Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World

Starting with “The Return of Jafar,” the Disney studio started a new kind of movie making: animated movies made simply for home video release. Over the years after that, the direct-to-video cost definitely has taken its toll from the studio’s fans. However, at the same time, these cheap movies a lot of times do very well when seeing how many are sold, constantly making a quick buck for a smaller-scale work that doesn’t belong in theaters.

DVD Dizzy wrote in their review, “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” was 70 minutes and had three stories. When the Special Edition DVD came out, it was 92 minutes, and had a fourth story, “Mrs. Potts’ Party.”

In the first segment, “The Perfect World,” a dinner between Beast (Robby Benson) and Belle (Paige O’Hara) goes wrong, but neither one will be the first to apologize. When dictionary Webster (Jim Cummings), pen LePlume (Rob Paulsen, who also voiced Raphael and Tokka in the 1987 TMNT cartoon, Donatello in the 2012 TMNT cartoon, Carl Wheezer from "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius," Buck Tuddrussel from "Time Squad," Yakko and Dr. Otto from "Animaniacs" and Pinky from "Pinky and the Brain")), and a pile of papers named Crane (Jeff Bennett) try to solve the problem and make a letter of apology from Beast, Belle apologizes herself and things temporarily seem okay. However, Beast finds out what the trio did and banishes them in the snow. A happy solution is given to everyone, and then Belle gives an overemotional song about the importance of forgiveness.

Next is “Fifi’s Folly,” which is about the fifth anniversary of the first date between Lumiere (Jerry Orbach) and feather duster Fifi (Kimmy Robertson). Lumiere needs more than a little help at making the date special, and Belle helps him. Spying on the couple, Fifi misunderstands the assistance for a genuine romance between Belle and Lumiere. There’s a lot of complaining but when things are finally resolved, a snowy sleigh ride becomes another obstacle in the way of a happy anniversary.

Third is the new part, “Mrs. Potts’ Party,” where Mrs. Potts (Anne Rogers) is feeling down. To make her happy, Belle and friends decide to throw her a surprise party. At the same time, they are trying not to wake the deeply-sleeping Beast and not to give away the surprise to Mrs. Potts, party preparations are continuing. However, each person hits a bump in the road, as no one can agree on one type of flower or cake. This is all thanks to Lumiere and Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers) constantly trying to make the party in their own vision.

Finally is “Broken Wing.” Beast orders that Belle join him for lunch. With some help from Mrs. Potts, it turns into an invitation. However, Belle doesn’t attend their noon lunch to help an injured bird. What we find out is that the Beast hates birds, and now he’s even more furious than normal. As with every single one of the stories, the nice resolution with awkward honesty this time has the Beast accepting the bird, but caging him as a prisoner ordered to sing. Belle tries to explain that he’ll sing if he’s happy.

DVD Dizzy goes on to say, “The episodic nature of the film, complete with fadeouts for commercial breaks, makes clear the material's TV roots. With its substandard word play and subpar animation, this type of fare might be fine for Saturday morning cartoons, but it doesn't seem to merit its own video release.”

It seems that these segments were made to be a Saturday morning cartoon series, but they are so bland that it’s understandable that the cartoon never even aired. If it’s not even right for TV, Disney making it together as a direct-to-video movie is a rather shameless try to make use of thrown away work.

The secondary characters of “Beauty and the Beast” seems to not have the talent and warmth of more memorable animated roles, so it’s not that surprising that stealing of whatever personality they had, these stories involving the magical characters of the Beast’s castle feel especially flat and boring.

Then there is the ruining of the two leads. There is nothing likable about the Beast in these stories, a problem which makes Belle look crazy for putting up with him and seeing anything the least bit positive about him.

DVD Dizzy mentioned that, “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.”

DVD Dizzy declared, “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” next to the title and the familiar characters on the cover, “Belle’s Magical World” is wrapped as being in the category of one of Disney’s more popular films. Those who are convinced and buy it for the name are in for a disappointing surprise. This is not even worthy of being called a sequel.

Even when comparing it to some of Disney’s other direct-to-video movies, which normally don’t offer the type of completely agreeable entertainment, “Belle’s Magical World” feels a bit weak. Simply the least sharp of viewers will be happy with this cheap film production. This small handful might find the surprising addition of a Direct-to-Video track and bonus features a nice touch to this DVD release.

I actually saw this movie before I saw “The Enchanted Christmas.” We rented the VHS from the library, and I liked it then, but now as an adult when I re-watched it as a DVD rental from the library, I didn’t like it at all. This is another sequel that I suggest giving it a pass.

There is another sequel that maybe people haven’t heard about, but I will not be talking about that until a few days from now. Stay tuned for the next sequel in “Disney Sequel Month.”