The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland
Encyclopedia
The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland is the third theatrically released film in the Care Bears
animated franchise. It was released in the United States
and Canada
on August 7, 1987 by Cineplex Odeon Films
, and is based on Lewis Carroll
's Alice
stories. The fourth feature film made at Toronto's Nelvana
studio, it was directed by staff member Raymond Jafelice and produced by the firm's founders (Michael Hirsh
, Patrick Loubert
and Clive A. Smith
). It starred the voices of Keith Knight
, Bob Dermer
, Jim Henshaw
, Tracey Moore
and Elizabeth Hanna
.
In the third film to feature the title characters, 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 her photo, the Bears and Cousins search around the Earth for her before enlisting a most unlikely replacement—an ordinary girl named Alice—to save her true look-alike. Venturing into Wonderland, the group encounters a host of strange characters, among them a rapping
Cheshire Cat
and the Jabberwocky
.
Adventure in Wonderland was produced and self-financed by Nelvana, after a consortium of U.S. companies helped them with the first two films. Animation was handled by the Toronto studio and Taiwan's Wang Film Productions
. The film featured a music score by Patricia Cullen, along with songs by pop musicians John Sebastian
and Natalie Cole
. Upon its North American release, the film opened weakly to mixed reviews, and ended up with a US$2.6 million gross; worldwide, it barely made back its US$5 million cost. In the years since it opened, Wonderland has received many VHS and DVD releases in various countries; a North American Region 1
premiere has yet to occur.
, the uncle of Swift Heart Rabbit. The White Rabbit gives the Care Bears the task of finding the missing Princess of Heart, who is to be crowned queen in Wonderland
, otherwise the villainous Wizard of Wonderland will gain the throne. Tenderheart, Grumpy, Good Luck, Brave Heart, Lotsa Heart, Swift Heart and the White Rabbit search all over the world for the Princess, but to no avail. Grumpy is pointed to a girl who resembles the Princess, Alice
. The Care Bears decide that Alice could act as the Princess until the real one is found. The group is separated by the power of the Wizard, forcing Grumpy, Swift Heart and the White Rabbit to use a rabbit hole to reach Wonderland.
In Wonderland, Tenderheart's group gain directions to Heart Palace from Officer Caterpillar
. The Wizard sends his minions Dim and Dum to capture Alice using large battle robots, but the Care Bears defeat them with a Care Bear Stare. Grumpy's group reunite with the others, as the Cheshire Cat
appears, portrayed as a rap artist
. The Cheshire Cat splits the group of two, directing Tenderheart, Lotsa Heart, Alice and the White Rabbit to Heart Palace, and Brave Heart, Grumpy, Good Luck and Swift Heart to look for the Mad Hatter
, who knows where the Princess is. The Wizard captures Alice briefly and explains to her that when he rules he will make Wonderland less insane and more controlled. Alice flees and runs into the Queen of Hearts
' throne room, where the Queen accepts Alice as her daughter whilst knowing she is not. Brave Heart's group locate the Mad Hatter who takes them to the lair of the Jabberwocky
, where the Princess is. Grumpy rescues the princess, but the Jabberwocky gets a thorn in his foot which is removed by the Care Bears. In gratitude, the Jabberwocky (or "Stan" as he prefers to be called) decides to help them back to Heart Palace.
As the Princess' coronation day arrives, the Wizard decides to expose Alice's identity to the court via the Princess Test, to prove that she is not the princess. Alice climbs a mountain to retrieve some water from a spring, aided secretly by Tenderheart and Lotsa Heart; however, Alice gives the water to an injured unicorn
. Angered by this, the Wizard demands that Alice make the flowers in the palace garden bloom magically. The princess secretly steps in and makes the flowers bloom. The Wizard, who had not been anticipating the Princess' return, suddenly exclaims he had her kidnapped, exposing his crime. The Care Bears, Alice, and the Wonderland characters confront the Wizard but the appearance of the Jabberwocky drives the villain insane, and he is arrested. The princess is crowned the new queen, and she helps Alice and the Care Bears return home. At Care-A-Lot, Grumpy raps with the Cheshire Cat who joins the Care Bears for dinner as the film ends.
' Care Bears
characters was under development at Toronto's Nelvana
studio as early as June 1986, a few months after the release of the second instalment, Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation
. Nelvana had also begun production of a Care Bears television series
set to air on the ABC network
in the U.S., and Global
in Canada. Whereas the other two were co-financed with U.S. companies, Nelvana raised its own money (US$5 million) for the new instalment, with assistance from Middlefield Entertainment Group. Production of Adventure in Wonderland, Nelvana's fourth animated feature, took place at the Toronto company's facilities; overseas work was handled by Taiwan's Wang Film Productions
. Raymond Jafelice, the director, was previously involved in the original Care Bears Movie
as a storyboard artist. Nelvana's founders—Michael Hirsh
, Patrick Loubert
and Clive A. Smith
—were once again producers. Jack Chojnacki
, the co-president of American Greetings' licensing division Those Characters from Cleveland, served as a creative consultant on this instalment; for the previous ones, he was an executive producer. In December 1986, Toronto actor Colin Fox recorded his lines for the film at the Nelvana studios.
, the distribution branch of Canadian cinema chain Cineplex Odeon Corporation
, acquired the North American rights to The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland in February 1987. According to the Long Island newspaper Newsday
, Cineplex Odeon chairman Garth Drabinsky
"shrugged off [this film] as 'a favour to the Canadian producer.'" Tie-ins appeared at department store as part of the film's promotion; also, costumed Care Bears spread the word at daycare centres, hospitals and parades, and through radio. Opening on August 7, 1987, Wonderland only grossed US$2,608,000 in the U.S. and Canadian domestic market, with US$1,000,000 in rentals; on its opening weekend, it grossed little more than US$1 million in 20th place on 1,094 screens. It was Cineplex Odeon's second-highest-grossing release as a distributor, alongside Sign o' the Times (which made only US$3 million). The film premiered on videocassette in December 1987, thanks to MCA Home Video, and reissued by GoodTimes Home Video in 1996; a U.S. laserdisc
release occurred on May 16, 1991. The film aired on premium cable's Disney Channel
in August 1988; in Canada, television rights were held by the Family Channel. Although the first two Care Bears films have received DVD releases, a Region 1 DVD premiere has not yet occurred for the third one, although it did receive a DVD release in Australia
.
Adventure in Wonderland only managed to break even with worldwide earnings of US$6,000,000, which led Nelvana co-founder Michael Hirsh to say, "It was just one sequel too many." The Bears would return for a television special, Care Bears Nutcracker Suite
, which premiered on video and television in December 1988. They would no longer appear in animated features until 2004's Journey to Joke-a-lot
. Their next theatrically released film, Oopsy Does It!
, was screened in the U.S. in August 2007.
. The film was released by Germany's Warner Bros.
on November 27, 1987 as Bärchis Abenteuer im Wunderland. It sold 104,478 tickets and ranked 96th place among the year's releases in that market (excluding re-issues), and grossed approximately (the equivalent of DM788,750, or US$570,000). The film was released on video by VCL/Virgin
on March 22, 1988.
Adventure in Wonderland was released in the Netherlands on December 17, 1987, as Troetelbeertjes in Wonderland. Starting in March 1988, it was screened in matinees across the United Kingdom by Virgin Films
, as part of an agreement with the local branch of 20th Century Fox
. As late as 1992, distribution rights in France were held by NDP, who released it as Les Bisounours au pays des merveilles. In Spain, the film is entitled Los Osos Amorosos en el País de las Maravillas (among Castillan speakers) and Els Óssos Amorosos al país de les meravelles (among Catalan speakers). Elsewhere in Europe, it is known as As Aventuras dos Ursinhos Carinhosos (in Portugal), Krambjörnarna i Underlandet (in Sweden), and Troskliwe Misie w Krainie Czarów (in Poland).
In Australia, the film was released theatrically in December 1988, and on video in July 1989 by Virgin; it was airing on that country's Nine Network
by February 1996. South African video rights were held by Ster Kinekor in 1989. On February 23 that same year, it was released in Mexico as Aventuras de Alicia en el país de las maravillas y los ositos cariñositos. As of 2010, the film has been sold on DVD in several European countries; an Australian edition treats it as an episode rather than a feature-length film.
guide, Movies on TV and Video Cassette gave it two and a half stars out of four and called it "Enjoyable [...] for the tyke set." The 1988–1989 edition of the Film Review called it "the best of the trio", adding that it "may well please the youngsters" with its "non-stop entertainment"; this view was also shared by Carole Kass of the Richmond Times-Dispatch
. John Teerds of Brisbane, Australia's Sunday Mail
wrote of the film positively, while another Australian critic, Rob Lowing of Sydney's The Sun-Herald
, gave it two and a half stars out of four and noted that there was "Nothing original here, although that also means nothing to shock". Similarly, the Christian Science Monitor wrote that "The animated action holds few surprises for grown-ups, but the cute characters and fetching designs should enthrall young children."
In her New York Times
review, Caryn James said, "[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." 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." Rick Groen of Toronto's The Globe and Mail
expressed disappointment over the way the villain was handled.
Comparing this installment to its predecessors, Newsday' s Joseph Gemlis declared that Wonderland "aspires to be more than a merchandising gimmick. It has a story to tell". However, he criticised the plot and treatment of the fictional land's denizens. Film critic Leonard Maltin
called it a "typically bland kiddie outing", awarding it two stars out of four. The staff of Halliwell's Film Guide called it "Undemanding and uninteresting whimsy for the under-sixes", while London's Time Out referred to it as "Hemlock to Lewis Carroll fans." In a 1988 issue, the Video Librarian labelled it a "dud".
Adventure in Wonderland 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 Award
s, it was also nominated for Best Motion Picture in the Animated category.
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass
. "Basically," said Michael Hirsh, "we borrowed from [these two works] because we thought it would be interesting for the Care Bears to go into a classic adventure and get involved with classic characters." Likewise, Patrick Loubert said, "By combining Alice and those wonderful Lewis Carroll characters from Wonderland with the Care Bears, the new film will now introduce all these magnificent characters to a whole new generation." 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. According to Johanna Steinmetz of the Chicago Tribune
, Wonderland borrowed some elements from The Wizard of Oz
.
performed the film’s opening song, "Rise and Shine". The score was written by Patricia Cullen (who had previously scored the first two films), and orchestrated and conducted by Milton Barnes. Todd Sussman of The Miami News
said, "A musical score of seven forgettable songs is ornamental and does little to advance the plot. ... Even the opening number [...] is unmemorable. It's hookless."
Care Bears
The Care Bears are characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik. In 1983, Kenner turned the Care Bears into plush teddy bears...
animated franchise. It was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on August 7, 1987 by Cineplex Odeon Films
Cineplex Odeon Films
Cineplex Odeon Films was the film distribution unit of the Canadian cinema chain Cineplex Odeon Corporation....
, and is based on Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's Alice
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
stories. The fourth feature film made at Toronto's Nelvana
Nelvana
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 known for its work in children's animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s...
studio, it was directed by staff member Raymond Jafelice and produced by the firm's founders (Michael Hirsh
Michael Hirsh (producer)
Michael Hirsh is a Belgian-born Canadian citizen. He has been a significant figure in the Canadian television industry, or more specifically children's programming, since the 1980s.-Personal life:...
, Patrick Loubert
Patrick Loubert
Patrick Loubert was one of the founders of the Canadian animation studio, Nelvana Limited, along with Clive A. Smith and Michael Hirsh. He has produced, and executive-produced, much of the company's most memorable fare....
and Clive A. Smith
Clive A. Smith
Clive A. Smith is a British expatriate director and animator who, with Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert, founded Canadian animation studio Nelvana in 1971...
). It starred the voices of Keith Knight
Keith Knight (actor)
Keith Knight was a Canadian actor. He made his screen debut as Larry 'Fink' Finkelstein in the 1979 comedy Meatballs, voiced the White Rabbit in The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland, and voiced Pigface in the BBC drama Ace Lightning. He was also known for voicing Lowly Worm in The Busy World of...
, Bob Dermer
Bob Dermer
Bob Dermer is a children's entertainment actor who first made his contributions to Canadian television starting with the 1976 series Readalong....
, Jim Henshaw
Jim Henshaw
Jim Henshaw is a professional actor, screenwriter and film and television producer.The first Actor graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, he began his professional career in 1971...
, Tracey Moore
Tracey Moore
Tracey Ann Moore in Calgary, Alberta) is a Canadian animated voice actress. She was the voice of Princess Toadstool in the two North American cartoon television series, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World...
and Elizabeth Hanna
Elizabeth Hanna
Elizabeth Hanna is a Canadian film and television actress, most notable for her voice acting work in animated films. She later complemented her voice acting skills by becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist.-Early history:...
.
In the third film to feature the title characters, the Care Bears must rescue the Princess of Wonderland from the Evil Wizard and his assistants, Dim and Dumb. After the White Rabbit
White Rabbit
The White Rabbit works for the Red Queen, but is also a secret member of the Underland Underground Resistance, and was sent by the Hatter to search for Alice...
shows them her photo, the Bears and Cousins search around the Earth for her before enlisting a most unlikely replacement—an ordinary girl named Alice—to save her true look-alike. Venturing into Wonderland, the group encounters a host of strange characters, among them a rapping
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
Cheshire Cat
Cheshire Cat
The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll's depiction of it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Known for his distinctive mischievous grin, the Cheshire Cat has had a notable impact on popular culture.-Origins:...
and the Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
.
Adventure in Wonderland was produced and self-financed by Nelvana, after a consortium of U.S. companies helped them with the first two films. Animation was handled by the Toronto studio and Taiwan's Wang Film Productions
Wang Film Productions
Wang Film Productions is one of the oldest and most prolific Taiwanese animation studios...
. The film featured a music score by Patricia Cullen, along with songs by pop musicians John Sebastian
John Sebastian
John Benson Sebastian Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and autoharpist. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000...
and Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
. Upon its North American release, the film opened weakly to mixed reviews, and ended up with a US$2.6 million gross; worldwide, it barely made back its US$5 million cost. In the years since it opened, Wonderland has received many VHS and DVD releases in various countries; a North American Region 1
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
premiere has yet to occur.
Plot
In Care-a-lot, the Care Bears are visited by the White RabbitWhite Rabbit
The White Rabbit works for the Red Queen, but is also a secret member of the Underland Underground Resistance, and was sent by the Hatter to search for Alice...
, the uncle of Swift Heart Rabbit. The White Rabbit gives the Care Bears the task of finding the missing Princess of Heart, who is to be crowned queen in Wonderland
Wonderland (fictional country)
Wonderland is the setting for Lewis Carroll's 1865 children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.-Geography:In the story, Wonderland is located underground, and Alice reaches it by travelling down a rabbit hole, possibly on the banks of the Thames between Folly Bridge and Godstow...
, otherwise the villainous Wizard of Wonderland will gain the throne. Tenderheart, Grumpy, Good Luck, Brave Heart, Lotsa Heart, Swift Heart and the White Rabbit search all over the world for the Princess, but to no avail. Grumpy is pointed to a girl who resembles the Princess, Alice
Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
Alice is a fictional character in the literary classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There. She is a young girl from Victorian-era Britain.-Development:...
. The Care Bears decide that Alice could act as the Princess until the real one is found. The group is separated by the power of the Wizard, forcing Grumpy, Swift Heart and the White Rabbit to use a rabbit hole to reach Wonderland.
In Wonderland, Tenderheart's group gain directions to Heart Palace from Officer Caterpillar
Caterpillar (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Caterpillar is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.-Appearance in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:...
. The Wizard sends his minions Dim and Dum to capture Alice using large battle robots, but the Care Bears defeat them with a Care Bear Stare. Grumpy's group reunite with the others, as the Cheshire Cat
Cheshire Cat
The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll's depiction of it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Known for his distinctive mischievous grin, the Cheshire Cat has had a notable impact on popular culture.-Origins:...
appears, portrayed as a rap artist
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
. The Cheshire Cat splits the group of two, directing Tenderheart, Lotsa Heart, Alice and the White Rabbit to Heart Palace, and Brave Heart, Grumpy, Good Luck and Swift Heart to look for the Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
Hatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll...
, who knows where the Princess is. The Wizard captures Alice briefly and explains to her that when he rules he will make Wonderland less insane and more controlled. Alice flees and runs into the Queen of Hearts
Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Queen of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by the writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll. She is a foul-tempered monarch, that Carroll himself pictured as "a blind fury", and who is quick to decree death sentences at the slightest offense...
' throne room, where the Queen accepts Alice as her daughter whilst knowing she is not. Brave Heart's group locate the Mad Hatter who takes them to the lair of the Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
, where the Princess is. Grumpy rescues the princess, but the Jabberwocky gets a thorn in his foot which is removed by the Care Bears. In gratitude, the Jabberwocky (or "Stan" as he prefers to be called) decides to help them back to Heart Palace.
As the Princess' coronation day arrives, the Wizard decides to expose Alice's identity to the court via the Princess Test, to prove that she is not the princess. Alice climbs a mountain to retrieve some water from a spring, aided secretly by Tenderheart and Lotsa Heart; however, Alice gives the water to an injured unicorn
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
. Angered by this, the Wizard demands that Alice make the flowers in the palace garden bloom magically. The princess secretly steps in and makes the flowers bloom. The Wizard, who had not been anticipating the Princess' return, suddenly exclaims he had her kidnapped, exposing his crime. The Care Bears, Alice, and the Wonderland characters confront the Wizard but the appearance of the Jabberwocky drives the villain insane, and he is arrested. The princess is crowned the new queen, and she helps Alice and the Care Bears return home. At Care-A-Lot, Grumpy raps with the Cheshire Cat who joins the Care Bears for dinner as the film ends.
Cast
The cast of the film:| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| Bob Dermer Bob Dermer Bob Dermer is a children's entertainment actor who first made his contributions to Canadian television starting with the 1976 series Readalong.... |
Grumpy Bear |
| Eva Almos | Swift Heart Rabbit |
| Dan Hennessey Dan Hennessey Dan Hennessey is a Canadian voice actor who, early on in his career, performed with a children's comedy troupe,... |
Brave Heart Lion / Dum |
| Jim Henshaw Jim Henshaw Jim Henshaw is a professional actor, screenwriter and film and television producer.The first Actor graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, he began his professional career in 1971... |
Tender Heart Bear |
| Marla Lukofsky Marla Lukofsky Marla Lukofsky is a Canadian veteran stand-up comedian. She was one of Canada's stand-up pioneers in the 1970s, the same decade she discovered her talent and was a member of the Yuk Yuk Club.... |
Good Luck Bear |
| Luba Goy Luba Goy -Life and career:Goy was born in Haltern, Germany to Ukrainian parents and raised in Ottawa. They emigrated to Canada in 1951. She is a graduate of the Glebe Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, Ontario, and later graduated from Canada's National Theatre School, before acting in theatre productions in... |
Lots-a-Heart Elephant |
| Keith Knight Keith Knight (actor) Keith Knight was a Canadian actor. He made his screen debut as Larry 'Fink' Finkelstein in the 1979 comedy Meatballs, voiced the White Rabbit in The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland, and voiced Pigface in the BBC drama Ace Lightning. He was also known for voicing Lowly Worm in The Busy World of... |
White Rabbit |
| Tracey Moore Tracey Moore Tracey Ann Moore in Calgary, Alberta) is a Canadian animated voice actress. She was the voice of Princess Toadstool in the two North American cartoon television series, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World... |
Alice |
| Colin Fox Colin Fox (actor) Colin Fox is a Canadian actor. His acting credits include playing Jean Paul Desmond and Jacques Eloi Des Mondes in Strange Paradise , as well as voice work in various animated series, and in other roles in film, television and on the stage... |
Wizard |
| John Stocker | Dim / Cheshire Cat |
| Don McManus | Caterpillar |
| Elizabeth Hanna Elizabeth Hanna Elizabeth Hanna is a Canadian film and television actress, most notable for her voice acting work in animated films. She later complemented her voice acting skills by becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist.-Early history:... |
Queen of Wonderland |
| Alan Fawcett | Flamingo |
| Keith Hampshire Keith Hampshire Keith Hampshire is an English-born Canadian popular singer of the 1970s, famous in Canada for three top ten hits , and the successful television show Music Machine... |
Mad Hatter / Jabberwocky ("Stan") |
| Alyson Court Alyson Court Alyson Stephanie Court is a Canadian actress who first appeared in the 1985 children's film Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, and played summer camper Dawn in the animated film Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation the following year... |
Princess of Wonderland |
Production
A third feature film based on American GreetingsAmerican Greetings
American Greetings Corporation, Inc. is the world's largest publicly-traded greeting card company. It is based in Brooklyn, Ohio and sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, party products , and electronic expressive content...
' Care Bears
Care Bears
The Care Bears are characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik. In 1983, Kenner turned the Care Bears into plush teddy bears...
characters was under development at Toronto's Nelvana
Nelvana
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 known for its work in children's animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s...
studio as early as June 1986, a few months after the release of the second instalment, Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation
Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation
Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation is a 1986 children's animated film produced by LBS Communications, Inc. and Canadian animation studio Nelvana. The third animated feature from Nelvana, it was directed by Dale Schott, written by Peter Sauder and produced by Nelvana's three founders...
. Nelvana had also begun production of a Care Bears television series
The Care Bears (TV series)
The Care Bears is an animated television series based on the Care Bears franchise, which aired between 1985 and 1988 in syndication; on the ABC network in the United States; and on Global in Canada. The 1985 episodes were produced by DIC Entertainment; the ABC/Global episodes were made by...
set to air on the ABC network
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in the U.S., and Global
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
in Canada. Whereas the other two were co-financed with U.S. companies, Nelvana raised its own money (US$5 million) for the new instalment, with assistance from Middlefield Entertainment Group. Production of Adventure in Wonderland, Nelvana's fourth animated feature, took place at the Toronto company's facilities; overseas work was handled by Taiwan's Wang Film Productions
Wang Film Productions
Wang Film Productions is one of the oldest and most prolific Taiwanese animation studios...
. Raymond Jafelice, the director, was previously involved in the original Care Bears Movie
The Care Bears Movie
The Care Bears Movie is a 1985 Canadian animated film, the second feature production from the Toronto animation studio Nelvana. One of the first films based directly on a toy line, it introduced the Care Bears characters and their companions, the Care Bear Cousins. In the film, orphanage owners...
as a storyboard artist. Nelvana's founders—Michael Hirsh
Michael Hirsh (producer)
Michael Hirsh is a Belgian-born Canadian citizen. He has been a significant figure in the Canadian television industry, or more specifically children's programming, since the 1980s.-Personal life:...
, Patrick Loubert
Patrick Loubert
Patrick Loubert was one of the founders of the Canadian animation studio, Nelvana Limited, along with Clive A. Smith and Michael Hirsh. He has produced, and executive-produced, much of the company's most memorable fare....
and Clive A. Smith
Clive A. Smith
Clive A. Smith is a British expatriate director and animator who, with Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert, founded Canadian animation studio Nelvana in 1971...
—were once again producers. Jack Chojnacki
Jack Chojnacki
Jack Chojnacki served as the co-president of Those Characters from Cleveland Inc., a division of U.S. greeting card company American Greetings , in the 1980s...
, the co-president of American Greetings' licensing division Those Characters from Cleveland, served as a creative consultant on this instalment; for the previous ones, he was an executive producer. In December 1986, Toronto actor Colin Fox recorded his lines for the film at the Nelvana studios.
North America
Cineplex Odeon FilmsCineplex Odeon Films
Cineplex Odeon Films was the film distribution unit of the Canadian cinema chain Cineplex Odeon Corporation....
, the distribution branch of Canadian cinema chain Cineplex Odeon Corporation
Cineplex Entertainment
Cineplex Entertainment LP , is the largest film exhibitor in Canada and owns, leases or has a joint-venture interest in 130 theatres with 1,351 screens. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Cineplex operates theatres from British Columbia to Quebec...
, acquired the North American rights to The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland in February 1987. According to the Long Island newspaper Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, Cineplex Odeon chairman Garth Drabinsky
Garth Drabinsky
Garth Howard Drabinsky, OC is a former Canadian film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud and forgery. His sentence is stayed, pending appeal.-Biography:...
"shrugged off [this film] as 'a favour to the Canadian producer.'" Tie-ins appeared at department store as part of the film's promotion; also, costumed Care Bears spread the word at daycare centres, hospitals and parades, and through radio. Opening on August 7, 1987, Wonderland only grossed US$2,608,000 in the U.S. and Canadian domestic market, with US$1,000,000 in rentals; on its opening weekend, it grossed little more than US$1 million in 20th place on 1,094 screens. It was Cineplex Odeon's second-highest-grossing release as a distributor, alongside Sign o' the Times (which made only US$3 million). The film premiered on videocassette in December 1987, thanks to MCA Home Video, and reissued by GoodTimes Home Video in 1996; a U.S. laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
release occurred on May 16, 1991. The film aired on premium cable's Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
in August 1988; in Canada, television rights were held by the Family Channel. Although the first two Care Bears films have received DVD releases, a Region 1 DVD premiere has not yet occurred for the third one, although it did receive a DVD release in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Adventure in Wonderland only managed to break even with worldwide earnings of US$6,000,000, which led Nelvana co-founder Michael Hirsh to say, "It was just one sequel too many." The Bears would return for a television special, Care Bears Nutcracker Suite
Care Bears Nutcracker Suite
Care Bears Nutcracker Suite is the third and final television special to feature the Care Bears characters. Produced by the Canadian animation studio Nelvana, it is loosely based on the Nutcracker ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky...
, which premiered on video and television in December 1988. They would no longer appear in animated features until 2004's Journey to Joke-a-lot
Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot
Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot is a 2004 children's animated feature, produced by Nelvana Limited and released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment. Directed by Mike Fallows and written by Jeffrey Alan Schecter, this was the fourth film to star the Care Bears, and their first in over 15 years...
. Their next theatrically released film, Oopsy Does It!
Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!
Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! is a computer-animated film released on August 4, 2007 by Kidtoon Films. It was developed by American Greetings as part of the Care Bears' 25th anniversary, and produced by SD Entertainment...
, was screened in the U.S. in August 2007.
Overseas
As with the original Care Bears Movie, Adventure in Wonderland made an appearance at 1987's Cannes Film FestivalCannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
. The film was released by Germany's Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
on November 27, 1987 as Bärchis Abenteuer im Wunderland. It sold 104,478 tickets and ranked 96th place among the year's releases in that market (excluding re-issues), and grossed approximately (the equivalent of DM788,750, or US$570,000). The film was released on video by VCL/Virgin
Virgin Group
Virgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding...
on March 22, 1988.
Adventure in Wonderland was released in the Netherlands on December 17, 1987, as Troetelbeertjes in Wonderland. Starting in March 1988, it was screened in matinees across the United Kingdom by Virgin Films
Virgin Group
Virgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding...
, as part of an agreement with the local branch of 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. As late as 1992, distribution rights in France were held by NDP, who released it as Les Bisounours au pays des merveilles. In Spain, the film is entitled Los Osos Amorosos en el País de las Maravillas (among Castillan speakers) and Els Óssos Amorosos al país de les meravelles (among Catalan speakers). Elsewhere in Europe, it is known as As Aventuras dos Ursinhos Carinhosos (in Portugal), Krambjörnarna i Underlandet (in Sweden), and Troskliwe Misie w Krainie Czarów (in Poland).
In Australia, the film was released theatrically in December 1988, and on video in July 1989 by Virgin; it was airing on that country's Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
by February 1996. South African video rights were held by Ster Kinekor in 1989. On February 23 that same year, it was released in Mexico as Aventuras de Alicia en el país de las maravillas y los ositos cariñositos. As of 2010, the film has been sold on DVD in several European countries; an Australian edition treats it as an episode rather than a feature-length film.
Reception
Like the first Care Bears Movie,Adventure in Wonderland received mixed reviews from critics. Henry Herx in The Family Guide to Movies and Videos deemed it a "vastly superior sequel" to the "failed original": "[It is] a lively, colourful, complexly designed and orchestrated travelolgue through Wonderland ... Director Raymond Jafelice holds even adult interest with his fast cuts and engaging fantasy characters." while the Bantam BooksBantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
guide, Movies on TV and Video Cassette gave it two and a half stars out of four and called it "Enjoyable [...] for the tyke set." The 1988–1989 edition of the Film Review called it "the best of the trio", adding that it "may well please the youngsters" with its "non-stop entertainment"; this view was also shared by Carole Kass of the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond the capital of Virginia, United States, and is commonly considered the "newspaper of record" for events occurring in much of the state...
. John Teerds of Brisbane, Australia's Sunday Mail
The Sunday Mail (Brisbane)
The Sunday Mail is Brisbane's only Sunday newspaper. The Sunday Mail is published in tabloid format, comprising several sections that can be extracted and read separately.-Publishing:...
wrote of the film positively, while another Australian critic, Rob Lowing of Sydney's The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald is an Australian tabloid newspaper published on Sundays in Sydney by Fairfax Media. It is the Sunday counterpart of The Sydney Morning Herald. In the 6 months to September 2005, The Sun-Herald had a circulation of 515,000...
, gave it two and a half stars out of four and noted that there was "Nothing original here, although that also means nothing to shock". Similarly, the Christian Science Monitor wrote that "The animated action holds few surprises for grown-ups, but the cute characters and fetching designs should enthrall young children."
In her New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
review, Caryn James said, "[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." As noted Hal Hinson of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, "Watching [this movie] is like being pelted mercilessly for 75 minutes with Lucky Charms
Lucky Charms
Lucky Charms is a brand of cereal produced by the General Mills food company of Golden Valley, Minnesota, United States. It first appeared in stores in 1964. The cereal consists of two main components: toasted oat-based pieces and multi-colored marshmallow bits in various shapes, the latter making...
. 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." Rick Groen of Toronto's The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
expressed disappointment over the way the villain was handled.
Comparing this installment to its predecessors, Newsday
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
called it a "typically bland kiddie outing", awarding it two stars out of four. The staff of Halliwell's Film Guide called it "Undemanding and uninteresting whimsy for the under-sixes", while London's Time Out referred to it as "Hemlock to Lewis Carroll fans." In a 1988 issue, the Video Librarian labelled it a "dud".
Adventure in Wonderland 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 Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...
s, it was also nominated for Best Motion Picture in the Animated category.
Allusions
The film is based on Lewis CarrollLewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
. "Basically," said Michael Hirsh, "we borrowed from [these two works] because we thought it would be interesting for the Care Bears to go into a classic adventure and get involved with classic characters." Likewise, Patrick Loubert said, "By combining Alice and those wonderful Lewis Carroll characters from Wonderland with the Care Bears, the new film will now introduce all these magnificent characters to a whole new generation." Parts of this film are inspired by the literary works The Prisoner of Zenda
The Prisoner of Zenda
The Prisoner of Zenda is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The king of the fictional country of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus unable to attend his own coronation. Political forces are such that in order for the king to retain his crown his...
and Androcles and the Lion
Androcles and the Lion (play)
Androcles and the Lion is a 1912 play written by George Bernard Shaw.Androcles and the Lion is Shaw's retelling of the tale of Androcles, a slave who is saved by the requited mercy of a lion. In the play, Shaw portrays Androcles to be one of the many Christians being led to the Colosseum for torture...
, and their cinematic counterparts from 1937
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 film)
The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1937 black-and-white adventure film based on the Anthony Hope 1894 novel of the same name and the 1896 play. Of the many film adaptations, this is considered by many to be the definitive version....
and 1952 respectively. According to Johanna Steinmetz of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, Wonderland borrowed some elements from The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
.
Music
The songs in The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland were composed and performed by John Sebastian, who performed "Nobody Cares like a Bear" in the first Care Bears Movie. For this instalment, Sebastian sang "Have You Seen This Girl?" and the "Wonderland" song, while singer and songwriter Natalie ColeNatalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
performed the film’s opening song, "Rise and Shine". The score was written by Patricia Cullen (who had previously scored the first two films), and orchestrated and conducted by Milton Barnes. Todd Sussman of The Miami News
The Miami News
The Miami News was the dominant evening newspaper in Miami, Florida for most of the 20th century, its chief concurrent competitor being the morning-edition of The Miami Herald. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called The Miami Metropolis. The Metropolis had become a daily paper...
said, "A musical score of seven forgettable songs is ornamental and does little to advance the plot. ... Even the opening number [...] is unmemorable. It's hookless."
| Song | Writer | Performer(s) | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Rise and Shine" | Maribeth Soloman Arr. Micky Erbe |
Natalie Cole | David Greene |
| "Have You Seen This Girl?" | John Sebastian | John Sebastian | John Sebastian David Greene |
| "Wonderland" | John Sebastian | John Sebastian | John Sebastian David Greene |
| "Mad About Hats" | John Sebastian | Keith Hampshire | John Sebastian David Greene |
| "The King of Wonderland" | John Sebastian | Colin Fox | John Sebastian David Greene |