Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
North American VHS cover
Directed by	Andy Knight
Produced by	Lori Forte John C. Donkin
Written by	Flip Kobler Cindy Marcus Bill Motz Bob Roth
Starring	Paige O'Hara Robby Benson Angela Lansbury Jerry Orbach David Ogden Stiers Bernadette Peters Tim Curry Andrew Keenan-Bolger Paul Reubens
Music by	Rachel Portman
Edited by	Tony Migalaski
Production company	Walt Disney Television Animation Walt Disney Animation Canada Inc. DisneyToon Studios
Distributed by	Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release date	November 11, 1997 (1997-11-11)
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (also known as Beauty and the Beast 2) is a 1997 American direct-to-video animated Christmas musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The film is set within the time period of the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast, shortly after the fight with the wolves in the first film. In the film, the Beast forbids Christmas (because his transformation from the Prince occurred during that time of year) until Belle, Cogsworth, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, and Chip convince him that Christmas is a good holiday. The film also shows the time that the enchantress put the spell on the castle in the first film in more detail.

Princess Belle and Prince Adam (although they're not seen until the end) throw a Christmas party for the local villagers at their castle (with many of the servants previously enchanted). Lumiere and Cogsworth argue who brought Christmas back to the castle (both claiming credit for themselves), while Mrs. Potts insists on explaining the true story behind Christmas' return to the castle, while her son Chip listens with eager ears.

The film then switches into a lengthy flashback, during the events of the first film right after Beast saves Belle (as a peasant girl) from a wolf pack. Belle is excited for Christmas, but is shocked when the castle servants reveal Beast has forbidden Christmas from occurring. Belle finds Beast outside in the snow, and offers to teach him ice skating. But inside the room next to Beast's west wing, Maestro Forte, the court composer (transformed into a pipe organ) playing a piece, is interrupted by an applause from Fife (a piccolo). Forte offers Fife a solo in his opera for being his eyes and ears (since he's bolted to the wall), and after Fife tells Forte about the master skating with Belle, he reveals his position as Beast's confidant and refuses to let Belle take his place. Forte then instructs Fife to "see the blossoming love wither on the vine". When Beast and Belle are still skating, Fife then interrupts it, causing both of them to crash into a snow-bank, and when Belle makes a snow angel, Beast sees his own and assumes that it's a shadow of a monster. He roars, thrashes the snow and storms off inside in a fit of rage, leaving Belle and the castle servants alone.