Review: The Making of Beauty and the Beast

Hey guys!  Before I get into today's review, I just wanted to thank you all for your patience and willingness to keep up with the blog.  Never thought I'd get over 9600 views and 13 followers on this blog! You guys are all amazing, and I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. 
This review's for "The Making of Beauty and the Beast".  I apologize ahead of time, Blogger's being a jerk and uploading photos sideways.  Again.  *facepalm* But anyway. 

The book, of course, is much like the "Art of" books, like Brave, Tangled, and Frozen's, only a little shorter.  There's a neat little section in the margin of one page, shown above, that describes Belle's "warpaint", or where blush, shading, etc. would be placed. 

The book also includes plenty of concept art, like the amazing concept of Beast shown here.  I apologize for the glare, the pages are shiny and..yeah. 

The side margins on the book also include a lot of information about some of the artists that worked on the movie.  The margin above is about Glen Keane, of course.  (Oh boy, these sideways pictures are really getting on my nerves..I'm so sorry guys!)

It also has a lot of information about the architecture in the film, especially about the castle.  There's actually a bit of a floorplan shown!  It's very neat. 

It has a table of contents, which shows how the book is divided into a prologue and two parts: "From Legend to Film" and "The Elements of Animation." 

In the back of the book, a glossary of animation terms is printed.  It'd helpful for if you don't quite understand what some term is! 

And finally, here's just a fun little picture of Belle with her "Making Of" book.  I couldn't resist, because...she's a girl with her nose stuck in a book, reading about the girl with her nose stuck in a book.

Overall, I'd give the book 4.5 / 5 stars.  I'd like to see a bit of a thicker book, for the price, but it's still very informative and I really enjoyed it.  Any fan of Beauty and the Beast would likely enjoy it!   

2014 Rapunzel Disney Store Doll Review

Hey everyone!  Here's the 2014 Rapunzel Disney Doll review I've been promising.  I'd really just like to take a couple of minutes to thank all fourteen of my wonderful followers, and even those who don't follow my blog, but still read posts - you guys are AMAZING, and thank you so much for following me and for sticking with me.  I know I've been terrible for posting lately, so thank you so much. 
Onto the post!
This, as afore-posted, is the front of their boxes. 

And this is the back of Rapunzel's box. 

When I got her out of the box (which was fairly easy.  There were two of those pesky plastic tag things in her dress that left holes, though, which I wasn't exactly pleased about.) 
Under her skirt is an INSANE amount of tissue paper, and it's even wrapped around her legs!  Not sure why she was so wrapped up with the tissue paper this year, seeing as her dress, though glittery, does not shed.  (Which is AMAZING.) 

Here's the beauty herself! 

Front of her dress.  This is the most accurate dress they've made since the original 2010 release, which I was excited about. 

This is blurry, which I didn't notice until just now...sorry!  This kinda shows how full her skirt is, and that the pattern goes the whole way around her skirt.

At first, I was pretty hesitant to buy her -- I mean, to me, she looked a lot like the 2013 release, and I didn't want a duplicate, but on the other hand, I didn't want to break my pattern (I have the 2010, 2011, Wedding 2012, 2013, and now 2014...Only missing a few).  I'm glad I got her, though!  When I first saw her in the box, I thought I probably wouldn't like her, because her eyes are HUGE.  Slightly bigger than the 2013 release's.  Her lips are also a vibrant pink, which I wasn't a fan of.  Buuuut she grew on me, and I love those big eyes!  She's similar to 2013 Rapunzel, but different at the same time. 
Her hair is so silky soft, and a beautiful color.  It goes just barely to her ankles, but it's a lot thinner this year than in previous years.  I'm not meaning that the rooting is poor or patchy or anything, that's fine -- she just has less dense hair.  I don't know how to explain it...
Anyway, like my 2014 Ariel, her hips were really stiff.  Luckily, I was able to work them until they were fine.  And there were no knees harmed in the making of this post.  :D

She has freckles, too! They're bolder once more, but I love 'em anyway.  Also:  her eyes look bluish in this picture, but they're deep emerald greenish in real life.

The gel holding her hair up in her trademark "swoop", as Glen Keane calls it, was almost nonexistent, (which was odd - I got one doll that was gelled wayy too much, and one that wasn't gelled enough!)  so I did the same thing I did with Ariel:  I spritzed her with the fabric softener and water solution and got the gel out.  Her hair falls like this now, and if you position it a certain way, she looks like she has a completely different personality - she goes from bubbly and perky to shy and quiet.  I like it, actually!  It gives her a different air.  

Overall, I give her a 5/5.  While she's not 101% movie accurate (eyes are too dark, lips and freckles too bold), she's still beautiful and nicely made. She's fun to photograph as well!  I need to make a comparison post for her and her predecessor, and I feel a photoshoot coming on.  Anyway, I'd definitely recommend her! 
Anyone planning on getting her?  Anyone have her already? 

2014 Ariel Disney Store Doll Review

Hey, guys!
So today, I've got the 2014 Ariel Disney Doll review up, finally.  Yikes...thanks for waiting patiently! 

So this is the front of the Ariel box (and Rapunzel's). 

My Ariel's box was dented in pretty badly, but luckily nothing happened to her nose or face!

Back of the box.

And the beautiful lady herself!  She's relatively easy to get out of the packaging, which was epic. 

The only thing I didn't like was how gelled her hair was.  It was INSANE.  I could hardly even move it, and it was starting to get really messy by the time I got her into a couple of poses.  Luckily, I spritzed her with some fabric softener/water solution and rubbed it gently through the crusty parts of her hair, and she ended up with almost no gel, but her hair still stays in place.  Her hair was incredibly soft once I got all the nasties out :P 

Her beautiful face - she's very accurate to the movie version of Ariel, in my opinion. 

Her tail is glittery, but it's made out of some fabric that doesn't shed glitter.  It's amazing.  The top and the fins are made out of some really thin fabric - almost puts me in the mind of tulle, but it isn't.  Her tail has elastic at the top, so it's okay to get off -- kinda hard, but doable. 

Her top has clear, rubbery elastic straps, and has a bow-like (or should I say shell?) attachment sewn to the center.  Behind that is just a plain bra, basically.  It has Velcro in the back.  I could see how this would be very, very easily broken, just because of those pesky straps.  I remember breaking many, many of those as a child - anyone else have that problem, or was it just me? 

She has the regular, click-knees, which...

Broke.  Her hips were very, very stiff, but I flexed them a coupla times and they were fine.  When I tried to bend her knees, her one leg broke.  See that second bump that shouldn't be there? That's what happens when they break.  Plus, you can bend them wayyy further than you should be able to.  [And no, I'm not an old wrinkly person.  My hands are just in bad shape because I never use lotion...]

This is her other, unbroken knee, just for comparison. 

She's really fun to take pictures of!

Overall, I would give her 4.5/5 stars.  She's beautiful, and her articulation is the same as the other dolls with similar articulation (2010-11, 2013-14 Rapunzels, Belle, etc.)  She's movie accurate and just very fun.  I docked half of a point, however, for the crummy gel, weak knee joint, and her really stiff hips (though they loosened up a bit with some work.)  It might just be my doll, though.  Otherwise, I would definitely recommend her!  She's my first Ariel, so I can't really compare her to other versions, though.  Anyone planning on getting her?  Does anyone have her already? 

2011 Belle & Mattel Beast/Adam doll review

Hey, guys!  I'm so sorry, I completely forgot about the Belle and Beast review until now -- so without further ado, here it is. 

This is a Mattel Beast/Adam doll.  I'm not sure what year or anything, but he comes with a removable plastic Beast head and jacket. 

I love the detailing on his shirt!

To show you how different his joints are, I pulled out the JC Penney's Hans and Disney Store 2013 Flynn dolls for comparisons. 
His elbow joints can go straight forward like Flynn and Hans', but they can also swivel in towards him, which is pretty awesome. 

May I just say?  Ow.  This is as far as his arm will bend the wrong direction. 

His legs can't split at all, so there will be no horseback riding in his future.

This is how he sits...

It's bad when he sits in a more ladylike manner than the 2013 Disney Store Anna can.

Going back to his costume...his fabric boots are not connected to his blue pants, which is superb.  I don't know how many Ken dolls have their boots sewn onto their pants, and I don't know about anyone else, but when I was little, once those things were off, I could never get them back on.  Soo I was really happy to see that the boots weren't sewn to his pants -- makes life easier for little ones as well as the parents!

His shirt is also not attached to his pants, and has Velcro in the back.

Now for this horrendous thing.
The head and paws are made out of plastic and attached to the jacket/suit/whatever-you-wanna-call-it.  I kind of wish that it wasn't, because then you could use the jacket without the Beast attachment, but I can also understand why it needed to be made that way. 

Putting this sucker on is no easy task, and I could see little ones easily getting frustrated.  First, you gotta squeeze him into the head, and not mash HIS head in the process.  His head is made out of really, really soft, squishy plastic, so it mashes easily. 

Once you have that on and the arms wormed into the sleeves, there are these two little plastic pegs sewn into the inside of the jacket: one on either side.  These will have to be wedged into the holes on the Beast attachment's shoulders, and those things are incredibly challenging, both to get them in and then back out! 

Once he's all put together, Beast looks like this: 

Buuuut it makes him top heavy.  Very, very top heavy.  So if you have quick reflexes and a quicker camera, you can get shots like this

Or this. 
It's quite amusing, actually!  :P

Moving on......

I now interrupt this review with a random Chip. 
This came with the lot as well.  I don't know where he's from, but he's cute!  :P

And now we have Belle.  She is a 2011 Disney Store Belle, but her dress is either from the Wardrobe set or from the 2010 Disney Store Belle--I'm not entirely sure which. 

At first, I was a little concerned about buying the 2011 Belle doll, because her face looks worried.  I didn't think I would really like her face, but she's actually very, very pretty and a lot of fun to photograph! 

Her hair is VERY long, and definitely not realistic to the movie, but it's nice.  It tends to get frizzy at the bottom, but it's nothing a good fabric softener spritz and a little bit of brushing won't fix!

Back of her dress

Front of her dress

And she came with these cute little shoes, but I don't know what or who they're from, if the 2011 Belle doesn't normally come with these style shoes.

As far as her body and articulation, it's just the same as the 2011 or 2010 Rapunzel model - Rubber legs, articulation at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.  Belle's head can bend to the side a little more than the 2010 or 2011 Rapunzel, though, which is interesting.

She's very photogenic, but I think Chip's a wee bit too big for her.

Annnd that's about it!
I would give Belle a 5 out of 5, despite the inaccurate hair, and would definitely recommend her!
I would give Beast/Adam a 4/5, docking a point because of the tricky Beast attachment and the top heaviness - though the top heaviness is completely understandable.  

Do any of you have a Beast or Belle doll?  If so, what year/brand, and what do you think of them?  Or are you planning on starting a Beauty and the Beast collection sometime? 

Coming up will be a 2014 Rapunzel and 2014 Ariel review, and various movie/book reviews.