Les Câlinours au pays des merveilles

I am not the biggest fan of The Care Bears, but I loved the show from the 80s and the first two movies. The rest of their stuff(movies/specials/shows-wise) have been hit and miss. Luckily The Care Bears in Wonderland is one of their better outings. The dialogue is corny and over-simplistic at times and the whole explanation about the jabberwocky being mean was a little cliché and lame. However, the animation is quite nice, with the colours vibrant especially. Some of the visuals are on the psychedelic side, but considering the oddball nature of the original story and Wonderland itself it works. The music I was surprised by, the score is whimsical enough but the songs are memorable and fun, Rise and Shine, Has Anyone Seen This Girl and Mad About Hats were the standouts. I don't care for rap usually, but Grumpy's rap song was surprising and funny. The story is full of charming moments with a great, identifiable message and maintains the bewitching feel of the timeless original story. The characters also delight, the care bears are likable enough and better than their rep, with the best being Grumpy(they're saccharine sure but I think evil is far too harsh considering there are far more annoying franchise characters anyway). Alice is cute, the wizard is another memorable and scary villain to match Spirit and DarkHeart and the henchmen are hilarious. Plus I don't think I've ever seen the Cheshire Cat as cool as he is here in other incarnations. In conclusion, I like it, I've seen better movies but this is nowhere near the worst either. 8/10 Bethany Cox