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What befuddles me the most is that in the Care Bears Movie, the Care Bear Cousins are introduced for the first time anywhere, in their own magical land known as the Forest of Feelings. In CBMII, they are already part of the group of young animals being maneuvered towards safe haven and they are placed in the Forest of Feelings so that not all the Care creatures are in one place at the same time (which I guess is equivalent to not having every member of the President's cabinet at the State of the Union address lest the line of Presidential succession be irrevocably severed). Have their memories been wiped? Why do Brave Heart Lion and Playful Heart Monkey not remember their brethren? How is this a New Generation?

The songs aren't as memorable as Carole King's theme for the first film (and I do have to wonder how much it would take to get her and James Taylor to perform it as a duet on their current US tour) although one song hilariously and unintentionally evokes Faith No More's "We Care a Lot," which came out around that time. The summer camp setting and a young girl's obsession with becoming Camp Champ are bizarre but not as much as the sight of an outcast brother and sister finding their calling as de facto babysitters for the wee Care ones.

The commercial failure of this project ended the big-screen saga of the bears who care but, in following years, The Care Bears would wind up in adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and The Nutcracker, significantly trippier than A New Generation and, the last time I checked, available for viewing over on YouTube.

To come back to my dilemma from the start of the column, as Finn has returned once again to be rested on my right arm: I know I am looking forward to the adventure of fatherhood and occasionally doing another "silly column" such as this in the future. It is my hope that I won't have to rely on Finn too too much to pick up my slack in the anecdote department. With that said, it appears he has wet his diaper, his jammies, and by extension me, so I have other business with which to attend.

Next time: This filmmaker's first three films - a thematic trilogy - came out in the 1990s. We are still awaiting his fourth film.

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