Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas – Special Edition
(Disney/Blu-ray + DVD) + Beauty and the
Beast: Belle’s Magical World – Special Edition (Disney DVD) + Ice Age – A Mammoth Christmas Special
(Fox/Blu-ray + DVD w/Digital Copy)
Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted
Christmas – Special Edition
Picture:
B/B-
Sound:
B/B-
Extras: C
Film: C
Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s
Magical World – Special Edition
Picture:
B-
Sound: B-
Extras: C
Film: C
Ice Age – A Mammoth Christmas
Special
Picture:
A-/B
Sound:
A-/B
Extras: C
Film: B-
As
mentioned time and time again in this reviewer’s DVD/Blu-ray reviews, straight
to Home Video films do not typically deliver the best quality material; even
Disney not all too often being able to break this stereotype.
First up
we have Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted
Christmas – Special Edition, which was originally released to Home Video in
1997 as a VHS. It was meant to play off
of the extreme the original Beauty and
the Beast and is a mid-quel as it takes place in the middle of the original
film. Think of it as a ‘lost
scene/chapter’ (one that perhaps should have stayed lost). The film takes place after The Beast saves
Beauty from the wolves, but before he gives her the castle library as a
gift. The story boils down to The Beast
forbidding the inhabitants of the enchanted castle to celebrate Christmas as
that was the time of year when the witch transformed him. It is up to Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Chip,
Cogsworth, and of course Belle to convince that Christmas is worth
celebrating. The film is filled with
musical numbers and animation that are nice, but nowhere near the level of
greatness of the original. Even as the
film is not great it is astonishingly better than Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World – Special Edition.
Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s
Magical World – Special Edition was produced 1 year after Enchanted Christmas, owing its conception to the fact that the
first straight Home Video release was so financially successful. Beauty
and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World – Special Edition is another mid-quel
and takes place right after Enchanted
Christmas. The film is awful. It is broken down into four new short stories
(originally three with one added to the re-release DVD in 2003) that have some
lackluster songs and passable animation.
The four stories are ‘The Perfect Word,’ ‘Fifi’s Folly,’ ‘Mrs. Potts’
Party,’ and ‘Broken Wing.’ Each story
has a cheesy moral such as forgiveness, compromise, and respect for
others. The film is wholly directed at
children, but even at that I feel it is a bit weak and uninspiring.
Finally
we have the Fox release of Ice Age: A
Mammoth Christmas Special. I have
always enjoyed the Ice Age films and
feel they have only gotten better in terms of storyline and animation. This straight to Blu-ray/DVD release is not
the best storyline (nor does it make much sense), but the computer animation is
solid and is of film quality. The short
(26 minute) film has all of the original cast back again to voice our furry
friends. The gang is gearing up for
Christmas and in the middle of the celebration Sid breaks Manny’s favorite
Christmas Rock. Now Sid is on Santa’s
naughty list…at least that is what Manny says.
To get back on Santa’s good graces Sid jolts off to the North Pole along
with some friends. After arriving at the
North Pole, however, Sid and the gang accidentally destroy Santa’s
workshop. Manny, Ellie, and Diego arrive
at the North Pole to find the shop in shambles; in order to save Christmas the
gang pulls together and buckles down. It
is a cute story, even if pure nonsense, that I believe was created to refresh
all of our memories on the Ice Age crew
as the new film arrives in theaters this July.
In terms
of technical features, some of the films presented here are much better than
others; accumulating as low, middle, and high quality. Enchanted
Christmas is a 1080p High Definition 1.78 X 1 Widescreen presentation that
has great colors and inky blacks, but the lower detailed animation takes
something away from this Disney feature presentation. The old 1997 computer graphics (especially
the pipe organ) look worse than ever as they look very dated. The transfer is crisp and clean, but leaves
much to be desired; the DVD inside being worse, though it is a full screen
image that does not crop off parts like the Blu-ray widescreen. The sound on Enchanted Christmas is an English DTS –HD Master Audio that I felt
was either whispering or screaming at me the entire time as the forceful track
was overwhelmingly odd. What can only be
explained as a poor mix, makes the viewing experience shaky at best. Belle’s Magical World is even worse on
DVD as the animation from 1997 to 1998 seemed to get worse, not better. Appearing like a Disney Channel quicky and
not a true Disney film; hence the straight to Home Video release. The 1.33 X 1 animated presentation is washed
and lacking detail. The colors are more
muted and blacks don’t pop as they should.
The sound is weak and comes fully from the front even in as its 5.1
Dolby Digital track, that is meant to boast surrounds, it fails to impress.
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas
Special is a
great presentation. I would say this is
nearly demo quality as it almost matches the third film installment in its
brilliant execution of Computer Animation.
The colors of Christmas Reds and Greens are bright and warm, whereas
they are balanced with icy Blues and Whites of the Ice Age. The dark framing blacks capture your
attention and highlight the deep, intricate detail of each and every character
and each and every hair on these beasts.
The sound is nice in its 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio but at only 26minutes
long the film never gets to the exciting point where I think the full range could
be used. There is use of all speakers
and the directionality is there, just not for too long.
The
extras for all three releases are a bit weak:
Enchanted Christmas
- Sing Me a Story Belle: “Stick
to it Don’t Give Up”
- Sing A Long Mode
- Song Selection Menu
- Behind the Scenes Featurette
- “As Long As There’s
Christmas” Music Video
- Enchanted Environment (click
on things)
Belle’s Magical World
- Sing Me a Story Belle:
“What’s Inside Counts”
- Belle’s Delightful Dinner
Game
- Song Selection Menu
- Enchanted Environment (click
on things)
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas
Special
- Sneak Peek of Ice Age: Continental
Drift
- Swingin’ Jingle Bells Music
Video
- Digital Copy
- Michael P. Dougherty II