The Care Bears Movie (1985)

While doing a little background research for this review on The Care Bears Movie, I had a little piece of nostalgia shattered upon discovering that the Care Bears were created solely for the purpose of making money. Originally appearing on greeting cards and then turned into a plush toy line, the creators of the Care Bears crafted a loose purpose and mission for their characters in order to fool consumers into buying their products.

But does this have any bearing on what I think of the movie? No. But I must say, this little bit of information proves, once again, just how disillusioning childhood can really be.

The Care Bears Movie is a harmless piece of fluff that promotes caring and understanding of other people. What’s not to like? It gives a good message to young viewers and it's easy for adults to sit through, breezing by in a quick 76 minutes. The animation is all pretty good, though I must admit that the songs can be quite cheesy. One negative about it is that it is cut into segments, as if pre-packaged for airing with commercial breaks, even though it was released in theaters.

The story is being told as a bedtime tale by the owners of an orphanage. It concerns the Care Bears from the magical world of Care-A-Lot, somewhere high up in the clouds. The Care Bears monitor the level of caring on Earth and step in from time to time to make sure people don’t forget about the importance of caring.

The Care Bears go down to Earth to help perk up a pair of orphans who feel that no one cares about them and they no longer see the point in trying to be happy. At the same time, a young loner, a magician’s apprentice no less, becomes enamored with a magic book that promises to give him powers that will make people like him. Fooled by the promise of acceptance, the young boy eventually loses his control of himself to the evil spirit in the book.

This all sets up a showdown between good and evil. The Care Bears have to band together to thwart the evil spirit, pulling together a tremendous display of courage and caring. The film also introduces us to the Care Bear Cousins, a variety of different animals with powers similar to their bear counterparts. There’s also a bit of a twist ending, but the twist isn’t that important and it’s fairly predictable.

While you may have a hard time keeping track of all the characters (as most of the Care Bears and Cousins are interchangeable), they all play a specific part in the success in their mission. This serves as a subtle message to kids that everyone plays a part and no one is unimportant. Maybe kids won’t even pick up on this message, but it’s there.

I’d only recommend this film to people who grew up watching the Care Bears. To those who have never watched the animated series, this film may seem trite and simple, but those who have seen the series will be taken down memory lane. Speaking of memory, I had forgotten what all happened in this film and had evidently combined this film and its sequel in my mind. I suppose this makes the film not as memorable, but I also hadn’t seen it in over 15 years.

Colorful, whimsical and cheesy, The Care Bears Movie does what it sets out to do. It entertains children while giving them a basic message about being nice to people. While nothing too spectacular on a cinematic level, it’s a piece of nostalgia for my generation. It may pull a few groans out of adult viewers who have grown cynical and sick of overly happy fluff in their years, young children will be glued to it like you wouldn’t believe.

RATING: 3.25 out of 5