Beauty and the Beast Dolls by Hasbro and the Disney Store: Belle

Last year, when I was re-thinking this blog and figuring out how to keep it in my life, I made a few resolutions.  One of them was that I would never feel obligated to buy another Disney Store doll.  Why? Well, when I first started collecting these dolls (back in 2012), I was blown-away by the high-quality product that Disney could offer for under $13. Over the years, though, the dolls have suffered a lapse in quality and an increase in price…to the point where I started feeling bad every time I made a Disney Store purchase.

So why am I reviewing a Disney Store doll now?  Well, frankly, it’s because I’m a total sucker for Disney movies, and I get a little obsessed when a new one comes out. When the live-action Beauty and the Beast movie was announced, I eagerly waited for the release of the associated dolls…and then bought all of them. I can’t say that this was a wise decision, but at least I’ll get to share what I learned with all of you.  In a short series of (not necessarily sequential) posts, I'll look at both the Disney Store and Hasbro’s versions of Beauty and the Beast's main characters.  I’ll start things off today with each company’s yellow-gowned Belle doll:

Beauty and the Beast's Belle from the Disney Store, $34.95.
(Shown on a Barbie Made to Move body)

There are a lot of live action Beauty and the Beast dolls on the market right now. Here's a quick summary of the ones I've found online and in stores:

From Hasbro

1. Enchanting Ball Gown: articulated yellow gown Belle ($29.99)--in this review

2. Enchanting Melodies: singing yellow gown Belle ($29.99)

3. Grand Romance set: yellow gown Belle with Beast ($49.99)

4. Village Dress Belle: blue dress ($14.99)

5. Fashion Collection Belle: blue dress Belle with extra red cape outfit (only at Target--$24.99)

6. Royal Celebration set: wedding Belle and Prince (only at Toys R Us--$49.99)

From the Disney Store

1. Yellow gown Belle ($34.95)--in this review

2. Blue dress Belle with Gaston ($69.95)

3. Limited edition 16" yellow gown Belle ($129.95)

4. Beast ($34.95)

Many of the Hasbro dolls are on great sales right now and the only sold out item that I've seen is Disney Store's Beast.

I don't actually own all of these dolls, but I do have quite a few of them.  I plan to review the two Beasts, of course, but let me know if you have any other specific review requests.  Here are in-store pictures of the two large Hasbro sets:

Royal Celebration set (Hasbro)

Prince Adam...can we turn him back into the Beast??

There must be something wrong with me because I've always felt sad at the end of Beauty and the Beast when the Beast turns into a human.

Grand Romance set (Hasbro).

Hasbro, in particular, has produced an overwhelming number of dolls, which presents a slightly complicated shopping challenge.  I wanted one Belle and one Beast from each company--dressed in their ball gown outfits.  The Disney Store makes it easy to get this pair (the dolls are sold separately), but Hasbro forces a compromise.  If you want the Beast, you get the Belle doll that comes with him...and this doll is not the same as the one who comes packaged on her own.

Here's Enchanting Ball Gown--the Hasbro yellow gown Belle that comes packaged on her own (and the doll I will review today):

She comes in a blister pack-style box with a cardboard back and a rounded plastic front.  The packaging references the shape of the bell jar that holds the Beast's enchanted rose.

The front of the box features a small photograph of Emma Watson's Belle from the movie:

The back of the box has the exact same photo, along with a strange little blurb about Belle:

The text seems random--but it's presented in four languages:

I think that instead of this text, the box should feature lyrics from the Belle song--that's what always goes through my head when I see Belle, anyway:

Look there she goes that girl is strange, no question

Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?

Never part of any crown,

'Cause her head's up in some cloud,

No denying she's a funny girl, that Belle!

I like this picture of Belle, but should she really be holding that rose?  

What did you do, Belle!

In the movie it's mentioned that Belle's father always brings her a rose from his journeys, so let's assume that's what she's holding--not the Beast's magical rose.

As an aside, I absolutely loved the Beauty and the Beast movie.  I liked it even more than the live action Cinderella, if you can believe that.  The only thing I didn't like about the movie, oddly, is the Be Our Guest scene.  It tried too hard to copy the animated movie's famously frenetic extravagance...and failed to deliver any kind of magic in the process.  That's pretty much my only complaint, though.  I can't wait to see it again!

Belle is secured to her backdrop with a lot of rubber bands and plastic ties:

This is a good opportunity to compare Enchanting Ball Gown Belle to the Grand Romance Belle who comes with Beast.  

Here are the two dolls side-by-side:

The angles and lighting are slightly different in the pictures, above, but these two dolls have the same face, hair, body, and accessories:

Grand Romance Belle.

The dresses are totally different, though.

Grand Romance Belle.

I suppose it's a matter of taste which dress you like better.  I'll look a little bit more at the differences between these two dresses after I've de-boxed Enchanting Ball Gown Belle.

Here's the Enchanting Ball Gown backdrop scene:

Belle comes packaged with a cone of cardboard under her skirt:

Even without the cardboard, though, the skirt has nice volume and shape:

More so from the front and back than from the sides, though:

Of all the doll dresses I've seen, this is probably the closest match to the fabulous movie dress.  For comparison, there are some nice pictures of the movie dress on this site.

The hairstyle on this doll replicates the movie hairstyle faithfully, but the style scales down to look different on the doll than it looks on a real person.

Sections of hair from the sides of Belle's head are twisted back into a bun:

And the bun is decorated with a golden circlet:

The circlet has a molded feather design:

Notice the plastic tie still sticking out of Belle's head...oops.

One odd thing about this doll is that the parted sections of hair at the top of her head are a lighter brown than the rest of her hair:

The overall color of the hair is a darker brown than Belle's hair from the live action movie--it's more like the animated Belle's hair.

The hair fiber is shiny and easy to brush.  It tends to look a little messy at the ends, though, especially after brushing:

The appearance of this hair is deceptive, though--it's really smooth and silky to the touch.

I'll take the hair down a little later in the review.  For now, let's look at Belle's face:

This doll does not resemble Emma Watson.  However, she has an interesting mix of features from both the live action movie and the 1991 animated film.  For example, her eye size, hair length, hair color, and widow's peak hairline are typical of the animated Belle.  However, the thick eyebrows and freckles hint more at the live action version of the character:

This is a nice face, but it's fairly generic.  There's also the tiniest hint of something sinister in the slant of those eyebrows, but I only see it every once and while when I glance at her from certain angles.

Most of Belle's facial features--all except for her black pupils--are painted in shades of brown.  Even her eyeshadow is a matrix of tiny brown dots:

The screening is nice, though, and there are no obvious defects on my doll.

Belle wears a very distinct-looking necklace in the ballroom scene of Beauty and the Beast.  I wasn't originally sure about the significance of the necklace--or even what the design was supposed to be.  It reminds me of a cluster of branches.  Whatever the design, it's a beautiful necklace and all of the Belle dolls I've seen are wearing some version of it.

Hasbro's plastic interpretation is oversized and a little clunky:

This necklace didn't help me figure out what the design is supposed to be, but there are little berries (?) among the branches that I didn't notice in the movie.  I finally researched the necklace online (there are a lot of shops selling diamond-laden replicas...) and it's a rosebush.  Duh.  I should have figured that out.  Anyway, this stiff necklace was getting in my way as I tried to examine Belle's dress, so I removed it.

The dress is made out of two different fabrics--a sunny yellow satin in the bodice and a more muted yellow chiffon in the skirt's tiers:

The bodice is covered in glitter (which doesn't shed) and has some decorative pleats down the middle of a v-shaped insert:  

The bodice of Hasbro's Grand Romance Belle's dress is brighter, shinier, and does not have the center pleating:

Enchanting Ball Gown dress (left) and Grand Romance dress (right).

The tiers of Enchanting Ball Gown Belle's skirt are embellished with an intricate raised gold glitter pattern.  It's very pretty:

For comparison, the Grand Romance Belle's skirt has a shiny satin bottom layer with two transparent organza tiers.  The gold pattern on this dress is a flat, shiny appliqué:

Enchanting Ball Gown dress (left) and Grand Romance dress (right).

Here's a larger picture of the Grand Romance dress so that you can see the details better:

Under the chiffon layers of Enchanting Ball Gown dress, there's a bright satin underskirt:

And under the satin skirt, there's a tulle petticoat (the Grand Romance dress does not have a petticoat):

The petticoat is tacked to the skirt in a few places with yellow thread.  The threads pull out very easily:

The tiered detail of this dress continues in the back, where there's an obvious midline seam:

The bodice opens with a strip of velcro, making the dress easy to remove:

The bodice isn't lined, but the seams look secure:

The tulle petticoat is separate from the rest of the dress:

The fabric of Belle's dress is a little stiff (it feels like a play doll dress), but it's beautiful to look at and has some great details. 

When I first noticed the Hasbro Belle doll at Toys R Us, I was excited to see that she has highly-articulated arms.  However, the movement of these joints is stiff and limited, and she has no articulation in her knees or ankles:

She can be made to stand on her own when she's wearing shoes, but her balance is not great.

Belle's legs and torso are made out of hollow hard plastic (only her arms and head are softer vinyl).  This gives the whole doll a lightweight, inexpensive feel.  

Belle has rotating hinge joints in her shoulders, elbows and wrists.  These joints have stiff, limited movement, though.  The elbow joints are especially disappointing and can only bend about 40 degrees:

Belle has some side-to-side movement in her hips, but she cannot do full splits:

She doesn't have complete front-to-back movement in her legs, either:

She can sit on the floor, though, with her legs straight out in front of her:

Belle's shoes are made out of a dull greenish-gold vinyl.  They have some molded detail:

The vinyl in these shoes is soft, so they're easy to get on and off...and they stay on pretty well. 

Under the shoes, Belle has high arches in her feet:

There are some molding seams near the toes of my doll that look a little funny:

I snapped a few more pictures of Belle in her dress before I took her hair down:

This doll has a sweet face and silky hair that's fun to play with.  I also really like her dress--it's a little stiff, but it's easy to use and is a nice replica of the movie dress.  The biggest frustration with this doll is her articulation.  Her arms rarely look natural...

...and of course she can't bend much at all below the waist.  I thought she might be a good candidate for a body swap, but I couldn't get her head to work with a Made to Move or Liv body...and in the end I don't find her face special enough to permanently steal another doll's body.

Before I took Belle's hair down, I had to remove the vinyl feather decoration that encircled her bun.  Here it is up close:

The bun itself is made out of twisted strands of hair from either side of Belle's face: 

The bun was held in place with several clear (very tight!) rubber bands.  Here's what the hair looked like right after the bands were cut:

Those twists of hair were not at all eager to relax.

Here's the hair after I brushed it:

It was actually very easy to brush (with no styling product that I could feel), it just didn't want to lay flat right away.

The rooting density in this doll's hair is very good--she has thick, shiny hair and no bald patches:

The hair turned out to be pretty easy to tame with some finger combing and the help of a small clip:

And after those tightly-twisted sections of hair had been given some time to relax, they fell into loose, pretty waves:

The other thing that's hard to see in these pictures is that the lighter sections of hair at the top of Belle's head blend in nicely with the rest of the hair to give an attractive, subtly highlighted appearance to the hair as a whole.

This doll would be a solid choice for a child who is looking for a Beauty and the Beast souvenir.  Her dress and hair are especially well-done.  I think her price is a little high, especially because of the lightweight, unarticulated style of her lower body.  I'd say a more reasonable price would be $20...and many of the current sales are getting close to that.  

Hasbro's Belle isn't quite what I was looking for, though.  I'm a huge Emma Watson fan, and so I really wanted a doll that resembles her.  And of course I always want a doll with great body articulation.  I was hoping (against hope) that the Disney Store's expensive Film Collection Belle would deliver.

The Disney Store Belle comes in an asymmetric box with a cardboard back and plastic on all sides:

I'll admit that when I first saw this doll at the Disney Store online, I collapsed into a fit of giggles.  Frankly, she struck me as ridiculous--like a joke.  But I'm often fooled by unflattering promotional pictures, so I didn't put too much stock in this initial reaction.

The presentation of the doll is lovely--which certainly helps her make a good first impression in person.  The back of the box is covered with a romantic Beauty and the Beast movie picture that features Belle and the Beast dancing:

The bottom of the box has a paragraph describing the Film Collection:

Belle is mounted on a three-dimensional cardboard backdrop that imitates a window from the Beast's castle:

My first reaction to Belle's face was that it's a little better than what I was expecting based on the promotional pictures.  

The face is quite realistic (and reminiscent of Ms. Watson) but the head is huge...and weirdly yellow and shiny:

She looks kinda sweaty and ill.

I love the movie photograph on this box, but it probably wasn't wise for Disney to encourage a direct comparison between the "real" Belle and the doll:

Belle was pretty easy to de-box, although her full skirt was tacked down in several places with plastic ties...

...and the plastic ties securing her head were really hard to access:

Here's a look at the backdrop on its own:

Belle's dress was stuffed with tissue paper...

Oh, dear.  Look at those legs!

...and the tissue paper was plastic tied to the skirt in several places.  Was that really necessary?

This doll has Disney's hinged knee articulation...which means she's horribly bow-legged and cannot stand up on her own.  I tried rubber-banding her legs together to see if I could fix the warped knees:

Disney Store legs as they came (left) and rubber-banded together (right).

Look at how the hip joints gape apart in the picture, above, also.  It's not a good leg design.

I've said this so many times before, but why can't Disney figure out knee articulation?  They're not even trying.  It's either these comically bad hinged knees or the tragically fragile internally jointed knees.  This failure to evolve is especially glaring in light of Mattel's recent innovations with Barbie's body design.

The good news is that Belle's shoes are very pretty and intricate:

These plastic shoes have molded leaf detail that's been carefully painted in contrasting metallic shades:

I used a doll stand (nicely concealed by that large skirt!) to get Belle to stand up for some pictures:

The dress has a wonderful shape (from all angles), although it does not try to accurately replicate the movie dress.

There's even an elaborate bustle in the back--with hanging chiffon and tulle streamers:

This Belle is also wearing a rosebush necklace, although it was hard to see this accessory at first because the pendant was plastic-tied to the inside of the dress' neckline:

This pendant is more accurately scaled than the Hasbro pendant.  It's also painted nicely with some dark shading.  The necklace itself is made out of soft yellow string:

It's hard to make the pendant lay flat, but I still like this necklace better than the Hasbro version.

The only potential downside to the Disney necklace is that it cannot be easily removed and put back on.

Belle's hair is styled in the same basic way as the Hasbro Belle's hair, but there are a few little differences.  First of all, the hair is stiff with an abundance of styling product.

The styling gunge might make this hair look tidier than the Hasbro doll's hair, but it feels bad and is plastered into two thick curls in the back:

The sections of hair at the sides of Belle's head are pulled back into a bun, but they're pulled back in such a way that the whole front part of the hair sticks up and makes the head look even bigger than it already is.

Not the hairstyle I would choose for this head!

This doll also has two tendrils of hair hanging down near her ears--a detail that the Hasbro doll did not have.

Another thing you might notice in the pictures, above, is that Belle's hair looks glued into her head:

This is because the head is constructed in two pieces--just like the action figure heads I was looking at in my Phicen series.  Belle's hair is rooted into the back part of her head, which is glued onto the front part of her head, creating a seam along the hairline.  I suspect Disney designed the head this way so that they could make the back of the head more pliable than the front of the head. Both halves of the head are made out of vinyl, but the face is much thicker and does not compress.

I was able to brush Belle's hair out pretty easily, although it was difficult to remove all of the little flakes of styling product...

...despite how many of them landed on my lap:

This doll's bun is made out of a braid--not a twist:

The bun is decorated with a metallic gold vinyl circlet:

I'll take Belle's hair down at the end of the review.  I can say already that this hair does not feel anywhere near as nice as the Hasbro Belle's hair.

I tied the hair back into a ponytail so that I could look at Belle's face.  The weight of the single ponytail exacerbated an already loose neck connection...to the point where Belle's head was constantly tipping backwards like this:  

I was able to get the head to stay in an upright position for pictures, though: 

Belle has a realistic face that was clearly sculpted exclusively for use on this doll.  It's not like any other Disney Store face:

Belle has side-glancing brown eyes, thick eyebrows, and a multitude of freckles.  Her eyes seem a little askew from some angles, but she can be positioned to look at the camera:

The face mold has some subtle asymmetry and a realistic pattern of freckles--although the freckles are quite large.

I feel like Belle's hairline should start where her forehead freckles end.  Or maybe it's just the hairdo that's making the head look so tall?  Something's not right.

Anyway, the face has some small lines and blemishes on it (the lines over the bridge of Belle's nose and next to her left eye are the most obvious) which I'm not sure are sculpting marks or molding defects.  They're hard to see in person--but certainly visible:

The eyebrows have some thick hair lines drawn against a solid brown background.  The eyelash detail is limited to three thick paint strokes at the edge of each eye:

The paint edges are not perfectly crisp--the edges of the pupil, in particular, are a bit hazy.

Belle has some painted jewelry, too.  The first example is a painted ear ornament on her left ear:

The second is a painted pinky ring on her right hand:

Both of these pieces of jewelry are accurate to the movie.

The dress might not be accurate to the movie, but I think it's beautiful...or at least the lower half is:

The skirt is composed of four chiffon-like layers, the top three of which are gorgeously pleated down the front:

The top layer is a rich, bright yellow color that's coated with (non-shedding) gold glitter.  The hemline is also accented with raised glittery patterns that are very similar to what we saw on the Hasbro dress:

The second and third layers of the skirt are both plain dandelion-colored chiffon:

The third layer is yellow chiffon, too, but it's not split and pleated down the middle.  It's just a plain, straight skirt:

Underneath all of that, there's a pale yellow satin layer:

With lots of holes from excessive plastic tie use.

And underneath that, there's a stiff tulle petticoat:

And underneath the tulle...my efforts to straighten Belle's legs have completely failed:

I like the elaborate bustle at the back of this dress, but (again) I don't remember anything like this from the movie:

The bodice of the dress is separate from the skirt.  It has a velcro seam in the back:

I was surprised to see that the streamers from the back of the dress are actually part of the bodice--not a part of the skirt's bustle:

The bodice is fully lined and very nicely stitched:

The cap sleeves have multiple layers with contrasting textures:

The front of the bodice is also composed of several layers of delicate tulle and scallop-edged, glitter-lined muslin:

Here's a closer look at the layers:

I think all of this detail ends up ruining the overall appearance of the bodice.  It's so thick and bulky, it ends up looking more like armor than an ethereal ballgown.  Here's a reminder of how the bodice looks on Belle:

Uncomfortable.

It's not form-fitting at all, and it really detracts from the voluminous beauty of the skirt.  Sometimes less is more, Disney.

Under the bodice, the skirt has a pretty yellow satin waistband:

It closes in back with a small square of velcro:

The skirt and petticoat are separate pieces but...of course...they came attached to each other with tiny plastic ties.

Do people just sit around at the Disney company trying to figure out where else they can stick a plastic tie?  It seems that way to me sometimes.

What can I say about Belle's body?

It's the same-old, same-old.

My doll is really stiff in the hips, too, and can barely sit.

Despite how much I dislike the lower body on this doll, she can kneel really well, so that's something.  In fact, this is one of very few positions where she can balance on her own!

In contrast to the deformities of the lower body, Belle's arms look nice and pose quite well--much better than the Hasbro doll's arms, that's for sure.  

Here are a few pictures of Belle:

Yellow does not photograph very well in my studio to begin with, and my two Belle dolls apparently don't photograph next to each other very well, either:

Hasbro Enchanting Ball Gown Belle (left), Disney Store Film Collection Belle (right).

The Hasbro doll ends up looking flushed and the Disney Store doll looks jaundiced and sickly.  Still, let's look at them together for a sec and draw a few quick comparisons.

Despite its color and sweaty sheen, I like the Disney Store doll's face quite a bit.  It's unique and full of character, and I even think it resembles Emma Watson.  It's just massively too big for the body it's on.  I like the Hasbro doll's hair texture and hair color much more than the Disney Store doll, though.

Hasbro Enchanting Ball Gown Belle (left), Disney Store Film Collection Belle (right).

As for the dresses, there are many things about the Hasbro dress that I prefer.  It has a soft color, a nice bodice, and is reasonably loyal to the movie.  But the Disney Store dress has a gorgeous skirt.  It's amazing and full with wonderful drape and body.  The color is also more bold--and more what I picture for Belle's character.  The Disney Store bodice is not good, though.  It's overly bulky and stiff--the exact opposite of the floating effortlessness of the movie dress.  I wish I could put the Hasbro bodice over the Disney skirt.

Before I purchased either of these Beauty and the Beast dolls, I knew I'd be unsatisfied with them for one reason or another.  I could see from promotional pictures that the Hasbro doll didn't resemble Emma Watson and that the Disney Store doll's head is too big.  

So, I had a lot of plans for finding a head/body/dress combination that would make me happy.  Central to this idea was the suntan Phicen body that I reviewed last--the S17B.  I envisioned pairing this body with the Disney Store head or with the Emma Watson head I reviewed at the beginning of my Phicen series.  I just kind-of assumed that the Disney Store dress would fit onto the Phicen body.  

Apparently that was a poor assumption:

Disney Store dress on Phicen S17B body.

The dress is way too small--even for the slim 6th generation Phicen bodies.

Furthermore, when I was dressing the body, look at what happened:

After all of my talk about how sturdy the new elbows are, this elbow has a disastrous crack.  I can no longer pose this arm or use this body.  The skin splits open more and more each time I bend the arm.  It makes me want to cry.  I'll have to go back and amend my enthusiastic review of the S17B.

Without the Phicen body, my only option was to see if any of my favorite play doll bodies could be used with the Disney Store head.  I was looking not only for a good skin tone match, but also for a good size match, a good physical fit...and of course a body that could wear the Disney Store or Hasbro dress.  That's a tall order.

Warning: for anyone who did not enjoy the head-swapping extravaganza of my Phicen series, this next part of the review might not be your cup of tea (sorry, Mom...).

My first thought was to try the Barbie Made to Move body.  This, in my opinion, is the best play doll body available.  The palest skin tone looked like the best match for Belle:

Disney Store Belle and Made to Move Barbie.

Barbie's skin tone has a bit more red in it than the Disney Store body, but the shades are close enough for me.  

Notice the difference in head size, though (especially head height):

Disney Store Belle and Made to Move Barbie.

The Made to Movie body has great balance, too.  It can support both itself and the bow-legged Belle!

Made to Move Barbie, Disney Store Belle.

With the Barbie doll's clothes removed, the skin tone match didn't look as good as it did at first, but it's still the best match of all the Made to Move bodies I own.

Made to Move Barbie, Disney Store Belle.

Let's see if any of the ball gowns will work on this body!

The Disney skirt is a little tight on the Made to Move waist:

But the bodice fits nicely and the whole look is convincing:

Made to Move Barbie in the Disney Store Belle's gown.

The Hasbro gown does not fit onto the Made to Move body, though--it's way too tight:

I also wanted to try Belle's head on a Liv body--another well-articulated play doll option:

Disney Store Belle with a Liv doll.

As a bonus, Hayden's head makes Belle's noggin seem tiny!  The skin tone compatibility here is about the same as it was for the Made to Move body.

The Disney Store skirt fits around the Liv waist, but it rides up pretty high...

...which makes the bodice hard to close:

The Disney Store gown could work in a pinch, though.

The Hasbro gown does not fit the Liv body very well at all.  It doesn't close in back...

...and it rides up too high on the waist:

I looked all around my studio and could not find any other possible body matches.  I thought about trying a Disney Descendants body, but the proportions looked way off to me.  So, it came down to the Made to Move body, the Liv body, or back to the original Disney Store body.

I figured I would have to heat Belle's head before I swapped it onto another body, so I decided to take Belle's hair down and let a good old fashioned boil wash serve dual purpose: wash out the styling gunge and soften the head for a transplant.

Here's the vinyl circlet from Belle's hair:

This piece is slightly nicer than the Hasbro equivalent.  It's a complete circle, for one, but it's also a more realistic gold color.

Belle's bun is made out of a relatively thick braid:

The braid was twisted around itself and secured with clear rubber bands.  Here's the braid unfastened...and un-twisting:

There's another clear rubber band at the top of the braid, and this band is plastic tied against Belle's head:

Here's how the hair looked when I first let it down:

There are three spidery sections of hair that are extra long:

I tried to brush the hair, but it didn't help very much:

This doll was definitely in need of a boil wash and a trim.

I often get questions in the comments section about boil washing.  I've described this process a few times, but I think those explanations get lost in the shuffle.  A boil wash is just dipping a doll's hair into a cup of boiling water.  This rinses out styling products and also helps straighten hair that's frizzy or kinky...like Belle's hair:

Despite its unruly appearance, this hair is densely-rooted with no bald patches:

I dipped Belle's hair into boiling water several times (combing it between dips) and then trimmed the ends of the hair to get an even length throughout.  The boil wash was not completely successful at removing all of the frizz from Belle's hair, so I used clips to keep it as straight as possible while it was drying.

Ever since I saw the online pictures of this doll, I've been dying to take her hair down.  I don't find the factory hairstyle at all flattering--especially those top sections of hair in the front that were adding unecessary height and thickness to Belle's forehead.

With some straight hair framing her face, I think Belle looks more natural...and much more like Emma Watson:

Disney Store Belle's head.

In fact, I think she has a better face than the 1:6 Emma Watson action figure head that I bought for my Phicen body:

Modular Art Emma Watson head (left) and Disney Store Belle head (right).

While the head was still soft from boiling, I tried it on the two bodies I had waiting.  First let's look at the Liv body:

This body has a short, simple neck peg that makes head swapping very easy.

Here's Belle with the Liv body:

Disney Store Belle's head on Liv body.

The head is really loose and wobbly on this body.  It's constantly flopping backwards under the weight of the hair:

Otherwise, the match is ok.  Belle's head is still too big, sure, but something about the Liv proportions make this less obvious.

Disney Store Belle's head on Liv body.

Unfortunately, the neckline of the Disney Store gown gapes open more than I thought it would on this body, so this is not a good option for my specific needs:

Disney Store Belle with Liv body.

The Made to Movie body is a bit harder to work with.  It has an intimidating black neck peg with spikes on each side:

The Belle head flops around a lot on this body, too.  It is not a good physical fit.

Furthermore, neither the size nor the color match is great:

Disney Store Belle's head on a Made to Move body.

In this next picture, Belle had to hold her head up with one hand--it kept flopping backwards:

Disney Store Belle's head on a Made to Move body.

So, there's no perfect solution here.  I think probably I'll just put Belle's head back on its original body and maybe try to fix the crooked legs with some hot water or a hairdryer.

Because the Made to Move body is so awesome, though, I figured I'd take a few pictures of Belle like this just for fun.  At least the Disney Store gown fits the body well:

Disney Store Belle with Made to Move body.

The Disney Store shoes also fit onto the Made to Move feet, although they're loose and fall off easily:

Belle's hair just keep on getting frizzier and frizzier as it dried.  She's definitely channeling Hermione here!

10 points for Gryffindor!

I think she looks more like Belle when her hair is smoothed out a little:

I finger-combed and smoothed the hair for a while and it got a little better:

The hair is much, much better after the boil wash.  It's soft with a little bit of shine (and no dandruff!), and it has only a slight coarseness at the very ends.  The Hasbro doll's hair is still nicer, though.

I tried to recreate a simpler version of the movie's pulled-back hairstyle, but it's really hard to pull this thick hair away from Belle's face without adding bulk to her facial silhouette:

For reference, here are some full-body shots of Belle before her body swap and haircut (left), and after (right):

Disney Store Belle with original hair (left) and with washed hair and Made to Move body (right).

Disney Store Belle with washed hair and Made to Move body.

And here's the same comparison but with a close-up on the upper body:

  

Disney Store Belle with original hair (left) and with washed hair and Made to Move body (right).

Disney Store Belle with washed hair and Made to Move body.

I played around a bit with Belle, just to see if I liked her new hair and body:

As I was taking these pictures, I decided (in typical Emily fashion) that Belle's hair was too long.  So I attacked it with my trusty (dangerous!) razor comb.  

I'm not sure this is an improvement:

Throughout this whole review, I've been wracking my brain for some way (any way!) to make Belle's head work, and I had one last thought at this point.  Because the head is made in two halves, what if the hair piece is set too high on Belle's forehead?  Could that be a contributing factor in her large-headed appearance?  I did a little investigating.

Here's a look at the head seam in profile:

And a comparison with Emma Watson's actual profile:

It's hard to tell because Ms. Watson has an up-do that adds height to the top of her head, but I do think that the doll's hair is adding unnecessary height--or perhaps the hairline should start lower down on the forehead?

Let's see if we can tell more from the front view:

This angle isn't much better for me, but I'm pretty sure the forehead is too high.

I took the head apart to see if there was anything I could do.  Here's the face half:

The face from Disney Store's Belle doll.

And from the back:

The back side of the face from Disney Store's Belle doll.

And here's the hair:

The hair from Disney Store's Belle head.

The construction really is just like that of an action figure head.

One of the problems with this head becomes quite obvious when looking at the back side of the rooted hair.  There's a section at the front with a huge clump of hair--much thicker than anywhere else on the scalp:

Anyway, I trimmed some of the vinyl from the top of Belle's forehead and then trimmed the vinyl tabs around the edges of the hair piece--all of this to try and get the hair to sit lower on the head.  

I don't think it made much of a difference:

Try as I might, there's just not much I can do with this head.  Some combination of forehead trimming and wig use might work, but I'm done playing with this doll.

Of all the modifications I tried, the one thing I would recommend to other collectors is to restyle and wash the hair.  I think this made a big difference in both the appearance and the play value of the doll.

To end the review on a happier note, here's a quick look at some of the Emma Watson dolls I've accumulated so far (I left the Hasbro doll out because I don't feel like she's meant to resemble Ms. Watson).  Note: these last few pictures were taken before I mutilated Belle's head.

From left: Disney Store Belle, Star Ace Hermione, Mattel Hermione.

I appreciate the cartoon-like personality of the little Mattel Hermione doll, but certainly Disney's Belle looks a lot more like Ms. Watson:

Disney Store Belle holding Mattel's Hogwarts Heroes Hermione.

And while Star Ace's incredible young Hermione easily offers the best likeness to the actor...

Star Ace Hermione and Disney Store Belle.

...Disney didn't do a bad job with their version of the face.  I can definitely see a resemblance between these two!

Star Ace Hermione and Disney Store Belle.

Bottom Line?  As with many of my comparison reviews, I'll split this summary into a few categories.

Dress: the yellow ball gown is an iconic feature of Disney's Belle character.  There's a lot of pressure for the dress to be really good...and I think Hasbro got it right.  Their Belle wears a lovely, lightweight play doll dress that's easy to use and loyal to the movie.  The chiffon-like fabric is well-chosen and the golden decorations are carefully done.  Hasbro's only mistake was not making this dress available with the highly-desirable Grand Romance Belle and Beast set.  It's uncool to make kids buy an extra $30 Belle just for her dress.  The Disney Store's Belle has a gown with an amazing skirt.  It's gorgeous and extravagant...and brilliantly yellow.  If Disney had made a bodice to match the beauty of the skirt, they'd be the easy winners in this category--even though the gown's design veers away from what's shown in the movie.

Accessories: each doll has a vinyl hair ornament, a rosebush necklace and removable shoes.  The Disney Store accessories look better in all cases, but the shoes are the most noticeable difference. The Disney Store shoes have delicate molded and painted detail while the Hasbro shoes are plain soft vinyl pumps with molded bows.  Another noteworthy difference in the accessories is that the Disney Store necklace is tied around Belle's neck and so it cannot be taken off (or put back on) easily.  This might actually be a plus for really young kids (it won't get lost or swallowed). Overall, I prefer the Disney Store doll's accessories.

Hair: both dolls have long brown hair that's densely rooted and tied back into an elaborate partial-bun style.  The Hasbro Belle's hair fiber is really silky and smooth and does not seem prone to tangles.  It also comes relatively free of hair styling product, and so it's easy to brush and doesn't make a huge mess.  In contrast, the Disney Store's Belle has heavily-styled, frizz-prone hair that's begging for a wash and a trim.  In addition, the Disney Store's Belle comes with a factory hairstyle and a head assembly technique that accentuate the doll's biggest flaw: her dramatically oversized head.  The Hasbro Belle's hair is my clear favorite.

Face: this evaluation depends a bit on what you're looking for.  I was looking for a good likeness to Emma Watson, so I prefer the realism and uniqueness of the Disney Store face--despite the ill-fitting, off-color head.  For those who are seeking a sweet doll who only hints at the live action Beauty and the Beast heroine, the Hasbro face is probably a better choice.  The facial screening, scale and construction of that head are very good.

Body: ugh.  Neither body is great.  The Disney Store body has all of the same problems it had last time I reviewed it (warped, unsightly lower legs, bad hips) while the Hasbro body has stiff, limited upper body articulation and practically no lower body articulation.  Furthermore, the torso and legs of the Hasbro doll are made out of hollow hard plastic and feel low-quality for a $30 doll.  Because of the Disney Store's good upper-body articulation, I have to give them the win here.  I really wish the expensive Film Collection dolls had different bodies, though. 

Overall: the Hasbro Belle is fine.  She has great hair, a beautiful dress, a pleasant (though generic) face, and an adequate body.  I doubt there will be many kids who are disappointed with her.  Some parents might be happier with a lower price tag, but she's a fun movie souvenir and a reasonably versatile doll in her own right.  The Disney Store's Belle, on the other hand, gives me fits.  Somebody worked hard to create an original face mold that resembles the lovely Emma Watson.  It's not a bad face mold.  In fact, I think it has the potential to be really good.  But that face mold was poorly scaled, attached to strange hair, and then stuck onto the same old flawed Disney body...transforming the head into an almost grotesque caricature.  And then the dress.  The dress has a beautiful skirt, with luxurious chiffon layers and elegant pleats.  It's also an eye-catchingly bold color, bringing to mind Beauty and the Beast's animated roots.  But the bodice is so overdone and bulky that it ruins the overall effect for me.  The effortless charm and effervescence of the movie's gown is completely lost...swallowed up by that monster of a bodice.

With shipping and tax (I don't have a Disney Store near me), I paid close to $45 for the Disney Store's Belle.  She's not worth it.  But I have to be honest: she's still the more fascinating of the two Belle dolls that I reviewed today.  Her face could have looked stunningly real if it had been well manufactured and placed onto the right body.  The dress is a few edits away from being spectacular.  Hasbro wasn't even trying for those things.  But with that said, if you're Disney--the company entrusted with creating a special doll from a heroine as beloved as Belle, and from a rendering of that character as heartfelt and endearing as Ms. Watson's performance in Beauty and the Beast--you simply cannot get it this wrong.