The Care Bears Movie
Care-a-lot is a place we all can go
Whenever we choose it
Care-a-lot is a feeling we all know
We never do lose it
The first theatrical film in the Care Bears franchise.
The story is told in a flashback about three lonely kids, two, Kim and Jason, helped by the Care Bears, and one, Nicholas, tempted by an evil, sentient book.
The book gives Nicholas magical powers, and then convinces him to turn everyone he sees into hateful people. This damages Care-a-lot, causing earthquakes and threatening to destroy it all. Kim, Jason, and the Care Bears have to go and stop what's happening. Their quest gets sidetracked when they are forced to go to another land, which turns out to be the home of the Care Bear Cousins.
This film was a modest success, but immensely profitable for American Greetings, and led to two more Care Bears sequels and a TV series.
- Care Bear Stare: Although it's used to stop a monster, even that isn't enough to save the day. It's up to The Power of Friendship for real to do that.
- Chekhov's Gun: The key from the first movie. Which had its importance greatly subverted by the fact that it could be duplicated rather easily.
- Complete Monster: The book spirit is this franchise's only real contender, seeing how it desired to basically make the entire world destroy itself through "not caring."
- The Dog Bites Back: Nicholas takes this trope to an extreme.
- The Dragon: Nicholas to the spirit's Big Bad.
- Flash Back / Framing Device: Orphans are told this story by an elder Nicholas.
- Happily Adopted: The kids in the end.
- Hate Plague: A spell the book teaches Nicholas.
- Heel Face Turn: Nicholas at the end.
- No Name Given: The book spirit.
- Pink Means Feminine: Kim has a pink sweater and hair bow.
- The Power of Friendship: Kim and Jason talking Nicholas down.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Evil Spirit in the first film.
- Troubled Production: Nelvana had some trouble with the outsourcing. Not with the Taiwan unit, but rather the Korean unit. Which is why the sequel was only animated in both Canada and Taiwan.
- Vile Villain Saccharine Show: The book spirit. And Nicholas in the third act.
- When Trees Attack: A tree possessed by a spell from the book, tries to capture Kim and Jason.