Monday, July 14, 2014

Hallmark And Disney Have A Real Winner With The 2014 All Eyes On Belle Ornament!


The Good: Wonderful sculpt, Great balance, Inexpensive, Generally good coloring
The Bad: Obvious seams
The Basics: Disney’s Beauty And The Beast ornament for 2014 "All Eyes On Belle" is one of the best investments from Hallmark this year!


After last year’s somewhat disastrous Disney ornament from Beauty And The Beast, 2014’s Preview Ornament Weekend found a sharp change from that downward trend from Hallmark. Hallmark tends to do good work, so the 2013 Beautiful Belle ornament was a bit of an anomaly, in terms of quality. Outside being made of noticeably cheaper materials, Hallmark clearly fixed all its problems for fans of Beauty And The Beast with its new All Eyes On Belle ornament. Despite being a more obscure costume choice for Belle, the All Eyes On Belle ornament is one of the real winners – for Disney ornaments or any Hallmark Keepsake ornaments! – this year.

For those familiar with Beauty And The Beast (reviewed here!), the All Eyes On Belle ornament might baffle. The costume featured on the ornament was not present in the primary film, but one of the sequels. In the Christmas special, Belle attends a ball, wearing a bright red coat over her traditional gold gown. It is Belle in her ball gown with the jacket still on that is the subject of the 2014 All Eyes On Belle ornament.

Basics

The "All Eyes On Belle" ornament recreates Belle as she appeared in the Beauty And The Beast sequel prior to the ball scene. She is wearing a tiara, the red and white coat with her shoulders mostly exposed and her long brown hair down. The ornament, released in 2014, is a generally accurate sculpt of Belle that is augmented by remarkably few surface details. The All Eyes On Belle ornament lacks detailing on the bottom of the dress, pretty much everything below the coat’s white fringe.

Measuring four inches tall, three and one-eighth inches wide and two and three-quarters inches deep, the "All Eyes On Belle" ornament is an average-sized Disney character ornament. As well, it is one of the more affordable ones at only $14.95, though it feels a little cheap because it is so light. In fact, the lightness of the plastic causes the ornament to separate at a number of the seams. This ornament looks like it could snap in half at the waist. The bottom of the ornament also has two types of plastic – white and yellow – that do not quite mesh.

The Hallmark "All Eyes On Belle" ornament is made of a weaker plastic than many of the other Hallmark ornaments and has Belle in a standing position, petticoats peeking out from beneath the dress as she raises them on the left side. The ornament is impressive for the sculpted details on the top. The facial sculpt is impressive and the brocade work on the jacket looks perfect! The colored details are good . . . except for the face and tiara, where the detailing is exceptional! All Eyes On Belle’s dress is not at all augmented by coloring details. But in the face, there is a realistic depth and shading to the skin and eyes that is uncommonly good. Belle looks like she has a slight blush to her cheeks and her lips and eyes look have a good level of expressiveness. The tiara is even colored with additional glitter that makes it look jewel-encrusted!

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "All Eyes On Belle" could have a sound effect, but it does not. Instead, this is a less-expensive option that is just the character.

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "All Eyes On Belle" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Disney movie Christmas Tree, the "All Eyes On Belle" ornament seems like a luxury, but given how shaky some of the other Disney ornaments have been, this becomes well worth it! The ornament has the standard brass hook loop embedded into the top center of Belle’s head, behind the tiara. Because the hook is positioned behind the tiara, it is pretty well hidden! From that position, All Eyes On Belle hangs perfectly level with the bottom of the dress seeming perfectly perpendicular to the ground.

Collectibility

Hallmark Keepsake began delving into the collectibles market in 1991 with Star Trek when it introduced the exceptionally limited edition original U.S.S. Enterprise ornament (click here for that review!). Within a few years, every major franchise from Star Wars to A Nightmare Before Christmas to Indiana Jones started making Hallmark ornaments. "All Eyes On Belle" is one of several Beauty And The Beast ornaments (though the only one from this year) and one of several Disney ornaments on the market for 2014. Honestly, the big Disney ornaments this year (regardless of how they might be produced ultimately) are going to be the Olaf and Princess Elsa ornaments from Frozen that will be released in October and November, respectively. The All Eyes On Belle ornament might be the best seller for Disney ornaments released during Ornament Preview Weekend; it was the only one sold-out of any of the ten Hallmark stores I went to this past weekend. That seems to imply that it will be the big Disney investment ornament (outside the Frozen ones). If you can find it, pick it up!

Overview

Fans of Beauty And The Beast, Disney, Belle, and Hallmark ornaments are likely to be impressed by the All Eyes On Belle ornament! Despite the production issues with the obvious seams and slight underdetailing on half the ornament, the All Eyes On Belle ornament has all of the elements to be a real winner and it is one of the gems of my wife’s Disney Hallmark ornament collection now!

For other Disney-themed Hallmark ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
2013 Under The Sea The Little Mermaid
2013 The Nightmare Before Christmas Jack’s Sleigh O’Scares
2013 Tiana's Party Dress The Princess And The Frog ornament
2013 Beautiful Belle Beauty And The Beast
2013 Fierce With A Frying Pan Tangled ornament
2013 Ariel's Big Dream The Little Mermaid ornament
2013 Merida The Archer Brave ornament
2012 The Circle Of Life The Lion King ornament
2012 Jack Sneaks A Peek The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament
2012 Monsters, Inc. ornament
2012 Merida Brave ornament
2012 It's All About The Hair Tangled ornament
2011 Rapunzel Tangled ornament
2011 CLU’s Light Cycle from Tron: Legacy ornament
2011 Up ornament
2011 A Snowy Surprise The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament
2011 Captain Jack Sparrow Pirates Of The Caribbean ornament
2010 Tron: Legacy Light Cycle ornament
2009 Welcome To Christmastown The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament

8/10

For other ornament reviews, please visit my Ornament Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

No comments:

Post a Comment