The Care Bears Movie

By Charles Solomon

The Care Bears were a line of multicolored teddy bears that racked up more than $200 million in retail sales in 1984. The Care Bears Movie was essentially a 75-minute commercial to introduce the new Care Bear Cousins, disguised as a smarmy story about sharing feelings. The film earned $23 million theatrically and ushered in a spate of cheap animated films created to sell merchandise to children. The plot interweaves the stories of Kim and Jason, two lonely orphans who have given up caring, and of Nicholas, a friendless magician's assistant who's seduced by an evil spirit. The Care Bears resolve everyone's problems. Years later, the Care Bears' popularity has waned and the film stands as a reminder of one of the less admirable uses of animation. The stars, hearts, rainbows, and saccharine songs can't disguise the barefaced commercialism behind the threadbare story.

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