La Belle et la Bête 2 : Le Noël enchanté

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is my favorite movie. When I heard that they were making a sequel, I was enthused. But when I saw it...I was outraged. Horrified would be a proper word. This miserable excuse for a film doesn't even deserve to exist. And it doesn't. Not in the universe in which BATB takes place. I sat through it with a yellow pad and pencil and basically nitpicked it out of existence. I hate TEC, and know that true fans of BATB do, too.

I am currently writing a paper dissecting THE ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS, based on my Error List. I feel that the list isn't worded as well as I'd like it to be,and that I need to go into more depth,explaining its irrelevance in more detail. As for the movie: I still detest it; nothing the characters do make sense in relation to their personalities because THE ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS is not character-driven. It is driven by plot. The writers were slaves to their own misguided vision because there was nowhere real to go and that's why every line of dialogue, every action every character-or at least the incorrect interpretation of the character-takes is a lie-a soulless byproduct of committee thinking. The real crime of which this thing-I refuse to think of it as a film-is guilty is that IT EXISTS.

The thing that really hurts this sequel (other than the lackluster work from all the normally superb voice actors, and deflated story) is the fact that this is OBVIOUSLY an afterthought of a sequel. The main villain, as well as some additional characters, were not even mentioned in passing in the 1991 film. There is really no need for this movie at all. The only exceptional thing about this sequel is Tim Curry's excellent voice-over work, and the CGI imaging of his character, even if it is misplaced alongside the traditional animation. I'd say skip this altogether if you really enjoy the classic 1991 feature, as I do.