My most recent purchases were this year's latest release from The Little Mermaid, Ariel with Prince Eric Statue (sculpted by Kent Melton) and Clopin from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (released in 2007, sculpted by Tony Cipriano).In honor of it's 20th Anniversary comes the release of Ariel with Statue of Prince Eric, a Numbered Limited Edition (NLE) of 1,000. I liked this piece instantly from the images made available and just as pleased when I saw in person. This is probably my favorite Ariel released to date.
Ariel (like Belle, Cinderella and Snow White) is not an easy character to translate into 3D. Ariel facially is perfect/ dead on and I like the sense of movement in both her hair and fin. My only criticism, her hair seems dark, not the vibrant red you think of when you think of Ariel, that in Seahorse Surprise. Knowing this sculpture is from the sequence in the grotto, her hair would be effected by the shadows within the grotto, hence why they went with a darker shade?
The statue of Eric is done in resin to capture all the detail of the statue that couldn't have been accomplished if in porcelain. My only wish now, is if they would do a companion piece of King Triton as he approaches the grotto ... trident in hand, with an angry expression on his face as he overhears Ariel. I decided to display this sculpture outside a curio (pictured at right), placed next to a table fountain that is the same coloring/texture as Prince Eric. Very tranquil when the fountain is running.
My other purchase was Clopin, the harlequin host and narrator from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Clopin was released in 2007 with Quasimodo and Esmerelda from The Festival of Fools Scene. Hunchback is one of my favorite films of the newer releases, so was very disappointed with the Tribute Series release of him and Esmerelda ("Not A Single Monster Line) and began to lose faith we would see anything else from this film until 2007 :) I couldn't have been more pleased with all three characters but at the time of their release, only purchased Esmerelda and Quasimodo with plans to purchase Clopin constantly pushed to the back burner.
Clopin has finally joined my collection and the 3 characters together make an amazing scene with all the vibrant colors used, sense of movement in each character and the gold plussing. Clopin is an Open Edition release, sculpted by Tony Cipriano.
Once again, would like to thank Bob, Pam and Nancy at CEL-EBRATION! Gallery for reserving these for me and a wonderful weekend in Red Bank, NJ at their recent signing event with Kent & Tony and can't wait to return to Red Bank!
Don,
ReplyDeleteI agree Kent captured Ariel's facial features perfectly.
Over the weekend I did a side to side comparison with "Good Morning Daddy" piece (which is one of my favorite Little Mermaid pieces) and the new piece.
To me, Ariel in the new piece has a more mature look to her versus the "Good Morning Daddy" Piece.
Has anybody else noticed this?
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteAs I read your posting, looking at both sculptures. There is definitely a visible maturity in Ariel's face in the latest sculpture release vs. her with King Triton.
As much as I like the Triton piece, Ariel is totally off/wrong. I can see the childishness you bring up. I personally feel the initial intent was to sculpt Triton alone and at the 11th hour, it was decided to make the piece more marketable, Ariel was needed to be added. Maybe this wasn't the case but always felt she looked like a last minute decision. JTDO.
Where can I buy one?
ReplyDeleteIt was available thru authorized Walt Disney Classics Collection retailers at the time of its release.
ReplyDeleteUnsure of its availability at this time.