The Good: Good sculpt and coloring, Neat sound clip
The Bad: Seems expensive, Slight balance issue
The Basics: Fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas are likely to be excited by the new “Lock, Shock, & Barrel” ornament!
This year, The Nightmare Before Christmas was on a lot in my home preceding Halloween. As a result, this is one of the first years where the characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas are fresh in my mind when I sit down to review the ornament from that film. For 2017, the The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament is Lock, Shock, & Barrel and the truth is, it is somewhat surprising that it took Hallmark so long to get around to the devilish trio!
For those unfamiliar with The Nightmare Before Christmas (reviewed here!) Lock, Shock, & Barrel are the three goons who are tasked by Jack Skellington to capture Santa Claus. The three creepy hoodlums work together over multiple attempts, to kidnap Santa Claus and bring him back to Skellington in their walking, clawfooted, bathtub.
It is Lock, Shock, and Barrel, in their tub that is the subject of the singing The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament in 2017.
Basics
The "Lock, Shock, & Barrel" ornament recreates all three goons, masked, inside the bathtub. The ornament, released in 2017, is as accurate as it can be considering it is based upon an animated work for the source material. Because everything in The Nightmare Before Christmas is colored in simple solid colors (without human shading or details), the ornament appropriately does not have complex shading to it.
Still, Hallmark clearly made an effort on the "Lock, Shock, & Barrel" ornament and almost everything about the ornament looks good and functions well. Measuring three and three-quarters inches tall, three and one-quarter inches wide and two inches deep, the "Lock, Shock, & Barrel" ornament is a little larger than some of the other The Nightmare Before Christmas Ornaments.
The Hallmark "Lock, Shock, & Barrel" ornament is made of a durable plastic, with some pretty decent sculpted details. The actual claw feet on the bathtub stand out as creepy and well-executed. The three characters look good, just like they did in the film. The Lock, Shock & Barrel ornament features a weird water element in the tub, which allows the details below the busts of the three antagonists to be cheated out, that looks just a little off. This ornament remains fairly easy to find at Hallmark stores, so there is no reason to look for it yet in the secondary market, despite the fact that The Nightmare Before Christmas is pretty popular. This ornament features a battery to power the sound effect.
The “Lock, Shock, & Barrel” ornament has coloring that is generally simplistic. The characters look accurate, but simple without any realistic depth and shading to them. The source material is fairly simplistic, so it is unsurprising that most of the ornament is simplistically colored.
Features
As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "Lock, Shock, & Barrel" has a sound effect. On the side of the bathtub, there is a very obvious button. The button, when pressed, activates the sound effect. The Lock, Shock, & Barrel ornament features the song the trio sings when they go off to abduct Santa Claus and it is probably the best possible sound clip for this particular ornament.
Balance
As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "Lock, Shock, & Barrel" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Christmas Tree for The Nightmare Before Christmas, the "Lock, Shock, & Barrel" ornament is a smart addition that almost all fans of the film will want to add to their collection. The ornament has the standard brass hook loop embedded into the top of Shock's witch's hat.
The placement of the loop is somewhat obvious, but fairly necessary given the characters on the ornament. From that vantage point, the ornament hands with a slight right and backward bias. The tub and its characters do not hang perfectly level, but this is not exactly a dealbreaker for this ornament given how off-balance the characters are in many shots in the film.
Collectibility
Hallmark Keepsake began delving into the collectibles market in 1991 with Star Trek when it introduced the exceptionally limited edition original U.S.S. Enterprise ornament (reviewed here!). Within a few years, virtually every major studio with a marketable property jumped on the bandwagon and began merchandising Christmas ornaments, including The Nightmare Before Christmas. "Lock, Shock, & Barrel" was the only The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament released in 2017 and fans seemed to like it, though it is quite common. Even so, this ornament appears to be more than adequately produced and is not likely to be a great investment piece. This is an ornament that might be better to wait until after the holiday is over and pick it up at half-price!
Overview
This year’s The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament recreates “Lock, Shock, & Barrel” and might well be the last essential characters from the film to be given ornament form. If that is the case, they were certainly well worth the wait!
For other The Nightmare Before Christmas Hallmark ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
2016 Dr. Finklestein ornament
2016 Sally - Limited Edition!
2014 "This Is Halloween" ornament
2014 Jack's Peculiar Pet - Limited Edition!
2013 Jack’s Sleigh O’Scares
2012 Jack Sneaks A Peek ornament
2011 A Snowy Surprise The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament
2009 Welcome To Christmastown
8/10
For other ornament reviews, please check out my Ornament Review Index Page!
© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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