Ornament Review: The Bare Necessities - 2014 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Perfectly captures a great movie moment with looks and song

Cons: None

The Bottom Line:

Classic Disney scene

Captured for your Christmas tree

With song included

Fans of The Jungle Book Will Consider This Ornament a Bare Necessity

Hallmark has quite an unofficial series of Disney song ornaments going, and as a fan of Disney music, I love it.  I’ll be even happier if one of the three (yes, three) ornaments in this unofficial series released this year becomes a trend.  The Bare Necessities is from The Jungle Book, not a movie that Hallmark regularly makes ornaments from, so I was thrilled when I learned about it.  I love this scene in the movie, and as a result, I love this ornament.

The ornament features Baloo and bear and Mowgli the man cub as they float down a river.  Baloo is on his back, and Mowgli is lying on top of him.  They are both smiling.  And when I said that earlier about floating down a river, I meant it.  There is a light blue plastic oval surrounding them with little white squiggles representing the water flow and even a pink flower floating by.

As I said, this is one of my favorite scenes in the movie, and I love this ornament as a result.  Honestly, the water really makes it.  I’d like it without that touch, but it’s that added detail that really makes this ornament special and jump out at me as a must buy as soon as I saw it.

Of course, having the song certainly helps.  The ornament requires two button batteries that pop into Baloo’s back on the underside of the ornament.  When they are installed, you can press the button on Baloo’s right leg and hear about 25 seconds of “The Bare Necessities” from the movie.  It’s at the end of the song, so both Baloo and Mowgli are singing at this point, and its just a fun little clip sure to make you smile.

Yes, I did say that the batteries go in Baloo’s back.  In another touch that is so wonderful, Baloo’s back actually sticks down below the light blue water line.  That really helps with the illusion that he is floating in water.  On the other hand, it also makes the ornament a little harder to display year round.  It doesn’t really have a flat enough base to set out on a desk or shelf.  It’s a trade off, but they absolutely made the right decision in this case.

Which means it’s best to hang this ornament, and you’ll find the loop to do so in Mowgli’s back.  Slip a hook through there, and you’ll be delighted to find that Baloo and Mowgli float, I mean hang, level.  After all, it would be a shame if the water spilled all over the place when you hung it, right?

This really is the perfect ornament to capture this scene in the movie.  As I already said, I hope that The Bare Necessities is an indication of things to come as Hallmark creates more ornaments from Disney songs.

Original Price: $17.95