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Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas - Special Edition

"Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" stands out as one of Disney's best direct-to-video efforts to date, as well as remaining true to the spirit of the original 1991 feature film while making its own story just as enjoyable and warming. The story-within-a-story, as told by now-human Mrs. Potts, takes us to the first Christmas between Belle and the Beast, who, as a result of his transformation one year prior, forbids the celebration of Christmas in the castle. Belle, as always rebellious, takes it upon herself to stir up a little holiday cheery, along with the help Lumiere, Cogsworth, Chip, Mrs. Potts, and some new additions including a holiday ornament named Angelique. ***

Of course, any Disney story has to have an obstacle, and that job rests on the shoulders of Forte, the dark, looming organ in the Beast's chambers who fills his master's head with delusions of grandeur through loneliness and suffering, fearful that he will lose his position as his most favored servant. And once Belle gets too close... ***

Anyone who knows their Disney knows the ending, the in-between, the before and after... you get my drift. But this is much more entertaining and inspired than any of the usual home video drivel that has come from the studio in recent years, mainly due to the fact that so much care went into keeping with the greatness that made the first movie so marvelous. The entire original voice cast is back in fine form, along with newcomers Bernadette Peters and Tim Curry, whose devilish looks fit right into his villainous character. The animation may not meet big-screen standards, but it works as it is. The humor is always terrific (I loved the bit with the "whine" glasses), and the music and songs created have a nice holiday touch to them that keeps things light and breezy. As far as Christmas is concerned, this is one piece of enchantment that really delivers.

The 1.33:1 fullframe image is a rather nice transfer for direct-to-video, I must say. Colors are well-balanced and nicely saturated, though in some cases, the reds tend to melt into one another (the scene in the boiler room stands out as one such case). For the most part, the animation remains smooth and unblemished, with some speckle and noise here and there, but nothing too intrusive. Many of the film's darker scenes benefit from solid blacks and good shadow delineation, and edges remain consistently sharp and detail excellent. ***

The DVD includes both a Dolby Digital 5.1 track and a DTS 5.1 track... quite a spendid surprise, though I wonder how many of the film's target audience have DTS decoders and 5.1 surround! Both tracks make excellent use of the available soundstage, especially with imaging, in which when a character walks across the screen, so does their voice transition from one speaker to the next. Directionalization is excellent, with sound effects that go popping through the surround channels and back to the front in ways that make you look around to see what happened. The score has been nicely recorded to fill each speaker with sweet sounds of Christmas and Disney; dialogue remains clean and centered throughout; and deep, penetrating bass makes itself known on more than one occasion. Could be a reference quality disc for more family-friendly stores, though hardcore audiophiles may not be so enticed.