Review of Elmo Live

When I was a child, my friends and I would pull a string on a talking Mattel doll (such as Chatty Cathy or Talking Barbie) and she would say a few phrases, and we would be amazed. Well, it takes much more to amaze kids and collectors these days, and there is no denying that Elmo Live is an amazing technological talking and moving doll. He can sing, tell two stories, tell jokes, and dance. He moves his middle, legs, arms mouth, and arms. But Elmo Live isn't perfect--he has a suggested retail of $69.99, and a few flaws. Read on to find out more.

Can lightning strike again this Christmas? Or, more precisely, can Elmo strike again this Christmas? In 2006 TMX Elmo was THE IT gift—everyone wanted one, they were very hard to find, and Elmo scalpers were everywhere on eBay and other Internet commerce sites. BUT…the question is...if you can find one, is the new Elmo Live worth the price tag? Does Elmo Live hold up to its prototype at Toy Fair and all the media hype?

Elmo Live is charming and truly amazing. He stands, sits, sings, dances, tells stories (only two, which was a bit disappointing), and jokes. He moves in multiple ways that make him extremely animated, and almost life-like. When I was a child, you would have to take a trip to Disneyland to see something like this, and the technology cost thousands of dollars.

I think most young children will be delighted with Elmo Live, as will most plush doll collectors. However, I think Elmo Live might scare very young children (it's recommended age is 18 months and up).

Parents should be aware that Elmo Live is a very noisy toy--between his loud voice and the sound of his mechanism, he might grate on the nerves of adults after a short while. In other words--Elmo Live is the perfect grandparent's revenge toy. My family defines a grandparent's revenge toy as a fun, noisy toy that you would never buy for your own child but which grandma or grandpa will buy for your child, enjoy with your child for one day, and then leave you to live with the fun, noisy toy 24/7.

This is a tough one. The technology that brings Elmo Live! to life is unprecedented in a stand-alone mass-market toy that doesn't connect to a computer. It is fascinating to watch him move--even my cynical husband was drawn to watching Elmo doing his thing when I unboxed him--in fact, my whole family including two teenagers was fascinated by him. However, the fact that Elmo Live doesn't connect to a computer limits him a bit--he can only tell two stories, for instance, and a few jokes. We loved to Watch Elmo dance, and it was fun to find his sensors (nose, back, foot and tummy). My family quickly got bored withe Elmo after the first night. A young child, of course, would be entertained by Elmo Live for a much longer time, and what fun to find Elmo sitting under the tree on Christmas morning!

That said, Elmo Live has a few flaws. My family had a difficult time understanding Elmo sometimes, and Elmo's voice had to fight with noisy mechanism that makes Elmo move. We couldn't figure out if we got a slightly defective Elmo which made his mechanism extremely noisy, or if the mechanism simply is noisy (the prototype Elmo Live I saw at Toy Fair did not have this problem, but it was a prototype).

Overall, I'm like a little kid and I have never lost my sense of wonder when confronted by a wonderful doll like this, so with the caveat on the noise and the limited repertoire, I'll give my nod to Elmo being worth his price.

TMX Elmo was so much more limited--he had his one tickling routine, and that was it. It was, of course, a very charming and engaging tickling routine, and TMX was a huge hit.

This Elmo can do so much more...there is almost no comparison. The only two things that are not improvements in Elmo Live over TMX Elmo are the price (TMX Elmo was about $30 less) and the packaging. TMX Elmo had a charming no-peek briefcase packaging that was marketing genius. This time, there is the standard-issue open box package with a touch-the-foot preview (which, by the way, would be difficult to wrap for a gift). Well, Fisher-Price had to save money somewhere!

One thing that is exactly the same on TMX Elmo and Elmo Live--the batteries are included! That is no small thing, since Elmo Live runs on 6 AA batteries.

As I mentioned above, I’m old enough to remember that to see animation even remotely like this in a three-dimensional object, the entire family would have to vacation in Disneyland! When I grew up, toys didn't have anything but the most basic technology. Perhaps a toy, at most, could talk if you pulled a string. For decades, maybe a toy could move its arms, and then after a while, a toy could do quite a few things if hooked up to a computer.

The fact that Elmo Live can even exist for a mass market is a remarkable achievement, and Elmo is simply delightful. You cannot help but smile as Elmo Live opens his adorable mouth, waves his big hands, and sings, laughs and dances. If you have the cash this holiday season, you can't go wrong having an Elmo Live as part of your celebration.