Western Animation / Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

Spoilers for Beauty and the Beast will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

"As long as there's Christmas, I truly believe
That hope is the greatest of the gifts we'll receive..."

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) is a Direct to Video midquel to the Disney Animated Canon hit Beauty and the Beast. This film takes place around the Christmas season in the middle of the events of the first film (thought considering the already complicated timeframe of the original, this idea is a highly dubious claim).

Here, a few new characters are introduced, such as the evil Lord Forte, a dark lord and maestro of the castle who was turned into a huge pipe organ. With his gloomy music being the only thing keeping the Beast happy - or slightly less sad - Forte has no desire for the curse to be broken, as he didn't really have any significance in the castle before then.

Belle arriving, naturally, is a threat to his plans, and he uses his lackey, Fife, to try to break Belle and the Beast apart. In the meantime, Belle wants to make plans for Christmas, even though the Beast is against it, since that is the day the enchantress cursed him and the castle.

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The film provides examples of the following tropes:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Forte is the only CGI character in the entire film. However, this was deliberate.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Beast clearly isn't happy about having to kill Forte, though it was a necessary act. He clearly considers Forte to have once been a good friend. Forte's death scene ends with Beast standing before the collapsed organ pipes, uttering a forlorn "Forte...".
• Ambiguously Bi: Continued with Lumiere. The audience is introduced to a former female love interest of his (Angelique). However, he also pretends his wick is mistletoe and kisses Cogsworth under it.
• Ambiguously Gay: Fife. Forte too.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Axe, also known as Mister Feurerwerker; he says things like "Oy, gevalt!" and "And a Happy Chanukah!"
• Anti-Love Song: "Don't Fall in Love". Doubles as a "The Hero Sucks" Song.
• Artistic License – Physics: When Belle emerges from the frozen lake, she is then dragged under by the tree she chopped down. This should not be happening since wood weighs the same as witches and therefore floats.
• Armor-Piercing Response: In the boiler room, when the Best confronts Belle about trying to bring Christmas back to the castle, and still refusing to allow it, Belle ends their argument with a response that really hits close to home:
  Belle: How can you be so selfish?
  Beast: You cannot possibly understand. You have no idea what it's like to lose everything. To be trapped in your own castle. To be a…a…a…
  Belle: Prisoner? The only one holding us prisoner here is you.
• Art Shift: The animation during the "Stories" musical number is drawn to evoke book illustrations from the 16th/17th century.
• Blessed with Suck: Forte in pipe organ form. He cannot move around, because...well...
  Forte: I'M BOLTED TO THE WALL!
• Big Bad Friend: Forte.
• Big Damn Heroes: The Beast of all characters saves the day when he destroys Forte's keyboard, thereby killing him.
• Big "NO!": Forte screams one as he falls to his death.
• The Cake Is a Lie: Forte promises a musical solo for his henchman Fife in exchange for performing many of the tasks that would help Forte challenge/endanger Belle. Near the end of the movie when Forte gets confronted by Belle, Beast and the gang, Fife finds the pages for his solo to be blank.
  Forte: So naive. You're second fiddle, Fife, and that's all you'll ever be!
• Christmas Special: The entire plot is Belle bringing Christmas back to the castle.
• Cursed with Awesome: Forte, whose transformation as an organ gives him a strength he could only dream to possess as a human, and made him Beast's closest confidant. In his opinion, this more than makes up for the fact that HE'S BOLTED TO THE WALL!
• Danger — Thin Ice: Forte sends Belle and her friends into the forest to get a tree, but they end up on a frozen lake and the ice breaks, causing Chip to fall in and forcing Belle to dive in after him. She manages to save Chip, but slips back under the ice, and is narrowly saved from drowning by the Beast.
• Darker and Edgier: Forte is more terrifying than Gaston who appeared in the first film.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Angelique.
• Demoted to Extra: Babette/Fifi the feather duster has one line during the "As Long As There's Christmas" number, but other than that, she has no importance. Though she does get more attention in the much-maligned Belle's Magical World.
• Despair Event Horizon: Angelique goes through this after Beast, brainwashed by Forte, destroys the Christmas decorations she worked hard for. It also may have paved way for her Jerkass Realization later on when she and the others visit Belle in the dungeon.
  Angelique: I knew this was hopeless…
• Detail-Hogging Cover: The reduced animation budget in the films isn't reflected in the finely drawn covers.
• Didn't Think This Through: Forte's motivation is interesting and unique in that he doesn't want the curse broken. He likes Beast being morose and listening to his music as an organ. All fine until one remembers the curse will eventually turn the castle denizens into their cursed forms completely, without the ability to talk, move, or even think for themselves. In other words, the curse is going to kill him.
• Digital Destruction: When the film was re-released in 2011, the remastering process presented some new changes as well as some interesting problems.
  • The film is matted to match widescreen formats, while the original release was held in a 4:3 aspect ratio.
  • The colors are slightly pale in the newer releases.
  • The shot of Belle singing "It'll stay up until July..." during "As Long As There's Christmas". In the original release, the camera is at a Dutch angle, where as in the later release, it is straight.
  • When Forte introduces himself to Belle in the 2011 release ("I am Miestro Forte, court composer...") the footage used appears to be an extended version of the beginning shot. Because of this, the sound is horribly out of synchronization and there is a slight pause focusing on the steps before the camera pans up to Forte.
  • When Forte shouts "I THINK NOT!" there is a keyhole cutaway when the camera dollies out, which was absent from earlier releases.
  • The Christmas angel on the tree at the end of the flashback is replaced by one resembling Angelique.
  • The end credits are golden yellow like the end credits of the first movie instead of chalk white like in the earlier releases.
  • Some transitions are missing.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Forte would be this to Gaston chronologically.
• Easily Forgiven: Fife. Though since we saw very little of him until the next Christmas he probably wasn't so easily forgiven after all. Then again, he still became the new court composer.
• Evil Is Hammy: Forte. Due to being played by Tim Curry, this trope comes with the territory.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The movie takes place over the course of one day.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Beast lifts up and smashes Forte's keyboard, causing him to unchain himself from the wall, lose his additional pipes one by one, topple over and die. In a nutshell, Forte dies because of mutilation.
• Forbidden Holiday: Beast forbade Christmas in the palace because that was the day he was transformed by the Enchantress.
• Foreshadowing: Forte's first line in the movie, in response to Fife's applauding his music:
  Forte: Oh, it's just a little opera... [hits a few keys, the room shakes and dust falls from the ceiling] ...to bring the house down.
• Framing Device: The movie is told in flashback by Mrs. Potts during the Christmas party following the curse being lifted.
• Funny Background Event: There's one scene where Beast instructs Forte to "play Belle's song", in which he proceeds to play "Deck the Halls" with the least amount of enthusiasm possible (which is pretty funny in itself, given he is a very Large Ham) After a few measures, Beast makes him sing, followed by an even more dismal rendition of the song. While Beast and Mrs. Potts converse, you can hear Forte starting to ham it up a bit ending with a low note just before Beast yells "ENOUGH!".
• Gift of Song: The evil Lord Forte writes a song for Belle as a Christmas present.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The Enchantress has these in Beast's flashback.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Forte playing into Beast's worst impulses technically makes him the overall main villain for the whole trilogy.
• The Grinch:
  • Beast hates Christmas at first, and has forbidden any celebrations in his castle, but he has a pretty good excuse, as his curse was inflicted on Christmas when he rejected the Enchantress's entry into the castle; Christmas thus brings back painful memories.
  • Of course, Forte is much worse, hoping to prevent Beast's prohibition from being lifted, as he does not want the curse broken. (He knows that the happier Beast is, the more likely that will happen.)
• Hammerspace: Well, how else would you describe the prince hiding two presents in his coat without them bulging visibly?
• Happily Married: At the end of the movie, we see that Belle and the Prince are. Given the change in her figure, it's implied - though not outright stated - that she is pregnant.
• Happy Holidays Dress: Belle's red and golden dress at the ending scene, although it was given more prominence in the covers and promotional materials.
• I Can Change My Beloved: Invoked, Denconstructed, and then Reconstructed. Despite doubting whether she should keep trying to reach the Beast, as it seems that he is now worse than ever when he gets enraged by his monstrous shape in the snow and storms off in a fury, Belle still insists that "one day, I will reach him, there has to be a way" — given that this movie takes place after the Beast saved her from the wolves and gave her the library as a gift, she kind of has an excuse because these noble gestures allowed Belle to begin accepting him and warming up to him. Nevertheless, Belle and the Beast's confrontation in the boiler room shows that she still considers herself a prisoner in the castle, and when the Beast throws her into the dungeon to rot after she goes out into the woods to get a suitable Christmas tree even though Belle accepted the condition that she remain in the castle forever, Belle says "I should have known that you'd never be anything but a beast". She has seemingly realized that the Beast cannot be cured of his many deep-seated psychological traumas simply by doing deeds which even make him feel good inside himself, and gives up on trying to reach him for the moment. Fortunately, the Beast asks for her forgiveness after coming to his senses and realizing that Belle just wants him to be happy, releases her from the dungeon, and even prepares to join the Christmas festivities.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Angelique has bobbed hair, as does her human form, similar to Plumette’s human form in the 1991 animated film. Since film takes place roughly in 18th century France, the bob cut does not become popular until the 20th Century.
• Interquel: The bulk of the film takes place during the castle’s enchantment.
• Ironic Echo: "You're not singing!"
• Irony: "I don't need a rose... go away, you wretched old hag!" Said rose would become the Beast's life source after his transformation.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Probably the best example in the Beast's history. He's squarely in the middle of his Character Development, still angry, still depressed, and still struggling with his temper and beastly instincts, but undeniably good and kind deep down.
• Large Ham: Forte. He is voiced by Tim Curry after all.
• Manipulative Bastard: Forte.
• Meaningful Name: Forte's name means "loud" in music terms. As a carryover from the first film, everyone has either this or a Punny Name.
• Minion with an F in Evil: Maestro Fife is initially this to Forte, but eventually has a Heel–Face Turn and starts rooting for the heroes.
• Mood Whiplash: "A Cut Above The Rest". The scene goes from sentimental to...um...
  • The Beast goes rather quickly from saying "Let's give Belle the Christmas she's always wanted!" to having to kill Forte.
• More than Mind Control: Forte uses glowing music notes and the Beast's own insecurities and anger to turn him against Belle when she leaves to get a Christmas tree. Later, he almost succeeds in convincing the Beast to smash the magical rose, but it drops a petal on Belle's Christmas present, snapping him out of it.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Forte has the ability to compose as he plays, as we are treated to various closeups of blank sheet music being transcribed with green ink in real time. Unfortunately, it's very grating for the musically inclined; since we have the advantage to pause on the closeups to read the score, it shows nothing more than random notes, splattered across the pages.
  • He can use his mystifying ability to move items, like he would if he had arms, using visible staves (complete with notations) and also to help illustrate his points as seen a few times. Most notably, his Villain Song "Don't Fall in Love".
• Musical Assassin: Forte is able to partially destroy the castle as well as send Beast flying with his magical music powers.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Fife is guilt-stricken and horrified when Belle nearly drowns because of his scaring Phillipe.
• Near-Villain Victory: Forte manipulates Belle to head into the Black Forest to find a Christmas tree and almost drown, and nearly manipulates Beast into destroying the rose in anger from this. If a petal from the rose didn't fall on the storybook Belle made for Beast which gives him hope, Forte would've won.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Forte: aside from the climax, he operates exclusively through Fife, because HE'S BOLTED TO THE WALL!
• Not So Above It All: Angelique when it comes to decorating the castle.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: Forte is one, and plays music accordingly.
• Once More, with Clarity: The exact moment the curse happened and how it all unfolded is shown in greater detail.
• Painful Transformation: The Prince's transformation into the Beast leaves him screaming in pain as his body twists and contorts.
• "Pan Up to the Sky" Ending: The movie closes with a pan up to the night sky.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Belle's gold dress gets a sort-of reprise near the end (since chronologically, that would be the first time she wore it).
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Forte’s absence in the trailers is proof enough that the story still could have gone on without him and that the Beast is more of a relevant antagonist to Belle due to the organ’s immobility.
• Precision F-Strike: During Forte's Villain Song: "It's hell! when someone's always there." In a Disney sequel no less; usually they can only get away with that in theatrical films!
• Pretty in Mink: Belle's fur-trimmed skating jacket, and wears a matching skirt when she goes deep in the woods.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!/Suddenly Shouting
  Forte: So, Beast gets girl and it's a happy ending for everyone. Enchantment lifted and Forte fades into the background, no longer important, no longer needed. ...I! THINK! NOT!
• "Reading Is Cool" Aesop: "Stories"
• Remember the New Guy?: The movie introduces several characters that never appeared before and after the events of winter. Forte being the most jarring one because he's established as being very close to the Beast.
• Series Continuity Error: In “Human Again,” it’s established the Beast can barely read. In this film, which takes place before “Human Again,” he can read just fine. Justified, however, as “Human Again” was added to the film in 2002 while Enchanted Christmas was released in 1997. So the continuity error is actually at the fault of the original movie.
• Sickly Green Glow: The ghostly scales made by Forte's pipes are this.
• Shoot the Dog: The Beast kills Forte when he goes completely, irreversibly nuts.
• Smug Snake: Forte. His human form even looks reptilian and sports a visible pair of fangs.
• Soul Jar: Fife points out to Beast during the final battle that Forte's keyboard is his main source; when removed and destroyed, Forte can no longer play music and comes crashing to his death.
• Spiritual Antithesis: In terms of individual scenes, how the Prince's transformation into the Beast is depicted. Whereas the original film explains the Beast's backstory through narration and stained glass murals, this film actually shows the transformation taking place. The two scenes, despite depicting the same turn of events, have very different intentions: the former keeps the Beast obscured while hinting at his inner turmoil, while the latter - which by this point audiences would be well familiar with his character - shows the full extent of his Painful Transformation.
• Sycophantic Servant: Fife.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Fife gets his solo at the end of the movie.
• Toplessness from the Back: The animated montage during the "Stories" song briefly features a mermaid on a rock, her back to the audience. The lack of visible straps implies there is no Seashell Bra present.
• Trash the Set: In his last act of keeping Beast and Belle apart, Forte attempts to kill her by destroying the castle with his music.
• Triumphant Reprise: The orchestra the human Fife conducts in the end of the movie is performing an instrumental reprise of "Stories".
• Twisted Echo Cut:
  Forte: (playing music to attract Belle) Yes, my dear... come to me...
  (Cut)
  Belle: (follows the music; calling to Sultan) Come here, boy... come here...
• Villainous Breakdown: Forte goes absolutely berserk at the climax of the film because he thinks that he's no longer important. He proceeds to play his ear-splitting music recklessly in an attempt to bring the whole castle down and crush Belle and the Beast.
• Villain Song: Forte has "Don't Fall In Love".
• Visual Pun: The whining wine glasses.
• Vocal Dissonance: Fife's voice is high-pitched and whiny, but when he returns to human form he gets a deeper, more natural-sounding voice.
• Warning Song: The succinctly titled song "Don't Fall in Love," in which Lord Forte sings to Beast about how he shouldn't fall in love with Belle, or anyone else, listing a number of reasons why it will ruin his life. Played with in that Forte is a False Friend, and his warnings are (probably) not genuine, he only wants to keep the Beast from breaking the curse on him and the whole castle because it forces the Beast to give Forte the attention he craves.
• White Mask of Doom: Forte's face is a version of this.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: This wreaks havoc on the original film's already debated timeline, especially with the re-insertion of the "Human Again" song, which establishes that the Beast has trouble remembering how to read in early spring but has no trouble reading the book Belle gave him for Christmas.
• Yandere: Forte to Beast. He considers himself to be the Beast’s “best friend” who can soothe his young master’s soul with his music. He becomes jealous of the Beast spending time with Belle and doesn’t wish for the spell to break since he believes the Beast won’t rely on him if they’re human again. He tries to interfere with the relationship, but his attempts backfire. Enraged, he tries to kill Belle and the Beast.

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