Ornament Review: Animal - The Muppet Show - 2010 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Animal!  Fun sound clip.  Animal!

Cons: Tilts noticeably forward

The Bottom Line: 

More Muppet Show fun

It's Animal's drum solo

For your Christmas tree

This Year, Animal Gets a Drum Solo for Christmas

My love of The Muppet Show seems to have corresponded with a recent line of Muppet themed ornaments at Hallmark.  While it's not an official series of any kind, 2010 represents the third year they've released a Muppet character as an ornament.  This year's character is Animal.  I'm still warming up to this character, but I love this ornament.

If you aren't familiar with The Muppet Show, what's wrong with you?  Fix that immediately!

Sorry about that.  I don't know what came over me.  I meant to say, if you aren't familiar with The Muppet Show, Animal is the drummer in the band.  He's got a head of bright red hair, and communicates mainly in grunts.  About the only thing he clearly says is "Animal!"  They have to keep him chained to his drums so he doesn't attack the guest stars.

This ornament features Animal at his drums.  He's sitting on a stole with drum sticks in both hands and his left foot on the cymbals.  There's a five piece drum set in front of him, and the big drum facing the front of the drum has a set of smiling teeth.  (The band is called Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, after all.)  All of this is sitting on a slightly raised silver platform.  And the very front actually does have reflecting tiles, which gives the ornament an added touch.  And, yes, they do have the collar around his neck and the chain hanging down.  The chain doesn't actually attach to anything, but looks just find if you don't look too closely at it.

This is a Magic ornament, which in this case means it plays sound.  In the bottom of the base, you'll find a compartment that takes three button batteries.  When those are installed, you can press the button in front to hear a thirty second solo from Animal.  Unlike the ornaments released in the last couple of years, this only has the one sound clip.  However, you can hear a plenty of Animal's grunts and yelling as he plays, so it's fun just like it is.

I mentioned the platform that Animal is sitting on.  It gives him a nice base, so you could display him year round and he'd sit perfectly flat.  However, that's not the case if you decide to hang him.  There's a ring to put a hook through on the top of Animal's head, and when you do that, you'll find that the ornament actually leans forward a good inch or so.   Obviously, the drums at the front of the ornament are heavier than Animal himself in the back.  If you hang it high in the tree, it isn't as noticeable.  And you might also be able to nestle him in branches that will help him hang straight.

Then again, this is Animal.  He'd never do anything the conventional way.

While the tilt of the ornament is disappointing, I still really do like this ornament.  Even if Animal doesn't continue to grow on me the more I watch the show, I'm glad to have him on my Christmas tree.

Original Price: $18.95