animated film and an answer to the many fans who have wanted to see Belle and the Beast once again! It is no surprise that the film would receive a sequel or midquel as the original film literally made over $300 million in the box office, especially considering the original film only cost $25 million to make. So, it was great to see "The Enchanted Christmas" made but also to incorporate the beautiful painted backgrounds, the vibrant colorful characters, wonderful animation including the CG animation that made the animated film so enjoyable, but incorporating it to the direct-to-video film.
"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" is a holiday film that brings the cast back together again and one of the enjoyable moments of this film is that we get to see how happy everyone as humans (post-spell) and seeing how Belle and the Prince are so happy together, but also a story that shows what happened during the Holidays when Belle was still being held captive inside the castle and seeing how she was able to bring Christmas back into the castle despite the Beast being against it (as he was turned into a beast on Christmas day).
A big question is if one should upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray. I would say yes, only if you are a big fan of the film. The Blu-ray definitely brings out the colors of the animated film, especially the detail. Everything looks much more clearer and the banding issues that were on the DVD aren't in the Blu-ray version. The Blu-ray version of "The Enchanted Christmas" looks very good and to hear the soundtrack via lossless is also another plus. If anything, the film looks and sounds great in HD and is definitely worth the upgrade.
Overall, "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted" Christmas is a wonderful holiday film for the entire family. And because it comes with both a Blu-ray and DVD, parents or grandparents can definitely benefit from watching this film via a long holiday commute or keeping the young one's occupied during the Winter break.
But if you are a "Beauty and the Beast" fan and looking for an enjoyable family Holiday film, "The Enchanted Christmas" is for you!