The cartoon Beauty and the Beast: A Christmas Story was created by DisneyToon Stuios in 1997. The first part of the animation tape was a great success and most viewers liked it, so the animators decided to create a sequel. The main characters of the cartoon are taken from the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast," written by the French writer Jeanne-Marie Leprens de Beaumont, who lived in the period from 1711 to 1780.
Plot
After the removal of the enchantment, the life in the castle changed. Once domestic utensils regained their human appearance. And the bewitched prince from a terrible beast turned into a handsome handsome young man. In the film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast: A Christmas Story, the characters prepare for a grandiose festive ball. It should take place in the palace of the beautiful Belle and Prince Adam.
During the preparations, Madame Pott talks sweetly with Chip and tells him a fascinating story that happened on the eve of last Christmas. It talks about how, being a guest in the castle of a formidable monster, Belle decides to give the owner a festive surprise. Servants in the hope of breaking free from the spell of the sorceress pick up this idea and help the girl in every possible way. An organ named Forte is not enthusiastic about the undertaking: notes of cheerful melodies are heard from all sides, because of which his crescendo is completely inaudible. He intends to prevent Belle from implementing her plan, as Forte does not want to become a human again. And to break the holiday is not at all difficult: the enchanted prince does not like Christmas and a decorated Christmas tree. But Belle’s perseverance can be envied, she does everything so that the festival takes place, and new friends help her in this.
Film crew
A whole team of professionals worked on the creation of the film “Beauty and the Beast: A Christmas Story”. The director of the cartoon was Andy Knight. Huge work was done by the scriptwriters of the animated film: Cindy Marcus, Bob Roth, Flip Kobler and Bill Motz. The characters spoke in the voices of famous actors. Prince Adam (The Beast) was voiced by Robbie Benson, and cutie Belle was voiced by Page O`Hara. The image of Lumiere in his voice was conveyed by Jerry Orbach, and David Ogden Styers acted as Cogsworth.
Interestingly, two actors were invited to voice Chip in the film “Beauty and the Beast: A Christmas Story”. Andrew Keenan-Bolger performed the vocal parts of the character, and Haley Joel Osment was responsible for the speech of the cartoon character. Also working on the picture: Tim Curry, Jeff Bennett, Kat Susie, Angela Lansbury and many others.
Who voiced the role in the Russian version
In 2013, Nevafilm translated Beauties and Monsters: A Christmas Story commissioned by Disney Studios. A large team worked on dubbing under the direction of director Inna Soboleva. Simultaneous text and translation of the cartoon was prepared by Svetlana Zaitseva. The musical arrangement fell on the shoulders of Alexei Barashkin. To voice the main characters, Saule Iskakova (the beautiful Belle) and Oleg Kulikovich (the Beast) were invited. V. Kostetsky, M. Melnikov, I. Shibanov, E. Dryatskaya and others also worked on dubbing.
Musical arrangement
In the animated fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast: A Christmas Story" there are a lot of musical compositions that were written directly for this picture. The author of the soundtrack is Rachel Portman. And the lyrics for the musical compositions were written by Don Black. The work on the cartoon songs was carried out in tandem of the orchestra and actors. Everything was written live in a recording studio.
Nominations and Prizes
The cartoon received two WAC Award at once: for the best directorial work and for the best release.
At the Annie Award, the picture claimed the title of best in 5 categories. The judges evaluated the director's work, the soundtrack, the script and the performance of two male roles (maestro Forte and Lumiere). But the prize was never taken.