Belle's Magical World

Ah, Beauty and the Beast, the 1991 masterpiece of the Disney Renaissance that showed just how beautiful animation can be.

Belle’s Magical World was a direct-to-video midquel released on February 17^th, 1998. According to Disney canon, this DVD takes place after Christmas (which you can see in the aforementioned sequel) yet before the fight against Gaston in the original movie.

Everybody who’s known me for long knows that Beauty and the Beast is my absolute favorite Disney film. However, due to my media pack rat tendencies, I picked this DVD up on clearance because I had not yet seen the film, and also because even because of its supposed badness, I wanted to at least own the trifecta of the film I loved so much. Even after purchasing it, I only watched the film halfway before shutting it off out of embarrassment. And now I pick it up again to watch in its entirety to give this treacherous sequel/midquel/whatever the blasting it deserves.

Barbie Princess Charm School

a review


You can tell she’s a princess
She doesn’t need a crown
You can tell she’s a princess
She’ll turn the world around


These lines are from the movie’s opening song, “You Can Tell She’s a Princess.” Whether it’s suggesting that you can tell she is a princess because she doesn’t need a crown, or that her non-crown-requirement is a separate clause from the obviousness of her princessiness...I’m not sure. But in either case, she can turn the world around.