Movies - The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland

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	Movies - The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland

The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland, a third and last theatrical installment of the Care Bears animated franchise, was released in the United States and Canada on August 7, 1987 by Cineplex-Odeon Films. It was loosely based on Lewis Carroll's Alice stories, with some influence from L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz.

The sequel marked the return of John Sebastian from the first movie, who performed "Nobody Cares like a Bear" therein; this time around, his contribution was "Has Anybody Seen This Girl?". Blues music legend Natalie Cole performed the film’s opening song, Rise and Shine.

Barely grossing US$2 million stateside, this big-screen foray sent the Care Bears into a 17-year hiatus as far as feature films were concerned, and it also marked the end of the Care Bear Cousins' movie careers. Their TV show would only run on the ABC network for one more year (1988), before fading away into syndicated and cable reruns in the 1990s (see show article for detailed information).

Meanwhile, Bob Dermer, who voiced Grumpy Bear, would get a cameo role in 1994's holiday smash, The Santa Clause
; Natalie Cole would go on to record her hit album, Unforgettable, in 1990; and the film’s director, Raymond Jafelice, would continue his Nelvana contributions for another decade, starting with 1989's Babar TV series and feature film.

The third Care Bears movie has been recently released on DVD in France , Portugal and even in Australia , where it is treated as an episode rather than a feature-length film. However, it is uncertain if such an edition will be available in North America.

Synopsis

In this last theatrical effort, the Care Bears must rescue the Princess of Wonderland from the Evil Wizard and his assistants, Dim and Dumb, after the White Rabbit shows them a photo of her. After searching the Earth for her, the Bears and their Cousins find a most unlikely replacement, as they call upon an ordinary girl named Alice to save her true look-alike.

Plot

The beginning

A new day has begun in the Kingdom of Caring, and Grumpy Bear is still sleeping in his bed, when the always-late White Rabbit appears in his mirror and wakes up Grumpy. Then, going into his bathroom, Grumpy sees the Rabbit again in front of the room mirror and ignores him as he brushes his teeth. But as the Rabbit comes into view again, Grumpy spits out his water only to find out that the Rabbit is inside the mirror, and the latter asks the blue bear to pull him out of there. No sooner is this done than the Rabbit hurries out of Grumpy’s room and crashes right in front of Good Luck Bear, Brave Heart Lion, Tenderheart, Swift Heart Rabbit and Lotsa Heart Elephant!

Soon after, the Rabbit hops out of the muddle and asks for Swift Heart, his niece, before the blue bunny responds and her uncle, showing a photo of a well-dressed princess, tells of the reason he came to the Kingdom of Caring: the Bears must find her before the evil Wizard, the Princess's kidnapper, takes over her homeland of Wonderland; otherwise, Wonderland’s residents will be forced to obey him while he is King.

So on the Care Bears family goes to search for her, all over the world—even in outer space! When Grumpy Bear finally does, a boy directs him to a house in which a girl called Alice lives.

The discovery

Living with her cat, Dinah, Alice finds that she is so ordinary and not that special, when the White Rabbit, Grumpy and Swift Heart come out of the sky, sliding down a rainbow from a window. Looking at them, a surprised Alice recognizes them as the Care Bears. Having found their "princess", an unsure White Rabbit looks over her carefully, and Grumpy shows her the photo for proof. Alice herself admits she is the last person anyone would expect to pretend she is a princess; but Swift Heart assures her that she will be the perfect replacement of the Princess of Wonderland until the real one comes back.

In their quest to save Wonderland, Alice is not alone—for Grumpy calls for the same Bears and Cousins that the White Rabbit crashed into earlier on. After they come, the White Rabbit urges them all — Swift Heart notwithstanding — to hurry up and pass through Alice’s window—their only pathway to Wonderland. As they start leaving, Dinah is frightened by a blast of pink light that, suddenly, shatters the mirror completely. The others later find out that it is the work of the Wizard. However, the White Rabbit knows another way to get to Wonderland: Heart Palace.

The journey

Outside Alice's house, Swift Heart Rabbit and a starving Grumpy Bear search for the rabbit hole that will eventually take them to the Palace. After desperately eating some grass to try to solve his hunger problems, Grumpy finds the hole by falling deep down in it. The White Rabbit and his blue niece then follow him, and in turn Grumpy follows them.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland ]

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