Review: 41067 Belle’s Enchanted Castle
Posted by LostInTranslation,
Once upon a time, a long time ago…. I started writing this review for Brickset and now I have finally finished it!
It seems appropriate that it should be published now, when 71040 Disney Castle has just become available to buy by LEGO VIP members. If you don’t quite have the Disney dollars to buy that beast of a build, then maybe you will be interested in this rather more modest offering, 41067 Belle's Enchanted Castle, which features a beloved Princess and her beau, plus a whole host of furniture friends.
In my opinion, it should probably be called the Beast’s Enchanted Castle - I appreciate that for marketing reasons under the Disney Princess brand it’s expedient to include the princess’s name and Belle does kind of bring the castle to life, but still, seems a bit unfair on poor Beast.
The set includes one instruction book and two sticker sheets, the main one on a white background and the sticker for the stained glass window being transparent.
The completed model
The main build of the set is of course the castle. Disney castles, both in films and in theme parks, seem to be rather indeterminate in colour (kind of a murky pinky-beige-grey), their shade appearing to differ depending on the light and view (and of course this is easily done in animation).
To identify the colour is one thing, but to translate it into the LEGO colour palette then poses another difficulty, as well as considering whether to stick to one colour or use different several different shades. Thus this castle combines bricks in lavender, tan and white, creating a rather confused impression when I think that picking either lavender or tan (or even light bluish grey) would have been preferable.
The dark red roof seems fairly faithful to the film representation and utilises a nice selection of slopes. The stickers applied to the semi-cylindrical panels are also accurately rendered.
The next problem area for me is the entrance, which uses a pair of pearl gold gates, rather a puzzling choice. I would use this kind of gate in a wall surrounding the castle grounds, not at the entry to the building itself. Solid brown doors would be a much better and more sensible selection here. Inside the entrance hall, things do not improve to my mind.
One of the most iconic scenes in animation history, the beautiful ballroom dance between Belle and Beast accompanied by Angela Lansbury’s rendition of the title song, is reduced to a white turntable among a smattering of dark blue and pink tiles – the blue is fine but dark red or even dark orange would have been more accurate to the actual film.
The chandelier hanging overhead is a nice touch but one with two tiers, more like that in Heartlake Grand Hotel or Grand Emporium, would have been more, well, grand.
I do appreciate that this set is trying to cram in as many references to the film as possible whilst respecting a certain size and price point, and as such it is not possible to fully depict the grandeur of the ballroom but if extra depth had been added at the base, better colours and design of the tiled floor had been chosen (i.e. not a simple checkerboard) and if a staircase could have been included, I think this would have added a lot more accuracy to the set without detracting anything.
The play feature of the turntable does work well though, just about fitting Beast and Belle, and the sticker applied the trans. clear panel above the entrance to create the stained glass window seen at the end of the film is lovely and very faithfully represented, and the grey lion’s head brick is a nice detail though adds yet another colour.
Elsewhere downstairs in the castle, in the kitchen the chef-turned-stove is very accurately designed, with good use of stickers to provide the required detail. A sticker applied to the wall panel also adds another neat Easter egg, showing a cupboard with all of Chip’s brothers and sisters inside. Here we also have a stand-alone build of a kitchen table piled high with food and drink.
A minor point, but it would have been appropriate to include a chair here for Belle in order to help recreate the “Be Our Guest” musical number from the film as the enchanted servants try to tempt her with gourmet delights.
One of Belle’s most prominent characteristics in Beauty and the Beast is her love of reading and it is in the course of sharing this passion with the Beast and their reading lessons in the library that romance blossoms between them.
The library is again disappointingly only present in a much abbreviated form: one stickered bookshelf and what appears to be Belle’s diary, one of the new two-part books in reddish-brown with a stickered cover and a stickered 1x2 tile affixed inside.
Next to the “library”, in the forbidden west wing of the castle, there is a panel with a sticker of a portrait that has been ripped to shreds by Beast’s claws, which also swivels to reveal his hair when in human form (the ponytail piece used for Pirates of the Caribbean’s Joshamee Gibbs and Will Turner in dark orange).
Upstairs (imaginary stairs) on the balcony, we have two of the key magical elements of the story: the mirror that allows Beast to see anything he wishes, here showing the face of Belle’s father Maurice, and the enchanted rose that marks how long Beast has got left to break the spell, protected by a glass dome. The rose is simply made but looks very effective.
In the opposite wing, we have a very plain bed for Belle, jazzed up with a patterned sticker. I can’t really see the point of including the bed if you are not going to create more of a feature of it (four-poster maybe) or add details to the room since it is not as integral to the story as other rooms of the castle, so I would prefer for the space and parts to be allocated differently.
Figures
So far, I have been fairly critical of this set, and to be honest most of these flaws were evident to me right from first seeing it on display at the London Toy Fair back in January. Why then have I been so looking forward to getting the set? The answer is of course all the wonderful characters. The set contains just two mini-dolls, but they are two of the best I have seen so far.
Instead of the usual piece used for mini-doll Princess dresses, Belle’s gown comes with a fuller, circular skirt in cool yellow, an excellent colour match for her classic dress. The mould is slightly textured to represent gathers and has some nice printed scallop detail for ruffles but sadly only on the front of the skirt.
The torso is printed with the bodice and again looks accurate to the film aside from the lack of printed off-shoulder straps on the arms, though her long evening gloves have been provided. Her face is appropriate enough, though all minidoll heads seem to be fairly generic to me!
Her hair though is an outstanding piece; I had anticipated that a Belle figure would reuse the hard ABS Calamity Drone hair in reddish brown but a brand new piece in the more flexible rubber has been created and it perfectly embodies Belle’s beautiful tresses.
I know a lot of people are desperate for a Beast minifigure and were worried that Beast would be made too cute as a minidoll, but I think the moulded has been done very well indeed. He is instantly recognisable as Beast, though lacks some of his fierceness and roughness has been lost, which is bound to happen in creating a static plastic depiction of an animated (in both senses of the word) character. As the headpiece is affixed over the minidoll head as a kind of headgear it will also fit on a regular minifigure head. It also has holes for bows, reflecting the scene where Lumiere and Cogsworth try to spruce Beast up for his dinner date with Belle.
The torso reflects Beast’s evening attire, and he is wearing full length trousers too – a shame, as we then don’t get to see his furry beastly legs and feet. He also sadly doesn’t come with a tail, but the key features of the face and outfit are all present and correct.
The charming smile on the face of debonair candlestick Lumière has been brilliantly rendered and his overall shape is accurately portrayed in pearl gold, which requires the use of the tap piece (a useful element in microscale building) in that colour for the first time. Perhaps I would try to find a way to use small flame pieces for his hands rather than 1x1 round plates but otherwise Lumière looks excellent to me.
His best friend, the tightly-wound timepiece Cogsworth, is equally well designed, with a sticker being used to depict the pendulum on his stomach and also for his face, on a 2x2 round tile which can rotate loosely around 360 degrees which adds some comic potential. He has no actual arms here but gold 1x1 plates with vertical tooth are used to represent them and I think it works out OK overall.
Mrs Potts makes use of the new teapot mould, with a printed face, though she does lack some of the gold detail and I think a lavender or medium lavender flower would be more appropriate for her cap than dark pink. Her son Chip is a normal minifigure-sized cup printed with a face, though the striking point here is that in the cartoon Chip’s nose is embodied by his handle whereas that is not the case here. Chip and Mrs Potts are provided with a small kitchen trolley to help them zoom around.
Armoire, like Cogsworth, has a stickered freely rotating face, which I think should be white rather than tan, and her spring green cupboard doors are new elements in that colour. Inside there is another sticker and a small tiara in a trans. clear holder. The Unikitty tail in tan is a cool parts use to represent her hair.
Lumière’s paramour, Babette the feather duster, is again a faithfully formed character though I think the brown swirl on her head should be white instead to represent the cap she wore in her previous incarnation as a housemaid.
Sadly, the dog-turned-footstool is not present in the set, a character that I think could have easily been included without too much effort. That said, every other major character from the castle is here which is impressive considering that it would be easy to just have done Lumière and/or Cogsworth.
Overall
Much as in the film the expressiveness and characterful charm of the enchanted servants and the beauty of Belle bring the unloved castle and its beastly owner to life. Disney Princess sets thus far have tended to have slightly weak, juniorised builds, targeting a younger builder, and this is no exception, with all the flaws I have mentioned above. However, to give the set and graphic designers their due credit, they do try to pack in as many details as they can, with a wealth of available source material to draw upon, although this can also backfire when some of the features are just not quite right, such as the “ballroom”.
The real attraction of the set, as stated, is the opportunity to get much-loved Disney characters in LEGO form, and on that count the set is a real triumph, with the beautiful kind-hearted heroine truly being the belle of the ball. This set is a must-buy for any fan of Beauty and the Beast for the minifigures alone, so I’d suggest waiting for a discount of around 25% to ensure you get better value for money.
Lego knows its magic formula with these sets and as Cogsworth would say, “if it ain’t baroque, don’t fix it!”
We now have minidolls of seven of the eleven official Disney Princesses, plus the two royal sisters from Frozen (just Tiana, Snow White, Mulan and Pocahontas left to cover). I think Belle is my favourite so far but could easily be displaced by a Snow White figure. Tell us in the comments who your favourite is and what you think of this set!
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21 comments on this article
This set is quite unique. Though a little overpriced.
It is nice to see some variation in Brickset review but why does Lego think all girls want pink!
Seriously a lot of the Lego friends builds are great but are ruined by the splash of pink. Why does a school bus have to be pink?
Here's an idea lego, make a set that appeals to girls AND boys.
Would never happen but a line of princess collectable dolls might be of a lot of interest to some. I like that final picture with them all gathered together.
Good review! This is certainly one of the stronger Disney Princess sets in terms of its contents. I agree that the colors are a bit jumbled — it'd be nice if it had more lavender and less white and tan — and the building level is of course rather simplistic due to its 6–12 age range and low price point. It would have been nice to see it realized as a bigger set, though of course I understand that there's probably a stronger market for it at this price point. Nevertheless, it has perhaps the best cast of characters of any Disney Princess set, with the enchanted servants expertly realized, and a great amount of interior detail referencing the setting from the movie.
While the overall look of the castle isn't quite as harmonious as the previous Disney Princess castle sets, and the price per piece is very weak, I'm still impressed with how much it has to offer. I hope we see other sets based on the Disney movies of my childhood in the future!
Yes, where is Snow White anyway? She is the original Disney princess after all.
Armoire was always pictured as tan on toys, shame lego mixed two colors, because she looks weird :)
I think LEGO is a little too impatient with these princess castle sets. It would be nice to see maybe one each year at the $120 mark with a better sense of the grandeur than these little sets like this, which, like many of the Superheroes sets, seem to be made mainly to sell minifigures at a higher pricepoint. Either that or make a 'true modular' system, where each year they put out a few key locations from each castle that will connect to the others and, over time, make each large castle.
Where is princess Leia?
@sonsofsceva, making a bigger, more expensive set would take this out of their target market. These small Princess sets are good gifts for occasions, but bumping up the price would make it less feasible. I'd love a more expensive one, or modular like you talk, abut that gets away from what they're trying to do with this series.
@James"Bucky"Barnes - When Lego decided to make themes like Friends and Princess they were, sadly, trying to make only girls satisfied with those sets, as there had been stereotyphical boy-sets like Star Wars on shelves for many years. I understand how TLG wanted to make Lego sets more appealing to girls, but I don´t think it´s neccesary to put loads and loads of lavender and pink in them, they just need to change their policy a bit. Why don´t make Star Wars sets more appealing to girls? Well, more female Lego minifigures in the theme overall is a step forward, I think.
However, I think Belle is my favourite princess figure. She looks faithful to the movie, and more human-like than the others (:
best thing about it is the minidolls, the arrendelle palace and cinderella's castle were miles better in detail and size,
this set should be more £30 than £50.
The servants are executed so perfectly, I'll be keeping an eye on potential discounts down the line. Or possibly heading to Bricklink for some of the pieces and sticker sheet.
You said Mulan and Pocahontas yet to cover so I picked up he slack please go visit my take on the Story! http://www.moc-pages.com/moc.php/430706 It's complete with Grandmother Willow, who has detachable arms that hold Pocahontas recreating the scene and even MEEKO is included (Thanks to the Princess Pets Series. Of course John Smith is there as well as his bulldog: Percy and there's a canoe with a barrel that is a good storage for her cape! I modified the stethoscope into her necklace! So, LOSTINTRANSLATION I hope you enjoy my Pocahontas! Hey you omitted Ariel's sister!
Looking like a very castle christmas in our household this year.
The "little one" reminds me on an almost daily basis that she wants this, and Cinderella's (which we have already bought discounted to £38).
On top of that with the Death Star disappointment, the Disney Castle is looking like a strong chance for the family as well.
@James"Bucky"Barnes: LEGO has plenty of sets that appeal to both girls and boys. LEGO Creator is a good example of a fairly middle-of-the-road theme, with subject matter ranging from animals to vehicles to houses. At the same time, people who actually LIKE pink and purple shouldn't get the short end of the stick just because boys in the "girls are icky" phase and grown men with fragile masculinity won't tolerate sets with even the slightest pink or purple highlights.
Seriously, The Magic School Bus has more pink and purple on it in the title card of its opening credits (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e8/The_Magic_School_Bus_title_credit.jpg) than the bus from the Heartlake Performance School does. But three medium lavender — which isn't even a shade of pink — stripes somehow make that one "too pink"? Get real!
^im not saying it's just too pink, what I am saying they are presuming ALL girls want pink. They don't need to add pink to everything to make it appeal to girls. Add pink to stuff that's pink. There was a news documentary saying that Lego shouldn't put pink or blue on there boxs because it discourages the opposite gender from getting that set.
I like the little details from the movie in the set, and the minidolls and the build of the castle's servants are superb. There are great parts here and I love the use of pearl gold here. Yes, it's awkward with all the rooms being crammed into the small set. The worst is the "ballroom"--it is just pathetic.
My 6 year old son said, "Too bad I'm not a girl, because then I would want this set. I like it." I hope any child would be interested in this cute and decent set.
I like the idea of this set (since "Beauty and the Beast" is probably my favourite animated Disney movie, like, ever) but I think the set's just too small for what it needs to be. Turning the library into a shelf, turning the ballroom into a turntable, it feels like they just weren't prepared to do the castle justice, so we got a half-scale castle that's not really a castle. I like it, I think, but not enough to actually buy it.
Am I the only one that thinks the castle could be excellent for making it look like Minifigures are recreating the Broadway/Play version?
This castle is awful because it uses too many colors.
The dark red and lavender clash. Personally, I wish that it had been done in bright light yellow, but that would have required some pieces in that color to be made. The bright light yellow would have looked great with the dark red roof.
The lion head piece has been done in tan before so why stick one light gray piece in the middle.
The light gray and white pieces that are part of the building should all be removed as it makes no sense to have those colors in there. They could all be replaced with tan and bright light yellow.
The interior could have been redesigned, but the minifigs and brick built figures all looks great.
My daughter and I build this set together. I agree that the tone of color is a little off. However, I would rate this set highly because of the number of characters that you have to build. It was really enjoyable to build, Lumiere, Babette, et al.
This is the Lego my daughter uses the most and tell the most stories with... So yes, it an excellent set. perhaps not for an AFOL...