Ornament Review: The Clock Strikes Twelve! - 2015 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Cinderella looks great

Cons: Size, proportion, minimal light effect

The Bottom Line:

Iconic moment

But end result disappoints

Diehard fans only

Time Past Midnight Was Needed to Reevaluate This Ornament

Several Disney movies are celebrating big anniversaries this year, and Hallmark has provided ornaments for many of them.  To celebrate Cinderella’s 65th Anniversary, Hallmark released The Clock Strikes Twelve!  And, they decided to make it a magic cord ornament.  Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out as well as they hoped it out.

Of course, the most iconic part of the story of Cinderella is when she is running down the stairs of the castle to get away for the midnight deadline runs out.  And that’s the moment that Hallmark has captured in this ornament.  Cinderella is front and center on this ornament in her blue dress.  She is in the act of running down the stairs, and you can see she’s just left her shoe behind since it’s sitting on the step behind her (but not where she would have been running) and her bare foot is sticking out in front of her dress.  Behind her and the stairs is the clock tower of the castle showing midnight with the silhouette of the Prince standing in it.

On paper, it sounds great, right?  And on paper, it is great.  However, the execution doesn’t pull it off.  Cinderella is just too big and up front.  Heck, she’s taller than the tower.  She’s so big, she overwhelms the ornament.  And let’s not get started on having the Prince as a silhouette.  I mean, yes, he doesn’t even get a name in the movie, but still.  I think it would have been better to leave him off.

Like most of the Magic Cord ornaments, this one has a nice, big base, so you can set it out to display anywhere you desire.  If you want to hang it on your tree, you’ll find the loop is in Cinderella’s back, and you need a long hook to even be able to hang it from your tree.  It does tip forward a little, but the tip isn’t as bad as I remember it being.

This ornament includes light and sound, but to do that, it must be connected to one of Hallmark’s Magic Cords (sold separately).  There is a button to press to get the show to start, and when you do, you’ll hear a clip from the movie as the clock chimes.  The clip is a little repetitive as Cinderella is insisting to the Prince that she must go and saying “Goodbye,” but it does sound like my memories of the scene in the movie (we won’t discuss how long it has been since I’ve actually watched it).  The lights are a bit of a disappointment, however.  The ornament itself only has lights in the clock tower and the shoe, and the ornament doesn’t go much in leading the show with the other ornaments attached to your Magic Cord.

Cinderella looks great in this ornament, and the idea itself is fine.  I think they should have dropped the magic idea completely and made the ornament smaller with Cinderella more in scale to the background.  All the movie anniversary pieces Hallmark did this year have Magic in some way, but in this case, I think the ornament would have been better served without it.

Yes, I’m enough of a DisNerd that I was sucked into buying this ornament even though I wasn’t that impressed with the picture or the clip that Hallmark put on their website.  While it’s not quite as bad as my initial impression of it was, I’m still not sure it’s worth the price.  Unless you really love Cinderella, there’s no reason to consider getting The Clock Strikes Twelve!

Original Price: $29.95