Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Captures a specific sketch well
Cons: Balance uneven,
personally, not too crazy about Swedish Chef
The Bottom Line:
Tilting ornament
Captures a specific scene
With the Swedish Chef
Bork! Bork! Bork!
I realize I'm in the minority, but I've never quite scene
the appeal of The Swedish Chef. This
character from The Muppet Show comes out and shows us how to cook
something. However, he always creates a
mess (which I do find funny), and he talks with an indecipherable fake Swedish
accent. I can never understand a word he
is saying.
Anyway, that didn't stop me from getting the 2009 Hallmark
ornament based on the character. (Stupid
collector mentality.) Unlike the other
Muppets ornaments that Hallmark has done, this one is based on a very specific
scene from season two. In that scene,
the Swedish Chef is trying to show us how to cook a lobster. Just as he gets the live lobster in the pot
of hot water, some lobster bandidos come in, hold the chef up, and help their
friend escape from the pot.
I'm a little surprised that they got this specific with
their ornament since the others they've done are generic enough that you can
enjoy them no matter how many or few episodes of the show you've seen. Even though I've seen season two, I don't
know specifically which episode this was in, and I don't even remember having
seen it. I had to look the video up on
line to refresh my memory. Having said
that, this is a better than usual Swedish Chef sketch since it involves a big
surprise and a few other characters.
The ornament itself features the Chef standing behind a
counter on a tiled floor. There's a
lobster in the pot, and two of the three bandidos who show up in the sketch are
on the counter holding two guns each on him.
It's a very red and white ornament with brown on the cabinets.
The floor that the Chef is standing on also provides a flat
base, so if you want to leave this ornament out year round, it will rest on any
surface.
However, if you want to display the ornament on your
Christmas tree, you'll find a hook on the top of the Chef's hat. Unfortunately, this ornament tips pretty far
to the front right corner. If you want
it hanging straight, you'll have to position it such that a lower branch will
hold it level.
Like the other recent Muppet ornaments, this is a Magic
ornament, meaning in this case that it has clips from the sketch. There are three clips. The first is the Chef singing as the sketch
opens, which is a universal moment from all of his sketches. The second clip is from the bandidos. Finally, we get the last few moments of the
sketch as the bandidos leave and the Chef tries to comprehend what just
happened. That's the best one out of the
lot. These three rotate through, so if
you press the button on the side of the cabinet three times, you'll hear all of
them. There's a compartment in the base
of the ornament that holds the 3 button type batteries the ornament needs to
run.
Original Price: $16.50
This was a great review. I see the ornament for sale on eBay. No one ever gives a description of what the ornament is like and what the Swedish chef says. This was a wonderful explanation. Thank you so much.
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