Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation

| budget = At least $3.4 million

| gross = $12 million

Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation is a 1986 animated musical fantasy film co-produced by LBS Communications and Nelvana Limited, and released by Columbia Pictures. It is the third animated feature from Nelvana and a prequel to The Care Bears Movie and second film in the Care Bears franchise. It was directed by Dale Schott, written by Peter Sauder, and produced by Nelvana's three founders; Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith. It stars the voices of Alyson Court, Cree Summer, Maxine Miller and Hadley Kay. In the story, The Great Wishing Star (voiced by Chris Wiggins) tells the origins of the Care Bears and the story of their first Caring Mission. True Heart Bear and Noble Heart Horse lead the other Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins in aiding Christy, a young camper who is tempted by the evil shape-shifting Dark Heart. This is also the first appearance of the Care Bear Cubs, who also had their own line of toys.

A New Generation was made over a seven-month period at Nelvana's Toronto facilities, with additional work handled by Taiwan's Wang Film Productions, and involved several crew members who had worked on The Care Bears Movie. Patricia Cullen served as composer, and Los Angeles musicians Dean and Carol Parks worked on the film's six songs.

Upon its release in March 21, 1986, A New Generation gained negative attention for its unnecessary merchandising tie-ins, poor animation quality, and frightening themes for a children's movie. Some of its key elements received comparisons to the German legend Faust and J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. The film grossed only $8.5million in North America, about a third of what the previous installment earned, and over $12million worldwide. It was released on video in August 21, 1986, and the final home media release to date was a DVD issued in April 2003. The film was followed by The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland in 1987.

Plot

On the ocean, a yellow bear and a purple horse, who live in a giant ship, look after a pack of baby animals known as the Care Bear Cubs and Care Bear Cousin Cubs. In the sky, they meet the Great Wishing Star, who gives the group their iconic "symbols", which indicate each creature's role or specialty, and are attached to their chests. True Heart Bear and Noble Heart Horse, as the characters come to be known, become founders of the Kingdom of Caring, a land which comprises Care-a-Lot and the Forest of Feelings.

For the Bears' first Caring Mission, True Heart and one of the cousins, Swift Heart Rabbit, travel to Earth at a summer camp, where they meet three of its participants: a kind and determined young girl named Christy and her best friends, twins John and Dawn. Christy and the twins are concerned because a boastful boy nicknamed the "Camp Champ" always emerges victorious in showdowns. They decide to confront him, only for him to assign them to trash duty. A distraught Christy resolves to run away with her friends, only to get lost in the nearby forest. True Heart soon finds and rescues John and Dawn and brings them to the Kingdom of Caring. Upon arriving, the children hear a bell toll from the Caring Meter, which tells the Bears how much caring is taking place on Earth. Noble Heart and True Heart tell them to babysit the Cubs before leaving to search for Dark Heart and Christy.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Christy meets Dark Heart, disguised as a human teenage boy, and asks him to make her the new Camp Champ. He grants her wish, but warns she must pay him back later and walks away as she finally encounters her friends. Aware of Dark Heart's potential, True Heart and Noble Heart take action by moving the Bear Cubs to Care-a-Lot, and the Cousin Cubs to the Forest of Feelings. Both sets quickly grow up to become the Care Bear Family.

Later, while the Bears and cousins decide to celebrate the Kingdom of Caring's anniversary and prepare a party for the Kingdom's founders, Dark Heart sneaks into Care-a-Lot disguised as a repairman to capture the Family. A cluster of Star Buddies, an army of stars which defend the kingdom under the command of the Great Wishing Star, drive him off; he then morphs into a red cloud of mist. The Bears shoot light at him from their bellies, forming the "Care Bear Stare"; the Cousins also help by using their "Care Cousin Call". After Dark Heart is fended off, True Heart and Noble Heart decide to search for and defeat him, leaving the Bears to handle missions by themselves.

During their patrol, the Bears and Cousins spot Christy stranded in a canoe within a lake, but before they can rescue her, Dark Heart appears as an aura of mist and attacks them. The family decides to retaliate, only to be captured and trapped in his magic bag, which was the favor he wanted Christy to do all along. The few Family members at hand determine that she has teamed up with him. This prompts Tenderheart Bear to hold a press wheel in the Hall of Hearts. John and Dawn join the conference after Friend Bear and Secret Bear save them from a moose that was under Dark Heart's influence and listen to Tenderheart Bear discuss his plans to successfully put down Dark Heart.

Later that night, Dark Heart brainwashes everyone staying at the camp, causing them to wreak havoc. The Bears and Cousins search for any stranded Family members and engage Dark Heart again, only for Dark Heart to imprison them—first in cages, then freezing them inside big rubies hanging from a chandelier. Meanwhile, John and Dawn tell Christy of their conviction to rescue the Family from Dark Heart. Feeling guilt, she finally comes to her senses and pays him back by admitting what she has done. Her bargain with Dark Heart is over, and she finally admits that he must be expelled once and for all.

True Heart, Noble Heart, whom Dark Heart tricked into leaving the family alone while chasing his shadow, John, and Dawn partake in a heist to reach and destroy Dark Heart inside his lair. After sending Grumpy Bear and other two mates in an attempt to steal a necklace with a key, Dark Heart attacks them again. Christy soon joins the heist and threatens Dark Heart to release the bears. He refuses, and shows her the chandelier in which the Family is trapped. After an argument with Christy, Dark Heart warns her that if she saved his life, she should run and save hers before shooting bolts of red magic into True Heart and Noble Heart. Both confront Dark Heart, which transforms again into an aura of red magic. Christy attempts to intervene, only to be struck by one of Dark Heart's bolts of lightning. In a last ditch effort, she flicks a marble into the lever holding the chandelier before dying. When the chandelier breaks, the family confronts Dark Heart one final time. He looks at Christy, who tells him that be it good or bad, he is still a person.

Dark Heart's evil magic fades and he begs the family to bring her back to life. To resurrect her, the family, John and Dawn chant to Christy that they care, ask the audience to join in and Dark Heart, who is hesitant at first, finally opens his mind and starts caring. Christy comes back to life, and due to Dark Heart's magic perishing, his lair collapses. After a successful escape, Dark Heart is freed from the dark magic and becomes a human permanently, much to everyone's delight.

After a large celebration, the bears bid farewell to the campers and return home. The Great Wishing Star delivers an ending speech, which is followed by Harmony Bear and Brave Heart paddling a rowboat past the castle and flashbacks of the family's childhood.

Cast

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 5px;"

! style="background:darkGrey; width:200px;"|Name

! style="background:darkGrey; width:250px;"|Character

| Hadley Kay || Dark Heart/The Boy

| Chris Wiggins || Great Wishing Star

| Cree Summer || Christy

| Alyson Court || Dawn

| Michael Fantini || John

| Sunny Besen Thrasher || Camp Champ

| Maxine Miller || True Heart Bear

| Pam Hyatt || Noble Heart Horse

| Dan Hennessey || Brave Heart Lion

| Billie Mae Richards || Tenderheart Bear

| Eva Almos || Friend Bear

| Bob Dermer || Grumpy Bear

| Patrice Black || Share Bear/Funshine Bear does not have a speaking role but singing role

| Nonnie Griffin || Harmony Bear

| Jim Henshaw || Bright Heart Raccoon

| Melleny Brown || Cheer Bear

| Janet-Laine Green || Wish Bear

| Marla Lukofsky || Playful Heart Monkey

| Gloria Figura || Bedtime Bear one speaking role

Production

Development

The Care Bears franchise was created in 1981 by Those Characters from Cleveland, a division of the greeting card company American Greetings. Early in their tenure, the characters appeared as toys from the Kenner company, and also in greeting cards by Elena Kucharik. They starred in two syndicated television specials from a Canadian animation studio, Atkinson Film-Arts of Ottawa: The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings (1983) and The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine (1984). It was distributed in the United States by The Samuel Goldwyn Company, an independent outfit, and grossed US$22.9 million at the North American box office, the largest amount for a non-Disney animated film at the time. which was in consideration by May 1985. As with the original, production took place at Nelvana's facilities and Taiwan's Wang Film Productions; the Canadian studio also hired South Korean personnel to handle inking and painting. This time, over one hundred Nelvana animators worked on the film over a seven-month period American Greetings and Kenner commissioned Nelvana to make the sequel television syndicator LBS Communications, a co-financier of the first one, became the producer and presenter.

Care Bears Movie II was Nelvana's third animated feature film, after 1983's Rock & Rule and The Care Bears Movie. It marked the directorial debut of Dale Schott, a Nelvana staff member who served as assistant director on the first Care Bears Movie, as well as the Nelvana/Lucasfilm TV series Ewoks. and Charles Bonifacio handled animation duties. Jack Chojnacki, the co-president of American Greetings' licensing division Those Characters from Cleveland, served once again as an executive producer.

At one point, The Samuel Goldwyn Company was about to release A New Generation, but lost the distribution rights after turning down demands from the producers. Eventually, Nelvana went into negotiations with Columbia Pictures, which acquired worldwide theatrical rights in early 1986. Elliot Krieger of Rhode Island's Providence Journal also took note of such a theme, headlining his review "Faust goes to summer camp". In regards to continuity issues, a reviewer in The Scarecrow Movie Guide observed a "montage showing the Care Bears and their Cousins growing up together from infancy to full Care Bear maturation—nullifying everything that happened in the first movie".

As with the original film, Patricia Cullen composed the score for Care Bears Movie II. Los Angeles musicians Dean and Carol Parks were credited as producers, writers and performers of the film's six songs, Vincent Canby wrote in his review, "[There are] unseen loudspeakers [that] pour out a nonstop Hit Parade of songs to be interred by, including 'I Care for You,' 'Our Beginning' and 'Forever Young.

{| class="wikitable"

!align="left"|Song

!align="left"|Vocal(s) by

!align="left"|Notes

| "Our Beginning" || Carol Parks ||

| "Flying My Colours" || Dean and Carol Parks || Additional lyrics: Alan O'Day<br />Background vocals: Amanda and Acacia Parks