The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland

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This is a classic movie. Much better than the first for young kids. So it is only loosely based on the Alice in Wonderland concept but it is highly inventive and colourful and loveable.

It also has a rare thing - some good songs! Nowadays it seems Childrens movies just get thrown around for commercial value and stuck together in no time. Effort has been put in over the songs in this movie.

I bought the video (or rather had it bought for me) back in the 80s and although I'm now in my twenties I still go back and watch it now and then.

Sad maybe but this is a great movie and definitely recommended for children and especially those born into the world of dire late 90s children TV.

Well, let's start with the songs. In particular, the one titled "Have anybody seen this girl?". This song is by far one of the most gosh-darn addictive and memorable song I've ever heard. For some odd reason, though I no longer have the videocassette with me (my mom actually borrowed it from a friend, and have since returned it. We did get a copy of the video for our own, but it went missing shortly after too), and I've not seen the movie for around ages now, I still remember the tune to the song. I also rather remember the other songs on the movie - the one that goes "I'm mad about hats", the opening "Rise and Shine" song, and I do vaguely remember the Grumpy bear rapping end sequence.

SPOILER FOLLOWS: Overall story is kinda okay. Story starts with one of the bear's cousin's cousins or something or other appearing - it seems that the princess of Wonderland is lost. So they go search around and somehow ends up with a girl that looks just like the princess, except that the girl's name is Alice. They take her through the mirror, and we learn that the wizard is somewhat of a cog and plans to turn Wonderland into a dull gray place. Also, in a weird twist of plot,the queen turns out to be not nasty at all. She has found out that the evil wizard has kidnapped the real princess and locked her up somewhere, but without proof, she cannot take action against the wizard. So she needs to use Alice as a decoy while the Care Bears go look for the real princess. They managed to find the princess thanks to the Mad Hatter, and on another weird twist, it turns out that the Jabberwocky(think his name was Stan or something alike) was also a good guy - he was just being mean because he has a splinter stuck to his foot(cliché stuff, that). They managed to switch the princess with Alice in time for the most impossible trial of all, and upon completion of the task, the wizard, in a rage of absentmindedness, blurts out his plans for all to hear, and thus ends up getting locked up. Then they go back to Care-a-lot, and Grumpy busts a rap about food or something as the credits start to roll.

Verdict: memorable movie, and if I find the DVD or VideoCD or even videocassette on a shelf at a store, I'll no doubt snap it up. The plot itself is just mediocre, but the way the plot was written and executed - brilliant. Lots of humor, the music is darn memorable, and the characters - pleasant voice, captivating and not annoying at all. I didn't really think much of the Care Bear's TV show back in the 80s, but this movie is good stuff. Okay, maybe it's happy-sappy delusion syndrome, but remembering the songs has got to mean something positive, right?

Time to clarify something. This is the movie most people accuse the FIRST Care Bears adventure of being: a saccharine squirm fest. Now I happen to like the Care Bears (I pretty much ran to their defence in my review of their first movie, which I STILL recommend), but this was just a really bad concept to begin with.

It's as if the producers wanted to do an "Alice in Wonderland" movie, then got bored about halfway through and decided to throw the Bears in. Oddly, this isn't based on the Lewis Carrol books but on Disney's version of Wonderland (so it's a movie inspired by another movie inspired by a book). Even so, it has it's moments. The way they envision the Cheshire Cat is very inventive and possibly the best reason to give this movie a look (if you've seen it already you know what I'm talking about, otherwise rent it and fast forward through any scenes that don't involve the Cat). There's a nice message about believing in yourself, but it's nearly negated by the stupid cop-out ending.

There is, however, one more thing that totally saves the movie. Three words: Grumpy Bear RAPPING!!!

After watching "Surf Nazis Must Die", ANYTHING would seem like "The Princess Bride" from that. This movie did the trick and even though it was still bad, it was legions ahead of SNMD. I have to admit that I was never a "Care Bears" fan as a kid. I may have had a book or two about them, but that was about it. I guess this was something that was done more for the fans. The most positive thing is that the animation is pretty good. I actually do like the Cheshire Cat character and he had a lot of personality to him.

I feel bad for not knowing any of the names of these guys except Grumpy Bear. I actually do like how they're doing something different in the series. The silliest scenes are probably when they're searching the whole world for Alice! Wow, they're pretty fast. The characters, especially the wizard's henchmen are really annoying. I do understand that this is a film made for little kids, so it should be alright for them. At least this doesn't have anything offensive in it. The plot does make little sense, so it's just forgettable. **

The Care Bears: Adventure in Wonderland is the best Care Bears movie of them all, especially in terms of animation quality, songs, execution and plot.

The film is also a much better version of the Alice in Wonderland story, if the Disney movie and Lewis Carroll books scare you. Remember, he was high when he came up with these concepts.

The Care Bears version includes many of the magical elements of his stories, but also add in useful lessons for children about believing in oneself against all odds, service unto others, caring and compassion.

Watch this version instead - you won't regret it.