Care Bears Nutcracker Suite

I didn't grow up with the Care Bears, so I'm afraid to say I don't have much fondness for them. I have no clue why "Care Bear Stare" shoots a beam from the teddies' chests.

Anyway, the Care Bears were going to have a trilogy of films, and the third film was going to be Care Bears Nutcracker Suite. However, it was released as the 1988 Christmas special and the finale of their TV series.

The special opens with kids preparing for a school production of The Nutcracker and a kid thinking it's boring. When a girl protests that the story can't be changed, the teacher, Miss Walker, says the ballet is just one of many retellings of E.T.A. Hoffman's story. (YES! THEY ACKNOWLEDGE HIM OPENLY!!!) They ask her what her favorite version of The Nutcracker is, and she says it was one told to her by the Care Bears.

The Care Bears discover an unhappy girl named Anna. I'll say it now, the Care Bears creep me out. Anna's best friend Sharon has moved away, so she's depressed. Suddenly, an amnesiac Nutcracker soldier arrives from a black portal, followed by rats (whose leader is the king, but he's short one-headed version) who attack, but the Care Bears use the Care Bear Stare to defeat them. Remembering he's from Toyland, the Nutcracker, Anna, the Care Bears, and Anna's brother Tommy go back to Toyland.

An evil Vizier has been trying to get the ex-Prince of Toyland's magic ring, which the petite Sugar Plum Fairy has hidden from him. Our group of protagonists head to the Vizier's castle, braving small obstacles and even imprisonment, they discover the ring was hidden in a nut by the Sugar Plum Fairy. The nut, after being recovered from the Vizier, is cracked, and the Nutcracker puts the ring on, turning him back into the Prince.

After Anna returns home, she is introduced to the new neighbor, Allen Prince, who looks like the Prince. The children ask what happened to Anna and Allen, when Miss Walker's husband Allen arrives.

Umm.... I guess this works as a Care Bear story, and there's at least a battle with "mice," although they're rats this time, and the Prince reappearing as a person in "the real world." The Rat King describes a battle with the Care Bears and lies that a shoe was thrown at him. But, overall, I didn't have any special feelings for this one. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. Or like it really. I'm indifferent. It's like an odd one out on my list of Nutcracker presentations.

At least they did acknowledge Hoffman...