ALICE IN AMERICANALAND:
Wonderland needs a princess because she's missing! So what happens? The CareBears go looking for a princess look-alike by travelling all over the world. In this animated classic (We're talking VHS because it has yet to be released to DVD in America yet, only Australia so sorry), Alice is probably an American because she speaks like one and is reading 80s Material girl magazines by her bed. While traversing the globe with the princess' picture, and driving their cloud cars during a lovely tune titled "Has Anybody Seen This Girl," the CareBears check with a mounty which leads me to think she's American because she doesn't have an English accent like Lewis Carrol's Alice. At first the CareBears can't seem to find her. Once in North America somewhere, the CareBears find Alice in her house and use a rainbow beam to fumble into her room. According to Swift Heart Rabbit's uncle, the White Rabbit ('I'm late, I'm late), the "EVIL WIZARD" of Wonderland has kidnapped Wonderland's princess so he can crown himself king because of rules of succession. If Alice can pretend to be the princess until the CareBears find the real one, the kingdom will be saved. This plot becomes complicated REAL quick.THE JOURNEY TO WONDERLAND:
The easiest way to Wonderland is through Alice's mirror in which the White Rabbit can only open using his magic because apparently White Rabbit's have this ability. As a certain group of the CareBears take Alice through the mirror (an allusion to Alice in the Looking Glass), the EVIL WIZARD or E.W. because that's his name looks through and cracks it with his dark purple magic eventually shattering the mirror into glass shards. To make matters creepier for children, the animators of the film used the same type of voice effect on the CareBears similar to the characters being trapped in the television in "Poltergeist." The White Rabbit tells Alice and her crew to make it to Heart Palace where he will meet up with her. How does a person get to Wonderland if the magical passage way is destroyed? Through a Rabbit Hole, duh!
WHAT A STRANGE JOURNEY THIS HAS BEEN:
As Alice and her gang of CareBears traverse the strange terrain of Wonderland, they are immediately engaged in a psychedelic tune called "Wonderland" sung by a bug playing an organ that shoots off bubbles as each note is played. As they move through what appears to be an acid trippy environment, the E.W. spies on them with his spy glass. The E. W. appears to look very Jafar-esque but Disney's Aladdin didn't appear until 1992 and this film came out in 1987 so keep that in mind. Also the E.W. sends out his troll-like henchmen, Dim and Dum, (Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dum obviously) to capture Alice. After Alice's group walks on checkerboard-like grass, they are approached by Dim and Dum impersonating cab drivers. The group replies "We don't accept rides from strangers" an obviously built in PSA for kids. Suddenly Dim and Dum disappear but then little red robots appear in the distance in which children probably think they are cute because I too loved robots when I was young. The little red robots start fusing together to form several BIG RED ROTTEN ROBOTS as Dim and Dum would say. As the battle begins, each CareBear uses the power of their glowing bellies, oh yeah, and their shear wit to save the day.
THE QUEST:
Once Alice's group and the second group meet up, they are approached by the Cheshire Cat who, unlike like the original character, raps everything he says with 80s flow splendor. He tells them that the Mad Hatter has information about the princesses whereabouts and they should seek him out. Through the power of rap, he reveals to them to use their heads. One group of CareBears heads out to find the Mad Hatter while the other group escorts Alice to the palace. The group looking for the Mad Hatter suddenly discovers interesting hats along the way. Once a CareBear puts the hat on they become possessed by the spirit of the hat and immediately begin to act like the person who wore either owned the hat or wore the hat (not super clear but also not important for kids). Alice, while doubting her ability to be a princess, sits down to have a pity party because this character really has low self-esteem. Suddenly the CareBears hear a jack-in-the box and, as they are listening to it, Alice is immediately snatched by Dim and Dum to be taken to the E.W.
Cheers!
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