Hmm --- I Guess Even the Care Bears Need Help Caring Sometimes
"Big Wish Movie" is the second "Care Bears" CGI feature and it's even better than the first, with great features for the DVD! Although Wish Bear is...
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Hmm --- I Guess Even the Care Bears Need Help Caring Sometimes
"Big Wish Movie" is the second "Care Bears" CGI feature and it's even better than the first, with great features for the DVD! Although Wish Bear is the main focus of this feature, all of the Care Bears are present and there's three new friends as well! The film opens with a great sequence in which we see Wish Cub meeting her good friend Twinkers for the first time. She lures him out of hiding with some sandwich crumbs and they make fast friends. Wish Cub wishes that they could be together forever and at first, Twinkers misunderstands and sticks himself to her tummy. Wish Cub clarifies and so she gains her tummy symbol and a new friend. Back in the present-day Care-a-Lot, we see that this was a story that Wish Bear was telling the Care Bears. The next day, Wish Bear is out and about using Twinkers' power to help her friends. At least --- that's what she wants to do, but what she doesn't know is that all of her wishes are actually creating disasters. When it comes time for the Care-a-Lot Steering Committee meeting --- there's a startling announcement. It turns out that the Care-o-Meter that measures how much caring there is in Care-a-Lot has been trending towards the "not-so-much" side. The Care Bears decide to have a special "Show How Much You Care" month. It's generally agreed that this is a good idea, but Wish Bear is left feeling bit upset because she didn't know her friends didn't like her wishes. She wishes for some new friends and lo-and-behold, three new bears appear in Care-a-Lot. I won't spoil their grand entrance here --- you're going to have to see this to believe it! Big Wish Movie features five new songs --- "Big Wish Theme," "I Wish," "Get a Lot," "It Takes You and Me" and "The Power of Wishing." The movie is staffed by many of the same cast and crew who did the first CGI feature, "Journey to Joke-a-Lot" (and there's a nice, brief nod to this feature in this movie as well) and many new staff as well. I thought the voices were generally well chosen and the music was absolutely performed. "Get a Lot" is a hilarious stand-out, while "I Wish" is a touching solo piece performed by Wish Bear. And for those who have seen the show "Franklin" --- see if you can figure out who's voicing the star Big Wish before seeing her name in the closing credits.
The DVD special features are as follows: Care-o-Meter --- This special feature is intertwined throughout. As you take part in different "caring activities" (and watching the movie counts as one), the meter rises until it hits 4 and then you are automatically taken to a very nice bonus, which I again won't spoil here. Audio --- There's no close-captioning for this film, but you can get subtitles. The are also Spanish and French audio tracks. Caring Activities --- There are three "Caring Activities" that allow you to raise the "Care-o-Meter" --- Build a House, Sing Along (Vocals and No Vocals) and Rocket Hunt. The first one allows you to assemble the house that the Care Bears made for the three new bears. There are five pieces to choose from, but only three go on the house. This didn't seem very intuitive to me because the pictures were a bit small, but it was still kinda fun. Sing Along --- This is pretty nice. It's actually only a sing-along for one of the songs, but it's a good choice --- "I Wish." Both versions display the lyrics of the song with bright yellow lettering at the bottom and Twinkers bouncing along with the lyrics. Selecting the No Vocals option allows for a sort of karaoke, although it's not entirely vocals-free because although Wish Bear's singing is removed, the backup singers remain. Rocket Hunt --- Fairly straightforward. The player takes off in Grumpy Bear's rocket and searches behind stars for objects in space. They then do one last search to find Big Wish. Very simple game, but still worth the while, I thought. Trailers --- There are quite a few trailers. You can't select them individually and they play before the menu comes up, but you can fast forward or skip them. The trailers are for "The Koala Brothers" on DVD and Video, "Maya and Miguel" on DVD, "Spookley the Square Pumpkin" on DVD, "Clifford the Big Red Dog" on DVD and video, "Journey to Joke-a-Lot" on DVD and video, "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends" on DVD and video, "Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever" on DVD and video and finally "Pinocchio 3000" on DVD and video. I hadn't seen any of these trailers before and so I was surprised to learn that there's going to be a new CGI "Inspector Gadget" release, as well as a new spin on Pinocchio. DVD Credits --- Ah, this is nice, because you don't usually get this. A special credits section for all of the people who worked on the DVD. Overall, I can't really see anything to complain about with this DVD. It's top-notch in every way.
