Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

Belle and the Beast throw a Christmas party at the castle for the local villagers who had been pardoned for their attack on the Prince which been led by Gaston. Lumiere (Jerry Orbach) and Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers) argue over who brought Christmas back to the castle, whilst Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury) insists on explaining the true story behind Christmas' return to the castle.

The film then switches into a lengthy flashback, during the events of the first film after the Beast saved Belle from a wolf pack. Belle (Paige O'Hara) is excited for Christmas but is shocked when the castle servants reveal the Beast (Robby Benson) has forbidden Christmas from occurring. Belle finds the Beast outside in the snow and offers to teach him ice skating, but the Beast storms off when he crashes into the snow.

Belle decides to throw Christmas, Lumiere and Chip (Haley Joel Osment) accompanying her to the castle attic where they meet Angelique (Bernadette Peters), one of Lumiere's lovers who objects to the reintroduction of Christmas, due to the Beast's curse occurring on Christmas when he rejected the Enchantress (Kath Soucie) entry into the castle. The Beast consults the court composer Forte (Tim Curry), who was transformed into a giant pipe organ. Forte would prefer to remain as an ornament than be released by Belle, enjoying his manipulation over the Beast's anger. The Beast confronts Belle in the castle's boiler room, but they dissent over the occurrence of Christmas. Belle eventually meets Forte, who advises her to venture into the deepest part of the forest to cut down a giant Christmas tree. Belle then goes to the forest and finds the tree is near impossible to cut down and eventually falls under a sheet of ice. The Beast learns what has happened and goes to rescue her where he catches up to Lumiere, Cogsworth, Forte's humble minion Fife (Paul Reubens), and a carpenter Axe (Jeff Bennett). However, the Beast, knowing that Belle was planning Christmas against his wishes, imprisons Belle in the dungeon.

The servants visit Belle, and Angelique apologizes for her rude attitude. The Beast finds a present, a storybook, from Belle and reads it. Moved by the book's words, the Beast has a change of heart and frees Belle, offering to celebrate Christmas after all. Furiously realized that he and the other servants would return back to their human forms if Belle loves their master, the Beast before the last petal fall, Forte uses his music to destroy the castle in an attempt to kill Belle and the Beast, ensuring that he and all will be remained enchanted forever. The Beast confronts Forte, but is easily overwhelmed by his music. Fife points out that Forte's keyboard is his weak point, the Beast rips it off Forte who collapses and dies. Belle, the Beast and the servants celebrate Christmas together.

The film ends at the party, with Prince Adam taking Belle aside and giving her a rose as a Christmas present as Fife is now his new court composer.

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Animated , Cartoon , Walt Disney ,

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Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The 30th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance, Beauty and the Beast is based on the fairy tale La Belle et la Bête by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Featuring the voices of Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, and Angela Lansbury, the film tells the story of a handsome prince who is transformed into a hideous beast as punishment for his selfish actions. To become human again, the Beast must earn the love of a beautiful young woman that he imprisons in his castle, or else remain a beast forever.

Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn, the film was written by Roger Allers, Brenda Chapman, and Chris Sanders, with a screenplay by Linda Woolverton. Originally, the film was to have been by directed by English director Richard Purdum, but he resigned following the studio's decision to turn Beauty and the Beast into a musical. Howard Ashman and Alan Menken wrote the film's songs, while Menken composed its score. Ashman, who also served as executive producer on the film, died of AIDS related complications eight months before the film's release. The film is dedicated to him in his memory.

Beauty and the Beast was released on November 22, 1991 to positive reviews. The film was a significant commercial success during its initial release, and has since then garnered over $424 million in box office earnings. Beauty and the Beast was nominated for several awards, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Famously, Beauty and the Beast was the first-ever animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, remaining the only animated film to hold this honor until 2009 when the Academy expanded the number of nominees and Pixar's Up was nominated.

Beauty and the Beast received five additional Academy Award nominations, including Best Original Score, Best Sound, and three separate nominations for Best Original Song. Ultimately, Beauty and the Beast won Best Original Score, and Best Original Song went to its title song. In 2002, Beauty and the Beast was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

In April 1994, Beauty and the Beast became Disney's first animated film to be adapted into a Broadway musical. The success of the film spawned two direct-to-video midquels: Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, released in 1997, and Belle's Magical World, released in 1998. This was followed by a spin-off television series, Sing Me a Story with Belle. An IMAX special edition version of the original film was released in 2002, with a new five-minute musical sequence included. After the success of the 3D re-release of The Lion King, the film returned to theaters in 3D under supervision of John Lasseter on January 13, 2012.

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Animated , Cartoon , Walt Disney ,

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Kung Fu Panda

“Kung Fu Panda” is the story of a fat (is there any other kind?) panda that dreams about being an awesome kung fu warrior, and when given the chance, rises to the occasion. In-between those moments, we get plenty of fat jokes at the panda’s expense, and enough cartoon kung fu violence to, possibly, convince parents this may not be the right movie to be taking your very impressionable kids. Especially if said kids have a bad habit of using little sis as a punching dummy to try out his new “moves”.

The above said, Dreamworks’ “Kung Fu Panda” is a fun little movie, although “little” may be a bit of an exaggeration. Take a look at the voice cast: Jack Black as Po the panda, Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Jackie Chan as Monkey, Dustin Hoffman as Shifu, and of course, the always incredible Ian McShane (of Deadwood fame) as the villainous Tai Lung. Which reminds me: I was never really sure why Tai Lung was supposed to be such a villain; as far as I can tell, his only qualification for the mantle is that he’s really good at kung fu, and he really, really wants that kung fu scroll that, when read, will endow the reader with incredible kung fu mastery. But to hear the movie talk about him, you would think the guy went around eating babies or some such.

But I digress.

In “Kung Fu Panda”, Jack Black voices Po, a happy-go-lucky panda who toils away in his father’s (voiced by the venerable James Hong, no less) noodle shop. His father dreams of passing on the family business, which includes the family’s secret ingredient noodle soup recipe to his son, but Po has other dreams – namely joining up with his idols, the five martial arts masters known as the Furious Five, and fighting the good fight against villainy and such. Alas, being a panda, he’s a bit, well, fat, and not all that coordinated. Or fast. Or able to climb a lot of stairs really fast. Because, you know, being fat and all. But as it turns out, Po’s secret weapon is none other than his appetite and prodigious belly, which comes in mighty handy when Tai Lung escapes his prison (guarded by 1,000 soldiers to Tai Lung’s singular prisoner) and seeks vengeance after 20 years of captivity.....

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Animated , Cartoon , Hot Movie ,

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