The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland
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| The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland | |
|---|---|
 Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Raymond Jafelice |
| Produced by | Michael Hirsh Patrick Loubert Clive A. Smith |
| Written by | Peter Sauder (from the works of Lewis Carroll) |
| Starring | See below |
| Music by | Patricia Cullen |
| Editing by | Evan Landis |
| Distributed by |  Cineplex Odeon Films Alliance Atlantis (VHS, 1999) Virgin Films Warner Bros. (theatrical) Universal Studios (DVD) |
| Release date(s) | August 7, 1987 |
| Running time | 75 mins |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986) |
| Followed by | Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot (2004) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland is the third and last theatrical installment of the Care Bears animated franchise. It was released in the United States and Canada on August 7, 1987 by Cineplex Odeon Films, and is loosely based on Lewis Carroll's Alice stories, with some influence from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful 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 musician Natalie Cole performed the film’s opening song, "Rise and Shine".
Due to the film's box-office shortcomings, the Care Bears would not appear in another movie until 2004's Journey to Joke-a-lot. This was also the last film to feature the Care Bear Cousins.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Plot
In the Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins' home, the Kingdom of Caring, the White Rabbit of Wonderland arrives and asks for his niece, Swift Heart Rabbit. The White Rabbit quickly tells the Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins that it is of utmost importance that they find the Princess of Wonderland, who has gone missing. If she is not found, the evil Wizard of Wonderland will be crowned king, which will be disastrous.
The Care Bears and Care Bears cousins agree to help and start their search. Grumpy Bear eventually learns that there is a girl named Alice who looks exactly like the Princess. Alice believes she is an ordinary girl and is surprised when the White Rabbit and Care Bear gang explain the situation to her. She agrees to go to Wonderland with them to act as a temporary "replacement" for the Princess while they search for the real one.
Little do they know that, as they are travelling, the evil Wizard is spying on them, aware of the danger that Alice will pose to his plan. He calls for his arachnophobic assistants, Dim and Dumb, on the real Princess' status. They respond that they, upon his orders, have stashed her in the Jabberwocky's cave. The Wizard then commands his minions to prevent Alice from reaching Heart Palace. However, their initial attempt to stop the heroes as a group fails.
Alice and her protectors are then paid a visit by a rapping Cheshire Cat who tells them that the Mad Hatter had gone to search for the Princess, but is currently stuck. The Chesire Cat advises the group to split in two: one group will take Alice to the palace while the other group will follow the Mad Hatter's trail and rescue the Princess.
Following the Cheshire Cat's advice, Brave Heart takes Grumpy, Swift Heart and Good Luck Bear to find the Hatter. Tenderheart, the White Rabbit and Lotsa Heart will being Alice to the Heart Palace. The Wizard, who witnesses this from his secret hideaway via magical means, orders his two assistants to bring the girl to directly to him. Dim and Dumb succeed at this, resulting in Alice having to face the evil Wizard face-to-face. He taunts her blandness, laughing at the idea that she could fool anyone into believing she is a Princess. Shakened and frightened, Alice runs blindly from him and is shocked when she ends up standing before the royal court and the Queen of Hearts herself. Alice stammers and falters, but the Queen of Hearts rushes to her, quickly proclaiming before the court that Alice is her daughter who has returned, and that the coronation will continue as planned.
Later, in secret, it is revealed that the Queen of Hearts knows that the Wizard is responsible for kidnapping the real Princess, but she has no proof. She, along with Tenderheart, Lotsa Heart and the White Rabbit, take to training Alice to act as a princess, so that she may hold the real Princess' place before the coronation begins.
Meanwhile, the other group consisting of Grumpy, Good Luck, Brave Heart and Swift Heart, have found the Mad Hatter's trail, which consists of magic hats that hypnotise their wearer and lead them in a specific direction. They eventually arrive at the Jabberwockie's cave, where they meet the Mad Hatter and the real Wonderland Princess. After a brief skirmish, they free her and befriend the Jabberwocky, who reveals his name to be Stan.
Back at the palace, the coronation of the new Queen of Wonderland has begun, but before Alice is crowned, the Wizard of Wonderland brings out the Book of Wonder and demands that the "princess" undergo the Princess Test to prove that she is indeed the princess. Alice passes the first test but is stumped at the second test, which requires a princess to cause the flowers in the Sleeping Garden to bloom by her touch alone.
The Wizard thinks that he has exposed Alice as a fraud, but he is shocked when the flowers do bloom at her touch. In the heat of the moment he claims that Alice cannot be the real princess because he had her kidnapped, and this confession is witnessed by all. It is then revealed that Alice and the Princess switched places just before the test began, as the Princess had arrived at Heart Palace in the nick of time.
[edit] Response
Like its two forerunners, Adventure in Wonderland received mixed reception with critics. Kenneth Funsten of L.A. Family Magazine called it "a honey of a film...an exercise in good childhood logic. Colourful, cute and meaningful."[1] But Caryn James' review in The New York Times was less enthusiastic: "[The] movie is paced so it won't strain the attention span of a 6-month-old, but there is nothing to spark a child's imagination," she commented.[2] As noted Hal Hinson of The Washington Post, "Watching [this movie] is like being pelted mercilessly for 75 minutes with Lucky Charms. It's nonfatal (unless you have a sugar problem, in which case you're likely to lapse into a coma), but it's not exactly my idea of fun either." [1]
[edit] Box office
The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland only grossed $2.608 million in the United States. [2] On its opening weekend, it grossed little more than $1 million in 20th place on 1,094 screens. [3] It was Cineplex Odeon Films' second-highest-grossing film ever as a distributor, alongside Sign 'O' the Times which made only $3 million. [4]
[edit] Home video
The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland premiered on home video in the United States on September 14, 1989, thanks to MCA/Universal, and reissued by GoodTimes Home Video in 1995.
In North America, it is the only Care Bears movie ever to be released on laserdisc (on May 16, 1991). [5] (In the United Kingdom, contrary to popular belief, Vestron Video released the original Care Bears Movie on that format in 1985. [6])
The third Care Bears movie has been recently released on DVD in France, [7] Portugal [8] and several other European countries, and even in Australia, [9] where one edition treats it as an episode rather than a feature-length film. Such an edition has yet to be published in North America, making this the only Care Bears film (as of 2008) to have this fate.
[edit] Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for Best Music Score (by Patricia Cullen) and Best Original Song ("Rise and Shine" by Maribeth Soloman) at the 1987 Genie Awards in Canada. At the Young Artist Awards, it was also nominated for Best Motion Picture in the Animated category. [10]
[edit] Cast
(in order of appearance)
- Bob Dermer as Grumpy Bear
- Keith Knight – White Rabbit
- Eva Almos – Swift Heart Rabbit
- Dan Hennessey – Brave Heart Lion
- Tracey Moore – Alice
- Jim Henshaw – Tenderheart Bear
- Marla Lukofsky - Good Luck Bear
- Luba Goy – Lotsa Heart Elephant
- Colin Fox - Wizard
- John Stocker - Dim and Dumb
- Don McManus - Caterpillar
- Alyson Court – Princess
[edit] Notes
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Parts of this film are inspired by the literary works The Prisoner of Zenda and Androcles and the Lion, and their cinematic counterparts from 1937 and 1952 respectively. [11]
- When Alice and company are attacked by the robots, Dim and Dumb can be seen wearing clothes similar to the appearances of Baby Hugs and Baby Tugs. (Instead of a sack, a moon is on the blue shirt worn by Dim; in this scene, his partner has a pink one with a star.)
- Several of the Care Bear characters make cameo appearances only at the beginning of the movie: Share Bear, Baby Hugs and Baby Tugs, Cheer Bear, Champ Bear, Funshine Bear, and almost all of the Care Bear Cousins except Noble Heart Horse.
- This film featured the third of the three voice actors for the original Tenderheart Bear (his first male actor since the two original television specials).
[edit] See also
- Alice in Wonderland, the Disney animated version from 1951.
- List of animated feature-length films
[edit] References
- ^ Video box for The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland. MCA Home Video. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
- ^ Review of The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland by Caryn James. The New York Times. (Registration required to read page.)
[edit] External links
- The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland at the Internet Movie Database
- The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland at Allmovie
- Lyrics to the movie's soundtrack at Distant Melody
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