Beauty And The Beast - Belle's Magical World (Special Edition) (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)I find it interesting that many of the reactions to this collection of shorts are extremely hostile. The shorts are not that bad, but neither are they that good. This DVD is much like three Saturday morning cartoons that are in one collection. My only complaint is that the price of the DVD is quite high for the value received, which may have been the reason some reviewers were upset.
The title of the first story is "The Perfect Word." In this story the Beast and Belle disagree and there is a copious amount of rudeness and insensitivity all around. The story heaps on the need for each of the characters to forgive each other, which I found distracting. The story made the point early and was relentless in setting up the need for people to apologize and forgive.
The second story is "Fifi's Folly." This time Fifi, Lumiere's girlfriend, is upset with Lumiere because she thinks that Belle is trying to steal Lumiere away. Fifi acts meanly and tries to sabotage the evening that she thinks Belle and Lumiere are going to have. Of course, the evening is for Fifi and Lumiere and the plan predictably backfires. Once again the story was heavy-handed because the point was made early in the short, but the point was continually ground in until the final moments of the short.
The final story is "Broken Wing," which I found charming in some ways. Belle rescues a small bird with a broken wing. The Beast first wants to throw the bird out and then he wants to cage the bird. I was annoyed that the Beast's behavior was so awful. I thought that some younger children might find the beast to be terrifying in some places, particularly as the Beast seemed prepared to hurt the bird. However, the bird was nicely animated and Belle tried her best to get the Beast to be kind. This story has a nice ending if you can reach it through the Beast's heavy-handed and over-the-top behavior.
In addition to the three shorts are a variety of other features on this DVD. While some of the features are interesting, the value of this DVD should be the "feature," which is not a feature because the three stories are independent stories. The voices of Robby Benson, Paige O'Hara, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers and others are unable to make this DVD a must have. The stories are too forced and try too hard to capitalize on the success of the original "Beauty and the Beast" movie. I recommend this movie only to those who must have all the "Beauty and the Beast" movies, or all Disney movies. Everyone else should move on to better Disney movies.


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Enter the enchanting world of Belle, one of Disney's most beautiful Princesses, as her adventures continue in the Beast's unpredictable castle. This Special Edition full-length movie, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: BELLE'S MAGICAL WORLD, brims with delightful stories and songs, and all your favorite characters and voice cast from the acclaimed and beloved movie masterpiece. Share in the fun as Belle, Beast, Cogsworth, Lumiere, and charming new friends work side-by-side to bring new happiness to the castle and all its inhabitants. You'll discover how true friendship and cooperation can turn a gloomy castle into an enchanted palace fit for a Princess!

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Disney Princess Sing Along Songs, Vol. 2 - Enchanted Tea Party (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Here, as with most of Disney Sing Along Songs is a collection of beloved Disney songs with their memorable sequences in the animated classics.
In this the second volume of Disney Princess Sing Along Songs DVDs, the princess themed songs are-
"So This is Love" (Cinderella)
"Kiss the Girl" (The Little Mermaid)
"Forget About Love" (The Return Of Jafar)
"Something There" (Beauty & The Beast)
"Just Around the Riverbend" (Pocahontas)
"Someday My Prince Will Come" (Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs)
"I Wonder" (Sleeping Beauty)
"Honor to Us All" (Mulan)
"Love" (James & The Giant Peach)
"In a World of My Own" (Alice In Wonderland)
"For a Moment" (The Little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea)
Just like volume 1, most of the songs have previously been released on other Disney Sing Along Songs, but once again, it's good to have them all in the same place. For the record though, the new additions are "So This Is Love", "Someday My Prince Will Come", "I Wonder", "Love" and the excellent "For A Moment". As with volume 1, the newest highlight is a new song called
"Where Dreams Begin" once again performed by the Disney Princesses.
In addition, the dance alongs are here again as is the Karaoke option for those youngsters really looking to be a real singer.
The difference between this Sing Along Alongs and others though, is that this time around the little princess in the family is guest of honor for the show and a bonus tea party game.
Somehow I sense that this volume of Disney Princess Sing Along Songs will be just as popular as volume 1.

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Disney Princess Stories, Vol. 1 - A Gift From The Heart (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the first thing I've let my daughter watch that I actually felt guilty for letting her sit through - instead of being interested and active, she fell into this slackjawed stupor, and I can't say I blame her.
There are four stories involving Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, and Cinderella. Each uses a combination of repurposed animation and new art to try to muddle through a short story. Not to put too fine a point on it - it's for kids after all - but the stories are all confusing, and completely out of character for each character. This makes it difficult for kids to digest easily, and you have to spend time narrating why Jasmine did this, or what's happening with Belle, and you end up trying to help this whole disaster limp along to a quick end.
The art is terrible also, and the only reason this matters is that it's an official Disney product. All this would be excusable if it were in the 2.99 bin at the supermarket, but this is the lowest, most crass grab for consumer dollars by Disney that I've ever seen.
Don't fall for it - even Return of Jafar looks like a classic next to this. You're better off getting a storybook to read to your little princess than this piece of soulless garbage.

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Item Name: Disney Princess Stories, Vol. 1 - A Gift From The Heart; Studio:Walt Disney Video

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Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (Special Edition) (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've often said that Cinderella 2's biggest problem, when you get beyond the fact that it was clearly made purely for kids and is really just another form of princess "merchandise," is that it was falsely advertised to increase sales. Disney does that quite often with their direct-to-video releases, and it makes it difficult to distinguish the good ones from the bad before buying or renting. And, make no mistake, Disney DOES make some very good direct-to-video releases. Cinderella 3, for example, is an excellent film. Cinderella 2... not so much. It's the title that's the biggest problem for the consumer though. "Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True" implies some grand, feature-length sequel to the classic Disney film. In fact, that is nothing like what you actually get here. Again, for something like that, I recommend "Cinderella 3: A Twist In Time." Cinderella 2 would have been better titled "Mouse Mouse Tales" or "Tales From Cinderella's Castle." See, that's all it really is. It's three tales from the mice that were Cinderella's best friends since before she became a princess.
In truth, the stories really aren't that bad. Okay, the first one is kinda weak, and it's the one that is the most about Cindy herself, but the other two are pretty interesting. The stories are introduced by the mice and the Fairy Godmother as they work to make a gift for Cinderella, a book she can read to them about their first experiences after moving into the castle. Something I found a bit odd in these sequences was how these storybook-period characters had access to Crayolas and number-two pencils. The first tale is about Cinderella struggling to do things right in the castle in preparation for a ball and finally realizing she must do things "her" way. The Second story is about Jaq the mouse making a wish to be a human so that he can be more helpful to Cinderella. Of course, by the end of the story, he learns that he's better off being a mouse. In the third story, Cinderella plays matchmaker for her apparently not so bad stepsister, Anastasia. Anastasia has fallen in love with the village baker, and he with her. It's probably the best story, but in the sad tradition of Shrek and OTHER films, in teaching its moral it also teaches that unattractive people belong with unattractive people, and beautiful people with beautiful people. I'll jump for joy when one of these films gets the anti-superficiality statement right! Oh, and Lucifer the cat makes a deal with the mice to help him win the heart of Pom Pom, the palace feline. Naturally, that doesn't work out.
While the film is watchable, depending of course on how much you love animation and how much quality is necessary in said medium to hold your interest, it all feels like a long episode of an animated series aimed at a very young, female crowd. The songs are atrocious. They're not good and they don't fit! The voices don't do much to recall those in the original film, especially Cinderella's and the Fairy Godmother's. The mice are fine but speak too clearly in comparison to the original film. Cinderella is out of character at times (seems more like the more recent Disney princesses), and the film does nothing to help us get to know Prince Charming more. As for the animation, well, while the characters are recognizable, they are extremely flat and without style. It all basically looks like TV animation. Sometimes good TV animation, sometimes bad TV animation. Overall, it's a cheap Cinderella experience to recruit younger consumers and maybe provide a little enjoyment for those fans of the original that aren't too particular about quality or substance. "Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True" isn't without its entertainment value, especially for small girls or fans of Cindy's mice, and surely it's a must for the completist collector, but if you're looking for something really good to compliment the original, go for "Cinderella 3: A Twist In Time." It's not perfect, and the very first moments might make you worry, but if you give it time, you'll find it to be a wonderful experience. Cinderella 3 succeeds nearly everywhere that Cinderella 2 fails.
As for the extras on Cinderella 2, they're nothing to write home about. There's a simple game that basically lets you experience what it's like to be Cinderella. You have to clean up parts of the castle. It's actually kinda fun, but I can't imagine playing it more than once. There's a DVD-Rom activity called "Cinderella's Doll House Game," but I don't bother with DVD-Rom stuff. You also get a music video of one of the horrible songs set to clips from the film and a featurette on the film's awful music. Finally, there's a pretty lame Cinderella story that you can have read to you or read by yourself. Yeah, the extras are pretty awful on this DVD. Still, as I said, it's okay if you just have a Cinderella fanatic in your home that doesn't require everything to be feature film quality. If you ever had the desire for a Cinderella animated series, this might be welcome in your DVD collection. Myself, I am a Disney fanatic, and I love their gorgeous princesses, so owning this is simply a must, even if it is disappointing on many levels.

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Disney continues to "sequelize" its classic features. With smart foresight,the filmmakers choose to go with three snappy short films to comprise this 73-minutefeature with the Fairy Godmother granting wishes to various characters. In the openingshort, Cinderella must pursue life as queen. Several feathers are ruffled as she brings herdown-home ways to the castle (bring the commoners in and open those darn curtains). Inthe other tales, one of Cinderella's animal pals receives a chance to see the world quitedifferently, and finally, Anastasia, Cinderella's formerly evil stepsister, finds love with alittle help. As with the other sequels, the look of the film helps bridge the distance betweenthe original and the sequel (here over 50 years) and it comes together seamlessly. Little onesfrom ages 4 to 9 should be entertained while purists may be a bit aghast. "--DougThomas"

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