Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World

The voice cast from the original film (minus Angela Lansbury's Mrs. Potts) provides what's left of the magic in this produced-for-video addition to the Beauty and the Beast library. Like Cinderella II: Happily Ever After, this is not so much a sequel as an omnibus of tales, each delivering a heavy-handed moral every bit as subtle as the Beast's roar. In the first story, forgiveness is "The Perfect Word" when a misunderstanding between warmhearted Belle (Paige O'Hara) and the still prickly Beast (Robby Benson) escalates, while another dispute threatens to douse the romance between feather duster Fifi and candelabra Lumiere in the second segment "Fifi's Folly." In the final two pieces, the castle staff's bickering is sabotaging plans to cheer up a gloomy Mrs. Potts in "Mrs. Potts's Party," while the Beast cages an injured bird and demands that she sing in "Broken Wing." It's all about "listening with our hearts" and treating each other with "trust and mutual respect," yadda-yadda-yadda. Playing more like a pilot for a Beauty and the Beast Saturday morning TV series than a film, the popularity of the characters makes this an optional purchase--but keep in mind, as long as people keep buying this product pipeline fodder, Disney will keep making them. Aud: P. (K. Lee Benson)[DVD Review—Nov. 22, 2011—Walt Disney, 92 min., G, $29.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD, 1998's Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World sports a great transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. DVD extras include the bonus episode “What's Inside Counts” from the Disney Channel-aired Sing Me a Story with Belle (23 min.), a song-selection feature, the games “Belle's Delightful Dinner” and “Enchanted Environment,” and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an unremarkable franchise entry.]