Ornament Review: Sweeeeet Friendship - 2005 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Perfectly captures the three characters, hangs well

Cons: Crush's head doesn't move as advertised

The Bottom Line: 

Crush, Dory, Marlin

It's an ode to their friendship

But not quite perfect

Dude, This Ornament is Totally Sweeeeet!

In trying to back fill my Hallmark ornament collection, I spent time tracking down quite a few ornaments of my favorite Disney characters.  Sweeeeet Friendship featuring Dory, Marlin, and Crush from Finding Nemo was an obvious buy, and I really like it.

Basically, this ornament is Crush, the beach bum sounding turtle from the movie.  He's tan and a reddish brown.  On the right side of his back, we've got the fish Marlin and Dory.  Marlin is a clown fish, and Dory is some kind of fish that is a pretty blue color.  (I never have figured out what kind of fish she is).  They take up maybe a quarter of Crush's back, so obviously he is the main focus of this particular ornament.

The one unique part of the ornament is supposed to be that Crush's head moves.  If you press it gently, it's supposed to move back and forth and bob as if he's grooving to a beat.  At least on my ornament, the head is on too tight.  As a result, it takes a bit more than a touch to move it (but only a bit), and as soon as you stop pushing, it stops.  There's no bouncing motion.  It's a cool feature I wish actually worked.  Since I bought the ornament used, I don't know if I just have a defective ornament or if all of them worked this way.

The base of this ornament is Crush's fins, so there is no way to set this ornament down without Crush leaning forward.  The hook you are supposed to use to hang the ornament on your tree is located at the top of the hump in Crush's back.  The balance on the ornament is perfect, so when you hang it on your tree, you'll be happy with how it looks.

I must admit the issue with Crush's head does disappoint me some.  I wish I knew if it worked at all and I just had a defective one or if all of them were like mine.  But setting that aside, I love how it looks.  It's a fun combination of characters, and since I loved all of them in the movie, I am happy to have them for my tree.  After all, if it were a solid pose, it would be perfect.

While it would be nice if the head bobbed as advertised, I'm still happy with Sweeeeet Friendship.  The characters look like they do in the movie, and the ornament hangs well.

Original Price: $14.95