CareBears Adventure in Wonderland: Part 3- Alice, the Test, and the Hunger

The Book of Wonder- Princess Test

Before Alice can be crowned Princess, the Evil Wizard or the E.W. comes into the courtroom and yells,"Stop, she must first pass the Princess test." Dim and Dum stagger in carrying the very heavy Book of Wonder, an enormous book that apparently contains vital information regarding Wonderland tradition. The White Rabbit, being in charge of ceremonial activities for the kingdom and what not, is immediately shocked by this progression of events. Happy with the way things are going, the E.W. demands that he begin to read from the special and hefty tome. In the Book of Wonder states the following for "The Princess Test":

1. The Princess must travel into the Wasteland
2. She must climb Goodbye, Mountain to the very top
3. She must gather water from a well
4. She must use the water to awake the slumbering garden

Goodbye, Mountain and Hello Courage

Once Alice reaches the wastelands of Wonderland, she observes how uninhabitable this area of desolation really is. What Alice doesn't know is that Dim and Dum are plotting to cause environmental hazards for her while Tenderheart and Lotsaheart are watching over her during this dangerous undertaking. Looking down and feeling scared after slipping, Alice slows down her free-solo-climbing and then is refreshed by the Cheshire cat who once again raps his advice. He tells Alice,"while the other CareBears are using their heads you just remember to use your heart." As Alice continues to climb upward with her new sense of confidence because of the rap's energetic vibes, Dim and Dum unleash a huge snowball towards Alice. Lotsaheart and Tenderheart fire up their glowing bellies and create a rainbow trampoline over Alice's head, bounce the snow ball back into the sky, and turn Dim and Dum into snow men. Reaching the tippy-top, Alice sees that the secluded area is beautiful and in the distance the well the book mentions. Dim and Dum see this as another opportunity to thwart Alice by tossing her in the well. Before the two henchmen make it to Alice, once again Tenderheart and Lotsaheart use their rainbow power of care to cause Dim and Dum to run up a rainbow and fall into the well immediately after the rainbow vanishes. Alice gets the cup of water, makes it to the bottom of the mountain and then hears something crying nearby. When the CareBears suspect it's a trap, it turns out to be instead a little unicorn tangled in a patch of thorns. Alice, being a compassionate soul, uses her remaining water to quench the unicorns thirst and carries it back to the palace.

CareBears Adventure in Wonderland: Part 2- The Evil Wizard, The Real Princess, and the Sympathetic Jabberwocky

In the Clutches of the Evil Wizard:

Once Alice is shoved through the doors of the Evil Wizard's tower, she is approached by a tall, eccentric man with pencil thin beard and pitch black hat that resembles his tower. And now my interns we get to hear the E.W.'s perspective on how Wonderland needs fixed during his diddy, "When I'm the King of Wonderland." He says that Wonderland needs placed under a metal dome so everyone could stay locked up at home . . . it's a rather fascist vision. Dim and Dum play ukulele giving it that sing-songy vibe except that this happiness is followed by the E.W.'s bizarre plans and ambient strange music interruptions. The song ends of course with a lightning crash that reveals the E.W.'s twisted awful teeth which could scare the devil out of kids. Maybe that's what they were going for? The E.W. then ascends into total darkness and minimal synthesizers fill the void with hypnotic frequencies. Alice, while observing her surroundings, is suddenly startled by the E.W.'s reappearing in which his shadow begins to mock Alice's shadow from a side view. This of course is concluded with maniacal laughter accompanied by intense music.

Running away with more low self-esteem, because the E.W. is a bully and because he told her that no one would believe her, Alice scuttles into Heart Palace's court room. She is completely surrounded by all the inhabitants of Wonderland. Alice gaining a sense of temporary confidence moves up to the Queen of Hearts' throne where she loses all confidence upon seeing the E.W. hover behind the Queen's back. Right as the E.W. gets ready to call out the imposture, the Queen embraces Alice with a hug and says "My daughter!" then all the citizens cheer. Unlike Lewis Carroll's Queen of Hearts, this character is loving and compassionate. And then there was the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit falls into the guards and yells, "The princess has returned . . . as you can plainly see." Great job, buddy. You almost screwed that up royally ha ha pun intended.

A Real Princess Could Do it:

If Alice wants to be a real princess she must learn to balance books on her head, dress properly, drink tea and drink tea whilst playing Croquet. Next we see a confident Alice go through a visual transition of stillness and complacency to a shaking (the two images flash simultaneously back and forth) Alice drinking tea on top of a flamingo hitting a Croquet balls at the same time. I know it looks crazy but it is Wonderland. Since Alice is kicking butt the E.W. decides to have Dim and Dum rig the course so that it's impossible to win. He says, " A Real Princess could do it." Together as a team the flamingo and Alice nail the last shot by launching the ball up in the air towards the huge heart-capped pole that lights up upon contact from said ball. Once this fails Dim and Dum sign a living will while the E.W. threatens them and demands most angrily that they capture Alice in her sleep. The camera once again has this strange fixation with the E.W. face, deep hollow eyes, and wicked teeth in which this scene once again is creepy. As a Doctor of Cartoon Analysis I have to say that recent Disney has really lost touch with terrifying kids into fearing their villains. It's like they are scared of Parental complaints. At least this Nelvana had some real balls and took some incredible gambles.

Hats, Thorns, Cages, and a Princess:

Meanwhile the other CareBears are still in search for the Real Princess. If you haven't picked up on it yet nobody really has a first name other than Alice. I kind of dig this feature and recommend you incorporate this into your future fantasy films. As the CareBears use the feat of hat possession to lead them in the right direction, they discover a cave entrance in the shape of a strange entity. Upon entering the cavern, the CareBears are surrounded by greenish rock and see a short silly man chasing a carrot attached to his hat by thin stick alone. They start conversing with each other and discover he is in fact the Mad Hatter. The Hatter then proceeds to explain through song that he's, "Mad About Hats." Hatter tells the gang that the Princess was brought to the Jabberwocky's cave and that he knows the way to the entrance. This lair isn't anything scary in fact it resembles a giant's living room which gives some indication of the creature's size. Braveheart Lion, a CareBear Cousin, accidentally launches Grumpy Bear into the air by tripping a mouse trap. 

CareBears Adventure in Wonderland: Part 1- Self Explanatory

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.

Stay tuned for Part 2 . . .