Movies - The Care Bears Movie

Home > Listing Index > Movies > The Care Bears Movie

	Movies - The Care Bears Movie

The Care Bears Movie is an animated feature film, released on March 29, 1985, that was the first to feature the popular Care Bears toy characters. The movie was produced in Canada by Nelvana Limited at the height of the first wave of the Care Bears craze, and also produced a spinoff television series and two sequels. It was released in theatres by The Samuel Goldwyn Company.

The movie had a considerable amount of star power attached to it; Carole King wrote and sung the opening theme, John Sebastian and NRBQ contributed to the song score, and Mickey Rooney and Georgia Engel starred as voices. It also marked the first ever appearance of the Care Bear Cousins in the media franchise (as stated in its opening credits).

This movie has often been cited as being the first to be based on a toy line, but this is not really the case. The honour as such actually belongs to 1976's Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure.

Tagline: What happens when the world stops caring?

Plot and characters

The movie starts with a brief introductory segment featuring Mr. and Mrs. Cherrywood, a middle-aged couple with many small children. Mr. Cherrywood sits them down to read a bedtime story, and this introduces us to the Care Bears and their magical home in the clouds called Care-a-lot.

While looking down on the Earth for people to cheer up, the Care Bears notice two children who "don't care", Kim and Jason. Two Care Bears, Friend Bear and Secret Bear, travel down to the surface to meet them and attempt an intervention; they eventually travel back to Care-a-lot with them, and are given a tour. Eventually, they go on a trip to the Forest of Feelings and meet the Care Bear Cousins as well.

Meanwhile, at an amusement park, a magician's apprentice named Nicholas finds an old book with a diary-style lock on it. When he unlocks it, an evil spirit appears and begins to corrupt him. With Nicholas's help, the spirit lays waste to the amusement park, and begins a quest to remove all caring from the world. While in the Forest of Feelings, Kim, Jason, the Care Bears and Cousins are warned of the spirit's evil influence, and go to the park to try and free Nicholas of the spirit and re-imprison it in the magic book. Facing many perils along the way that were caused by the spirit, they get to the park and attempt to find Nicholas. After a long battle that drains all of their super powers, the Bears and Cousins manage to force the spirit into the book with Kim and Jason's help, saving Nicholas, the park and the world.

After this, a short epilogue with Mr. and Mrs. Cherrywood is shown. It's implied (though never explicitly stated) that Nicholas is Mr. Cherrywood, and that Mrs. Cherrywood may be Kim.

Production

Production of The Care Bears Movie took place at Toronto's Nelvana studio, at the start of a time which one of its founders, Michael Hirsh, refers to as its "dark years". Nelvana had just come out from the production of their first feature, 1983's Rock & Rule
, which was produced using almost all of its resources and failed at the box office. Soon after that film put them on the verge of closing down, Nelvana saved themselves by doing work on television shows like Inspector Gadget (from DiC Entertainment) and Mr. Microchip. During this time, they also began work on their next feature project, at around the same time they acquired the rights to the Care Bears characters.

The Care Bears Movie started life as a short promo made for American Greetings, the owners of the Care Bears franchise. When the company was pleased with the result, Nelvana was asked about the potential of a feature film stemming from it. They agreed with AGC, even though most of the work (as they feared) would eventually end up in the hands of Taiwan's Wang Film Productions, a newly-opened Hanho Heung-Up in Korea, and other overseas studios. The finished film's only scene from the promo involved Swift Heart Rabbit speeding off to save Kim and Jason from an evil tree.

The film, brought in under budget, was made in eight months for $3 million (from July 1984 to February 1985).

Response

Reaction and criticism

In spite of its purpose as a full-length commercial only made to sell Care Bear toys, The Care Bears Movie was a modest success with critics. The New York Times' Richard Grenier, in the newspaper's review of the film, commented on its recalling of "vintage Walt Disney, both in substance and in the style of hand animation".

Box office

The film also did modestly well at the box office in the United States, where its first two weekends (both in fourth place) equalled little more than its low cost ($3.7 million and $3.2 million). The film spent its first four weeks on 1,003 screens. (A complete analysis can be found at )

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Care Bears Movie ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article The Care Bears Movie; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.