Disney Store Classic Belle 2015 Doll Review

 I decided it would be best to give each of my four new Disney Store dolls their own review post to keep things as simple as possible. Today, we'll take a look at Belle. The Beast will be next, then Rapunzel, then Eugene. :) My goal is to publish all four posts by the end of next week. So we'll be all Disneyed out by then. (If there is such a thing.) ;)

Also, since I have four posts to do this year instead of two, I probably won't be as wordy as I usually am on these yearly comparisons. I've done these for so long, you guys know just about as much as I do by now anyway. ;) I still took lots of comparison pictures for you, though, so don't worry.

Here's beautiful Belle in her box. :)

Box views and details:

Belle out of the outer shell.

Now I just have to tackle the thread and twist ties. ;)

Like many of the previous dolls, Belle's hands are held in place with plastic and rubber bands. I didn't get a picture of it, but she also has those annoying plastic ties in her head again. :(

She is held in place by a twist tie at the waist.

Like most DS dolls, her skirt has paper in it to make it look nice and poofy in the box.

And here she is out of the box. :)

I love her beautiful face! Like I said before, I'm so excited that she doesn't have angry or snarky eyebrows this time around. :) 

Belle's bodice...

...and skirt.

I love the gathered material at the top...

...and the beautiful glittery rose accents. 

Like the most recent Belle dolls, 2015 Belle has yellow flats held on by rubber bands. I didn't take any other pictures of her legs, but they are the "click-knee" variety, not the hard plastic with knee and ankle articulation.

Belle from the back.

She has Velcro closure at the bodice.

It always makes me happy when the pattern of the skirt continues all the way around. :)

Belle's hair is a pretty good length, but it looks a little funny from behind. 

The little short part in the middle is the leftover bit from the bun.

It looks a little better when the two big sausage curls are pulled together.

I love the hairline on this year's doll! It's much closer to Belle's movie style than any of the other Disney Store dolls from 2010 on.

And her face! Not only is it happy-looking and a nice representation of Belle, but it's so beautifully painted. 

I mean, check out the eye detail! Great stuff here. :)

Per a reader's request, here are some screen shots of Belle to compare:

(Images found on disneyscreencaps.com.)

The only major disappointment with my particular doll is that she has a defective wrist joint. When I try to move it up and down, it only goes to the side like this. And as you can see from the picture, there is a good-sized crack in the ball joint. 

I've decided not to exchange her since she will spend most of her time on display in my curio and not be played with. However, I know from past experience that the Disney Store is really excellent about returns, so I'm sure an issue like this would be no problem if I chose to exchange her.

So as is my tradition, let's take a look at the Belle dolls from the past few years and compare them with the newest edition. :)

Here's the complete lineup.

Now for a closer look at their faces. Since I did a lot of explanation on the faces in last year's post, I'm pretty much going to let the pictures speak for themselves this time around. (I'll link to last year's post at the end of this one for anyone who's interested.)

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014 

2015 

Here's a closer look at each of the dresses through the years:

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Here they are from the back. I always find it interesting seeing the differences in hair length and style.

And here's a closer look at each of the hairstyles from the back, year by year:  

2010 

2011 

2012

2013

2014 

2015

I also love to see each of the dolls right next to the newest one each year, so I thought I'd share some pictures of each version next to each other. 

2010 and 2015

My two favorite Disney Store Classic Belle dolls...so far. ;)

2011 and 2015

This Belle has a sweet face, but the "year of tulle" was definitely not my favorite year for dresses. ;) To me, though, these two have faces that look the most like the movie character.

2012 and 2015

I still think that the 2012 dress is my favorite. I like 2012 Belle's hair, too. But I don't care for her eyebrows or her articulated legs.

2013 and 2015

Poor 2013 Belle has looked played-with since I took her out of her box, with her flyaway hair and crooked bodice embellishment. I do like all of the pretty rose designs on her skirt, though. :)

2014 and 2015

I didn't realize until I lined everyone up that this year's Belle has almost the exact same dress as last year's. The only differences are that the top embellishment on 2015's is not sheer material and she has little jewels added to the roses on her skirt. It makes me wonder how many of the other princess dolls have almost identical dresses to last year's versions. To me, 2014 Belle looks like she could be 2015 Belle's sophisticated older sister. 2015 Belle looks more young and innocent with her big eyes and softer eyebrows. 

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I'm very pleased with my latest addition to the Belle lineup. But before I go into my official thoughts, I thought I'd give you a little preview of some of the other dolls to come.

For one thing, I have to keep my tradition of taking pics of the newest Belle and Rapunzel together. Because in this house, Belles and Rapunzels tend to be besties. Just ask my first 2010 Belle. ;)

2015 Rapunzel and Belle

I had a difficult time getting both dolls to look in the same place. For many of the Belle and Rapunzel releases, they've both had a sideways glance, so I could make them look at each other. Now Rapunzel is looking straight ahead and Belle is looking over and up. It makes photo shoots with these two a little challenging. ;)

And, of course, we have to see some shots of Belle with her Beast. ;) 

I have some mixed thoughts on this newest Beast doll. It's super hard not to just go into them now...which is why I decided to do his review next. ;) Stay tuned for more info!

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So let's get back to this year's Belle. It's time to share my thoughts on this latest edition.

Pleasing Qualities: 5 out of 5

   I'm thrilled with this newest Belle doll. I'm so happy they gave her a more pleasant expression and a more accurate hairline. I love the extra detail they put into the face paint this year and her lovely complexion. Her dress, although not necessarily the most accurate one ever, definitely gives the idea of the original dress and is lovely to look at. I'd love to see them try to create gloves for Belle's gold dress again. I'd also love to see them release her in some of her different dresses sometime, like they did with Tiana this year. Overall, though, I'm very happy with her.

Posability: 4.5 out of 5

   The posability is the same on this doll as it has been for most of the previous years' releases. I love their extra posable arms and prefer the click knees since I don't care for the Disney Store's articulated legs. I'm docking half a point for my particular Belle doll because of her faulty joint. Without any issues, she would have a perfect score.  

Playability: 4.5 out of 5

   Overall, this gal would be great for playtime. I docked half a point because the curly-haired dolls from the Disney Store tend to have pretty messy hair after they've been played with for a while. The good news is, this Belle doesn't have a bunch of crunchy product in her hair like some have had in the past, so she has that going for her. 

   Oh, and like many of the past dolls, if you don't like glitter, you'll want to find this doll a new outfit. I had glitter all over me after taking pics of her and Rapunzel. ;)

Price: 5 out of 5

   The "2 or more for $10" promotion is a great deal, especially for detailed dolls from beloved movies. Since I can't afford the super expensive LE dolls from the Disney Store, I'm thankful that there are less-expensive alternatives for my collection. ;) I would prefer to spend $10 instead of the regular price of $16.95, but for dolls I really wanted, I would be willing to pay the full price. I would pay full price for this year's Belle and this year's Eugene, definitely. More on the other dolls later, though. ;)

Thoughts from the Gals:

(Typed exactly as dictated to me with no changes. Italicized clarifications are added by me.) :)

Oldest Gal (age 11):  

   This year's Belle doll is gorgeous. Her eyes and eyebrows are just right, and her lips and nose are pretty good too. Her dress is beautiful, even though it's a little short and not quite poofy enough. :( It looks a lot like the movie minus all the rose designs and jewels. 

   Her hair is pretty, but it looks a bit strange from the back. There are these two ginormous locks and then a short little wavy piece of hair in between the two. Her bun is pretty well done, down on the head instead of looking a bit detached from the head. I love what they did with her hairline! It looks just like the movie, except for the two strands that go up, then back down, in the front. Overall, I am very pleased with this Belle doll. 

Which is your favorite Disney Store Belle doll so far?

   I'm going to have to separate it into categories because this is so tough. For hair, I like the 2013 doll. It's short and the bun doesn't look too conspicuous. For face, 2015 and 2011 have to tie. 2015 is beautiful and movie accurate, but 2011 is really pretty too. If you're going for realism, 2015 and 2012 tie for the dress. My personal favorite is 2015. My overall favorite is 2015, as you can guess. It's such a realistic doll with the hairline and the beautiful eyes and eyebrows and the gorgeous dress. 

   

Middle Gal (age 9): 

   I really like her face. I like the way they did the little top of the heart thing on her hairline. And I like the detail on her dress. I like how the glitter does not come off. Her hair is a little messy, and it's kind of weird how they did it in two separate things, but I really like how they made her happy. 

   One complaint that I have about this doll is her bun. The Disney Store doesn't do really detailed buns. I like how they did the fully posable arms and wrists, but I wish that the legs would be more posable, too. I like that body better. Another little complaint that I have is that, well, the ruffles on the front of her dress are so beautiful, but in the back, they didn't do that, and that is just, like, it irritates me that the Disney Store did not do detail on the back of her dress, except for the glitter. 

   Overall, I really like this doll, and I think you should get her. 

Which is your favorite Disney Store Belle doll so far?

   2015. I like this doll the best out of all of the Belle dolls because they finally got her eyebrows right and she is so awesome! 

Little Gal (age 7):

   So, for Belle, I really like the way they made her smile this year because they make her look mad, like angry, not mad like "crazy" (in previous years). She is very beautiful, but I don't really like how they made her hair separate in two. The bun is pretty cute, and for her shoes, I'm kinda disappointed that they never do high heels. That's basically what every princess has in the movie. And I don't really like it how her dress doesn't spin like it does in the movie, doesn't even spin at all. And I like the way they did her part. It's just like it was in the movie. It goes like up, curve, down, up, curve, down. And then the back of her dress isn't really realistic. And they didn't do the little balls on the front of her dress. And they made her have too much eyeshadow. 

Which is your favorite Disney Store Belle doll so far?

  Probably 2015.  

The girls were very detailed in their reviews for Belle and the Beast. Since we just rewatched the movie the other night, the original characters were fresh on their minds. ;)

I'm very happy with my newest Belle and would definitely recommend her for my fellow Beauty and the Beast fans. :) 

If you'd like to get your own 2015 Belle, you can purchase her on the Disney Store website HERE. 

If you'd like to check out my review post from last year, you can see it HERE. 

Stay tuned for more reviews! The Beast doll is up next! :)