I grew up watching the Care Bears. The 80's cartoon really had charm to it. Sure, the animation wasn't the best, but the characters were generally sweet and the plots to each episode were fun. The villains themselves were pretty fun at times too, such as Shrieky, Beastly, etc. The themes to each episode were simple, and certainly taught me different ways about caring for someone or how to stay positive and confident about myself.
I know different Care Bear shows/movies have been made throughout the years. The first two Care Bear movies were cheesy, but just like the show, they had charm to them. As for the others, like the Wonderland movie or the Nutcracker one, obvious laziness in plot, design, and personalities were shown. The CGI movies weren't terrible, but didn't have the charm the old movies/show had. Adventures in Care-a-Lot was a nice twist to the franchise. The design of the bears made them look even more innocent. Their new designs brought out their personalities more, like the girl bears having little ponytails on their heads or Funshine wearing a ball cap. Their voices suited them well, and the situations they went through during each episode were fun to watch. But how do I feel about this series?
Well, the CGI isn't too bad. I like that they show the fur on the bears. The bears themselves stick to their innocent designs, and look like walking/talking versions of the Play Along Care Bear plushies. That's about all I liked, really. I feel like a lot of the voices don't suit the characters. The females voices were fine to me, but I had issues with the males. I guess it's because I'm used to the male bears having higher pitched voices. The plots to the episodes seem a bit bland to me. The kids introduced in each episode aren't that enjoyable either, and some of them can be huge pricks until they learn the hard way of their mistakes. Hell, even the bears are pricks at times. I get that no one's perfect, but the Care Bears shouldn't be shown sassing each other. They're supposed to be, well, caring! The only one doing the sassing should be Grumpy. I also HATE Beastly's design. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be the same Beastly from the old cartoon, but I'm gonna assume it is, and his design is nowhere close to his old one. Plus, he looks like a slightly less terrifying Furby. I do like Wonderheart. It's nice to see another young Care Bear aside from Hugs and Tugs. Speaking of those two, I also liked that they were older in this series and even had the ability to use their belly badges.
I know I have too much to say about the Care Bears, but like I said, I grew up with them. They made up most of my childhood. I really feel like this series is nice, but completely unnecessary. I would just show kids the Adventures in Care-a-Lot series over this. I don't feel like kids can learn a lot from this series, and the charm the old cartoons had just isn't there. So, I'll rate this series a 5, since I managed to find some positive things about this show. It's not terrible, but I don't see much charm in it.
