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Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World
Movie & DVD Details Director: Bob Kline
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Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World justifies many of the complaints. It is a perfect example of just how poor something with the Disney name on it can be. Pieced together from what appear to be episodes of a failed TV series that never made it on air, Belle's Magical World lacks a single narrative and magic of any kind.
When it was originally released to video in February of 1998, Belle's Magical World ran just 70 minutes and featured three stories. As a Special Edition DVD, it runs 92, and contains a fourth story, "Mrs. Potts' Party."
In the first episode, "The Perfect World", a dinner between Beast and Belle goes wrong, but neither one will make the first move to apologize. When dictionary Webster, pen La Plume, and a pile of papers named Crane take matters into their own and forge a letter of apology from Beast, Belle apologizes herself and things momentarily seem okay. But Beast learns of the objects' act and banishes them in the snow. A happy resolution is delivered to all, and then Belle delivers a maudlin number about the importance of forgiveness.
Next, in "Fifi's Folly" it is the fifth anniversary of the first date between candelabra Lumiere and feather duster Fifi. Lumiere needs more than a little help at making the occassional special, and Belle assists him. Spying on the pair, Fifi mistakes the preparations for a genuine romance between Belle and Lumiere. There's a lot of whining but when things are finally elucidated, a snowy sleigh ride becomes another obstacle in the way of a peaceful anniversary.
Third is the newly-added segment, "Mrs. Potts' Party", in which the maternal teapot is feeling depressed. To cheer her up, Belle and company decide to throw her a surprise party. While trying not to wake up the deeply-sleeping Beast and not to give away the surprise element to Mrs. Potts, party preparations go on. However, each element hits a snag, as no one can agree on one type of flower or cake.
Last is "Broken Wing." Beast demands that Belle join him for lunch. With some help from Mrs. Potts, it turns into an invitation. But Belle stands him up on their noon dining to tend to an ailing bird. It just so happens that the Beast loathes birds, and so he's even grumpier than normal. As with all the other stories, the neat resolution with ungraceful moral this time has the Beast accepting the bird, but caging him as a prisoner commanded to sing. Belle tries to explain that he'll sing if he's happy.
The episodic nature of the film, complete with fadeouts for commercial breaks, makes clear the material's TV roots. It seems that these episodes were intended to be a Saturday morning cartoon series, but they are so weak that it's understandable that the series never even materialized. If it's not even fit for TV, Disney packaging it together as a direct-to-video feature is a rather shameless attempt to make use of discarded work.
The secondary characters of Beauty and the Beast seemed to lack the flair and warmth of more memorable animated roles, so it's not that surprising that robbed of whatever personality they had, these plots involving the enchanted inhabitants of the Beast's castle feel especially flat and bland.
Then there is the butchering of the two leads. There is nothing likable about the Beast in these stories, a problem which makes Belle seem crazy for putting up with him and seeing anything the least bit redeeming about him.
The film lacks the subtlety of the original film and the artistry of its look. Though it's supposed to take place in the same universe, Belle seems to have gotten a tan and the mystique and grandeur of the castle seems to have been cheaply and poorly replicated, as if done by a no-frills knock-off animation studio. The whole thing feels rather gloomy.
VIDEO and AUDIO
Belle's Magical World is presented in its original aspect ratio, 1.33:1 fullscreen. The picture quality isn't too great, but the source material being television animation from a pre-digital age, This direct-to-video feature is surprisingly presented in 5.1 surround tracks of the Dolby Digital and DTS varieties. The DTS track seems to have a bit more oomph, but neither feels like a particularly theatrical experience. There's a few nice directional effects which make it feel like a real 5.1 soundtrack. For the most part, though, the soundtrack remains understated. Dialogue is discernible, and the limited directionality is serviceable. One thing which stands out is the Beast's growlings, which showcase quite a bit of bass. Overall, the sound seems adequate but not very impressive.
BONUS FEATURES
While it's not really worthy of the moniker "Special Edition," this DVD is one of the better discs bestowed upon a direct-to-video feature. In the time since, Disney's upped the ante, most notably with double-disc sets for The Lion King follow-ups.
Belle's Delightful Dinner Game provides a two levels of (very) mild entertainment. The questions change when you play a second time, the hidden locations do not. Choosing "Resume Game" lets you just play the trivia round again.
Enchanted Environment provides a serene view of the nature outside the castle as the weather and seasons change. Birds fly around and a waterfall flows, and then snow falls. The simple animation in this feature is far better than the backgrounds from the feature itself. It's a cool thing to leave on your TV or computer for a while, which by default makes it the pièce de résistance of this DVD.
You can choose to view the environment with just music, just sound effects, or a mix of the two. However, you can't change the audio selection without going back to the menu.
Disney's Song Selection takes you directly to the film's two sappy songs that follow certain episodes and further deliver their message with the grace of a hammer. The songs, performed by Belle, are titled "Listen With Our Hearts" and "A Little Thought." Actually selecting them is a bit of a challenge as you have to determine whether you want "On-Screen Lyrics" on or off. They're just the regular subtitles, so this feature seems entirely pointless, unless you want to just play the two songs in a row without remote control work, which the "Play All" feature allows you to do.
Viewing the disc's DVD-ROM Weblinks meant hassling around with InterActual Player, which is never a treat. With links to register this DVD or visit Disney's DVD sites, the DVD-ROM element of this disc was undoubtedly not worth the trouble to access it.
The main menu is quite nicely animated. We get a view of the castle from the outside as snow falls and birds fly around. The rest of the menus are colorful 16x9 screens, joined by effectively subtle score selections and appearing after quick and well-done animated transitions.
The disc opens with a number of sneak peeks: a teaser for Finding Nemo (coming to theaters), DVD previews for Stanley, The Lion King, and Sleeping Beauty, and an ad for the Disney Princess line. The Sneak Peeks menu also includes previews of Kiki's Delivery Service, Stitch! The Movie, and Tuck Everlasting.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Only diehard Beauty and the Beast fans and the most dedicated completists will be intrigued by Belle's Magical World. With the Roman Numeral 'III' on its side and the familiar characters on the cover, Belle's Magical World is packaged as being in the vein of one of Disney's more popular films. Those who are convinced and buy it based on the name are in for a disappointing surprise; this is unworthy to even be called a sequel.
Even in comparison to some of Disney's other direct-to-video features, which generally don't offer the type of universally pleasing entertainment, Belle's Magical World feels a bit weak. Merely the least discriminating of viewers will be pleased with this shoddy film production. This select few might find the surprising inclusion of a DTS track and bonus features a nice touch to this DVD release.
More on the DVD / Buy from Amazon.com
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