I have enjoyed most of the Care Bears offerings, though I am not a huge fan. The Giving Festival Movie is not one of their best(the TV show, Land Without Feelings and the original movie) but it isn't the worst(Journey to Joke-a-Lot). It is though the only outing that I am not sure what I made of it. I'll start with what I liked. I did like the animation mostly, the character designs are more refined than they were in Journey to Joke-a-Lot and Oopsy Does It! and there is a lot of colour and vibrancy in the backgrounds. The music is sweet and whimsical, with Care Power On full of energy and the best of the three songs, while the three stories revolving around one main theme have a reasonable amount of heart and charm. The Care Bears are likable enough, and the conflicting characters while not as scary or as memorable as those of the 80s incarnations are good. On the other hand, while the stories are pretty good, the title of the film promised a more festive feel and because I felt that there wasn't enough of it it seemed misleading. The ending also had an abrupt and that's it? feel to it, this wouldn't be so much a problem if the movie wasn't so short, I think it could have been at least 5 minutes longer. The writing is also rather corny and mawkish for my liking. Overall, if I had to sum it up, after much deliberation, it's not bad but nothing really leaps out as great. Cute but bland is perhaps more like it. 6/10 Bethany Cox
