Review: "Part of Your World" Snowglobe

When The Little Mermaid came out in 1989, I was 2. Yep, I'm old. Anyway, the movie pretty much completely dominated my entire childhood and even though now I hesitate to call it my favorite Disney movie, I do have an attachment and appreciation to it (did you know that it was the last cel animated Disney film?) that I don't have to any other movie.

This past January (during my summer birthday shopping) I ran across a Little Mermaid snowglobe on Disneyshopping.com that I absolutely had to get for my best friend. And since I'm not a fool, I bought one for myself, too. Thus marking the start of my very own snowglobe collection. Needless to say, my bank account has not been happy with me since.

Ariel is depicted inside of her grotto, with Flounder and Sebastian looking on just as they had in the movie. Above the "surface" Scuttle is preoccupied with a telescope (I wonder what he calls them...). There is an automatic blower inside of the dome (inside are tiny bits of sparkly and white plastic "confetti"), since it's too big and too heavy to manually shake, and when wound plays "Part of Your World."

In all of the Little Mermaid snowglobes that I've seen in the past, Ariel is usually attached to the base outside of the globe (or presented in her human form if inside of it) because of her fins. For this snowglobe, Ariel is suspended inside of the sphere by relatively thin metal bar connecting the wall of the grotto to her back. The metal is completely invisible if you're looking at Ariel head-on. It can be seen if you're viewing Ariel from the side, but it isn't very obstructive. Honestly, I hadn't noticed the metal at all for the first 10 minutes of looking at the snowglobe (or maybe I was just slow to notice it).

Ariel's sculpt also coincides with the underwater effect. Her hair is "wafting" as everyone's hair usually does underwater. And her fins are curled back, making them look much more delicate as opposed to the generic fin "pose" that makes them look rather stiff. With these details Ariel is extremely faithful to how she is animated in the film, and is what merited itself a purchase for myself.

Speaking of details, the diorama portion of the snowglobe is littered with little details from the film, which is a pleasant surprise. On top of Ariel's grotto is Scuttle and his little "island of stuff." I even double checked, and his crows nest chair is exactly how it is in the film. Scuttle is even hanging off of the edge and looking through his telescope (I wonder what he calls them...) the same way as he does in the movie.

Towards the base portion of the snowglobe, underneath the dome of water, is Sebastian and Flounder. On the left, Sebastian is looking at Ariel with a disapproving expression. Near him is also the pair of glasses that Sebastian looks through, and the pitcher that he backs himself into, during the film's "Part of Your World" sequence. In the photo you can also see the painting that Ariel references in the song ("What's a fire and why does it, what's the word, burn?").

On the right side Flounder is watching Ariel happily. He is also attached to they base by a spring, so he wobbles back and forth when touched. This was probably done in accordance to the underwater effect. At a small distance (and depending on the angle) Flounder looks as though he is not attached to the base at all, but suspended in mid-"air" just like Ariel.

Just a bit behind Flounder are the wind-up crank and the blower switch. There are also more details hidden towards the side and back of the snowglobe. On the right side of the switch is the seahorse who most people remember from the beginning of the movie (who announced the introductions during King Triton's "celebration"). Unfortunately he's discolored; in the film he's orange with (if I remember correctly) a turquoise collar thing (sorry, I don't know the proper name for it...).

If you move from the seahorse (does he even have a name?), there is a school of fish that travel from one side of the [back of the] diorama to the other. The giant mast (or whatever part of a ship that is) sticks up all the way to the top and right into Scuttle's crow's nest hangout. Both of these bring the eye across the entire perimeter and also direct the eye from the "ocean" portion of the diorama to the "surface" portion. It brings continuity to all of different elements and little details (there are more scattered objects all around the resin portion and inside of the dome, truly depicting Ariel's collection of "human stuff") of the snowglobe and interweaves them together.

On a side note, the snowglobe also had the option to come with a limited edition pin of Ariel showing a book to Flounder (from "Part of Your World"). Since I casually collect pins I decided to get it, but it really isn't worth it because pretty much every aspect of Ariel (particularly her face) looks extremely distorted. It would probably only remotely interest pin collectors because of it's edition size of 500. For fans of The Little Mermaid, pretty much every other pin available looks better than this one (See? It didn't even merit a photo).

As for the technical specs, the size of the snowglobe is approximately 10" tall and 8.5" wide and deep. It runs on 2 AA batteries (for the blower), which are included. And in case you're interested, the retail price is $99.95 USD (although I bought it on sale for approximately $75).

Although currently unavailable from Disneyshopping.com, if you happen to run across this snowglobe on eBay or any other website and are on the fence about buying it or not, buy it. This is hands down one of, if not the, best Little Mermaid snowglobe I have ever come across. The only real flaw that I've noticed is the coloring of the seahorse, but even so, he's located on the back so you can't see him when the snowglobe is on display. The details and homages to the film are so impressive that it long overcasts whatever other flaws you may possibly find.

Just be sure to turn on the blower occasionally so the confetti doesn't stick!