Didn't I say I was going to write this two months ago? Well, better late than never. Here's Oopsy Does It, the first entry in the New Style Canon.
The movie opens with the credits in the sky, surrounded by fluffy clouds. I think they're using the font Cheri. Soon we make it to Care-a-lot, where trees routinely are colors other than green and grow in topiary-like shapes. An unsuspecting butterfly makes a brief appearance before being scared off by Surprise, who is nearly hit by Wish riding a starboard. Surprise is not perturbed by this at all. Wish, meanwhile, flies into town and narrowly misses hitting more bears, who don't seem to mind. Finally, she lands and
sucks the starboard back into her belly badge. Noticing a poster on the Gathering Tree, she gives everyone (including the audience) the exposition: WooHoo World is opening tomorrow!
And then we're at the park and the opening theme (you know the one) plays over a montage of Cheer, Funshine, Oopsy, Share, and Grumpy doing things in the park, mostly working on it, but generally having
a good time. The song ends with Funshine lighting up everything in the park and Oopsy working on painting the Funderbolt track. Once he's done, he draws a face on his belly and christens himself "All Done Bear." However, he's painted himself into a corner, so to speak, with no way to get down. Before anyone can help him, he slips and goes sliding all the way back down in a sequence that was no doubt a lot of fun in theaters. Just when it looks like Oopsy's about to meet a sticky end, Grumpy makes a cloud to catch him. Share suggests that he "share" his work with the others, which Oopsy takes as a comment about his lack of a real belly badge. And now they have to repaint where he slid down, so everyone gets back to work.
The scene shifts up to the sky toward Grizzle's lair, with a rather longish pan before we get to Grizzle himself, spying on the Care Bears with a telescope/eyepatch. He goes on a slight rant about the Care Bears ("They make me sick," he growls), and then reveals his latest invention: the Care Taker, which will allow him to take all the Care Bears' belly badges for himself, and then take Care-a-lot as well. He goes on a maniacal laughter spree, but there's no one there to hear him ("
Why is there never an audience around when you need one?"), so he calls on his one minion, Wingnut. After thoroughly menacing the little robot, Grizzle sends him off to collect the final things he needs for the Care Taker: a sun for light, a cloud for power, and a rainbow for color. Wingnut goes into copter-mode and takes off for Care-a-lot, while Grizzle predicts the Care Bears defeat by that time tomorrow.
Back in Care-a-lot, Oopsy draws a widely smiling face on his belly and declares he's "Excited Bear," perfect for a test run of the Funderbolt roller coaster. Funshine's ready, as are Share and Cheer, even though they're nervous, so Grumpy sends them off. Everyone had a great time, but Grumpy can't shake the feeling that it needs something in the middle to give it "pizzaz." Oopsy, however, is so dizzy that he draws a swirl on his belly, and then stumbles along the entrance platform, not only knocking
Grumpy into a fountain, but also setting off a chain of events that leaves most of WooHoo World destroyed. I maintain that most of that would have happened once the park opened, though, despite Oopsy's involvement at this point in the movie.
Grumpy is rather upset at this turn of events, but everyone else insists that they can rebuild everything if they just work together. Oopsy is ready, pulling out a little tool, but Funshine gives him the job of setting up signs all over Care-a-lot (even though it's not that hard to find) instead. But this being Oopsy, even setting up signs could go wrong, so the others debate on how to keep an eye on him, since all of them are needed if the park is going to be up and running on time. So Cheer gives Oopsy a whistle to call her if he needs any help, which he sticks up his butt (no, really!).
Meanwhile, Wingnut is analyzing all the belly badges he can see in the park, but none of them are the ones he needs. Grizzle calls him and threatens to recycle him again if he doesn't find the right items, sending Wingnut into a panic and right into one of Oopsy's signs. He follows the trail of signs all through the town, right to Oopsy, who just set up the last sign. To celebrate, he replaces the arrow he drew on his belly in between scenes with a simple smiley face, and then knocks over all the signs, dominos-style. One of the signs falls on Wingnut, who falls to pieces. While he puts himself back together, Oopsy apologizes, asks what Wingnut is, and gives him a hand, literally. Wingnut introduces himself, but his front panel falls off. Oopsy fixes it with his multi-tool, which he also gives to Wingnut, just in case. Wingnut is touched, and Oopsy wishes his problems were that easy to fix, changing the smiley face on his belly to a sad face. In gratitude, Wingnut uses the multi-tool to fix all the signs that fell over. This gives Oopsy an idea: Wingnut can help fix the Funderbolt!
There's already a huge crowd waiting for WooHoo World to open when Oopsy and Wingnut get there. Amigo Bear shows up, speaking Spanish and
scaring them both. Wingnut falls apart again. Amigo also tells them that the whole town is waiting to ride the Funderbolt, so Oopsy and Wingnut get a move on.
Funshine, Cheer, and Share are working hard, but Grumpy is not optimistic. Oopsy overhears him say that they might as well just call off the grand opening, which makes him so depressed that he goes off to cry in the middle of town. Fortunately, the multi-tool has a tissue function. Oopsy, feeling rainy, draws a cloud around the sad face still on his belly, which reminds Wingnut of his real job. He tells Oopsy that he knows someone who wants him, and even though Oopsy is apprehensive, he takes off with him anyway.
Grumpy still isn't optimistic about the park opening on time, so there's only one thing to do: Care Bear Stare! In what has become a controversial move, the new canon reveals that a Care Bear Stare bombards the target with so much good feeling that they have no choice but to be happy. It works, and soon even Grumpy is ready to get back to work.
Wingnut and Oopsy soon arrive at Grizzle's lair, and Oopsy is just in awe of its dankness and lack of color (seriously, he's really impressed by the place). Wingnut calls tentatively for Grizzle, then tells Oopsy to stay put while he gets Grizzle. Oopsy finds the Care Taker and stares in wonderment. Grizzle, meanwhile, is just coming back from the kitchen with a sandwich when he sees Oopsy, and tosses the sandwich away so he can bellow, "Who are you?" all Great-and-Powerful-Oz-like. Oopsy is friendly, but not as awe-struck as he was by everything else he's seen. He goes forward to shake hands, but trips on a cable, which knocks a remote to the floor, which sends down a crane to pick up Grizzle. Oopsy tries pushing buttons to make it stop, but only sends Grizzle flying all over the place, until he finally slips free of the crane and crashes into both Oopsy and the wall. Grizzle starts to rage at Oopsy, until he notices that Oopsy is a Care Bear. Luckily, Wingnut shows up at that moment to circumvent any violence that might have occurred. He points out the similiarity of the cloud on the list Grizzle gave him and the one on Oopsy's belly. Oopsy points out that he just drew it, and wipes it off to prove it. Wingnut is shocked, even though he saw Oopsy draw it on earlier. Grizzle is not happy to see that Wingnut brought a Care Bear with no belly badge, but stops wringing his neck when Oopsy says that all his friends have the badges on the list. Chucking Wingnut in a box, Grizzle slinks over to Oopsy and gets him to spill his life story, or at least the story about how they can't have the grand opening of WooHoo World.
Taking advantage of Oopsy's feelings of inadequecy about not having a belly badge, Grizzle introduces the Care Taker as the "ultimate carnival ride," and goes into mock-agony since no one will ever get to ride it, since it isn't finished yet. He slips Oopsy the list, and Oopsy, suitably manipulated, insists that he could get the missing items, provided he could borrow the Care Taker for a day or two. Grizzle "consults" with Wingnut, and takes Oopsy up on his offer, telling him to keep it a surprise. Oopsy exults in his good luck, and draws the Excited Bear face again. Grizzle pulls Wingnut out of the box and warns him to help Oopsy and then come right back. Wingnut is resigned to his lot in life. The two take off, and Grizzle exults in
his good luck, and then sings Grizzle's Bad, which I've already written about, but is still awesome.
Back in Care-a-lot, night is fast approaching. A sarcastic remark from Grumpy has Funshine mock-threatening him with another Care Bear Stare, and then it's back to work. Oopsy approaches the others and does nothing useful except drop a few hints. And then we get a montage of the others working while Oopsy and Wingnut secretly collect the needed items. First, Oopsy snags the liquid sunshine Funshine put in the Funderbolt car to make it run and transfers it to Wingnut's front panel, then he uses a vaccuum cleaner to suck up the cloud Grumpy made to help him lift the Funderbolt ramp. Unfortunately, this made the ramp fall again and break. Oopsy feels bad about this, until he sees the jar Wingnut put the cloud in. Oopsy tries to capture the rainbow Cheer conjured up to paint everything, but it stayed just
outside his reach. Finally, he slips on some paint and breaks the jar he was trying to catch the rainbow in. But the paint left a rainbow imprint on his bottom, which is good enough for Wingnut, and they head back to Grizzle's lair to show off their gains.
Grizzle is not amused to find the sunshine is inside of Wingnut, but wastes no time picking him up and shaking until the light falls into the Care Taker, turning on
all the lights. The sight of all that light makes Grizzle so excited that he flings Wingnut away and cutely demands the next item from Oopsy. Oopsy proffers the
jar with the cloud, and Grizzle tries to open it, but has to turn to Wingnut, who pulls off the lid with ease. Grizzle, of course, has to have the last word ("
I loosened it"). The cloud fills the Care Taker with power, and it slowly comes to life with moving parts and vaguely unsettling carnival music. Grizzle can hardly contain his excitement as he calls for the last item, and it thoroughly
perplexed by Oopsy offering him his butt. The Care Taker grinds to a halt, and Grizzle's glee begins to disappate as Oopsy explains that his bottom is the last item, until Grizzle informs him that paint doesn't cut it. His displeasure is such that he
prepares to kick Oopsy into the stratosphere, but Wingnut catches wind of this and sacrifices himself instead. Oopsy, oblivious to this whole thing blithely asks where Wingnut went and accepts Grizzle's response of "Out for snacks!"
Grizzle grabs Oopsy brusquely and tells him that without a real rainbow, the Care Taker isn't complete (too rusty-looking). He once again plays on Oopsy's feelings of inadequecy by pointing out that an uncomplete Care Taker = no grand opening, so Oopsy
uses the whistle to call Cheer, since she's the only one who can make a real rainbow. Rainbow musical notes and hearts fly out of the whistle and float down to Care-a-lot. Cheer recognizes the sound(?) instantly, and while the
others speculate on whether Oopsy's in trouble or just needs help, Cheer rides a rainbow to Grizzle's lair to check on Oopsy.
With Cheer's rainbow in view, Grizzle makes demands and Wingnut sets out a vacuum to suck it up. A whole lotta papers get sucked up, along with the rainbow, which is sucked right out from under Cheer. The rainbow makes its way through the Care Taker's tubes and transform's the 'ride' into a
colorful spectacle. Grizzle cries out triumphantly, "The Care Taker is complete!" and engages in some maniacal laughter. Meanwhile, Oopsy thanks Cheer, who suddenly notices Grizzle's maniacal laughter. He introduces himself and Wingnut, but Cheer is creeped out by the lair's dankness and lack of color (excluding the Care Taker). Oopsy reassures her that everything is fine. Cheer inquires about the Care Taker, and Grizzle tells her that it will "literally take your cares -- away!" and then chuckles evilly. He sets the Care Taker in motion and Oopsy further explains about how the Care Taker will let them have the grand opening. Cheer insists that everyone else is working on fixing the Funderbolt, not to mention that the Care Taker is kind of
creepy different. Grizzle invites her to try it, and basically pushes her on, despite her misgivings. Cheer makes her way through the innner workings of the Care Taker, and ends up having a great time. She exits out the back and is in such a good mood that she doesn't notice her belly badge dissipating and disappearing. Oopsy asks to ride next, and Grizzle finally shows his true colors, insisting that he doesn't want a Care Bear without a belly badge, since he wants them all for himself! Wingnut is shocked for some reason, and Cheer finally notices that her rainbow is gone. While Grizzle laughs at her plight and his own genius, Wingnut hits a switch in the back of his suit and Grizzle falls out. Seeing that Grizzle is just a little bear,
Cheer and Oopsy advance on him (to do what, I have no clue), but his suit
moves on its own and blocks them. Grizzle points out that they can't give him a Care Bear Stare without belly badges, and then berates his suit to get it to pick him back up. For some reason, his voice is high-pitched when he's not in his suit (even though it was still deep when he was outside his suit during Grizzle's Bad. What's up with that?), so he uses a modulator to get back to his regular, evil voice.
Grizzle once again voices his plan for domination of Care-a-lot, adding that he has Oopsy to thank. Cheer insists that Oopsy was tricked, but regardless, Grizzle picks them up and throws them in the dungeon ('cause every evil lair has a dungeon, of course). Wingnut is remorseful, but does nothing while Grizzle gloats some more. Then he goes to get the Care Taker ready to transport to Care-a-lot, and calls for Wingnut. Before following, Wingnut takes out the multi-tool (bet you forgot about that), but Grizzle calls him again before he can actually do anything with it. Grizzle pushes a button on the side of the Care Taker, and it compacts into itself, leaving only a
star-shape that is still pretty big when you get right down to it. Also, its signature music plays backwards during the process. Grizzle then has Wingnut push it to the door of the lair, while Oopsy and Cheer
sing a duet that ends up being fairly catchy, despite it's lack of rhymes. According to the credits, the song is called "The World's Mad at Me," but I think that it's better off just being called "Oopsy's Song." But seriously, the lack of rhymes, when there was such potential. I mean, if you have the line "best stuff," how can you not rhyme it with "messed up?" (Not a perfect rhyme, sure, but I would have accepted it.)
After the song, we see Grizzle riding the compact Care Taker through the night sky. Not a perfectly smooth ride, as the weight is slightly too much for Wingnut. Down in Care-a-lot, the gathered crowd fell asleep, and Funshine, Grumpy, and Share are on the verge of sleep themselves. They wonder what's keeping Cheer, but then all
fall asleep, even the sun on Funshine's belly. This is right when Grizzle arrives, ready to set up the Care Taker. He calls (quietly) for Wingnut, but the robot is playing at the funhouse mirrors. Grizzle nearly gets a kick in, sending Wingnut fleeing, and is annoyed that the mirror (which made Wingnut seem tall) only shows him as diminutive. Wingnut pushes a button on the Care Taker and leaps out of the way, but nothing happens, so he pushes it again, but still nothing. Grizzle shoves him out of the way and out of the frame and pushes the button himself again and again, and even whacks it, but nothing happens. Finally he picks up the entire thing and whacks it around until it starts uncompacting. As it does, he starts to laugh maniacally again, but is standing too close and gets whacked by an uncompacting tube. He recovers and finishes his laugh as the Care Taker returns to its former size in the early morning light while a worried Wingnut looks on.
Speaking of early morning light, the time change does not go unnoticed by Cheer, although Oopsy's sniffling almost does. She asks if he's all right, and they basically retread what they accomplished in song earlier. Although Cheer tries to reassure Oopsy that it wasn't his fault, since he was just trying to help, Oopsy comes to the conclusion that things just get messed up when he does, especially since
he's the reason Cheer is now badgeless. Still, Cheer tries to get him to cheer up, stating that they'll get out somehow. Oopsy, however, doesn't see how with just the two of them. Sunshine suddenly streams in the window, and they rush to see if it's Funshine, but it is not, just a reminder that morning has come and they're running out of time. At a loss, they sink back down to the floor, which is when Oopsy notices the multi-tool that Wingnut apparently dropped. With renewed hope, he brings up the
cutter option and slices a bear-shaped hole in the wall. But they still have no way of getting down, since Cheer used a rainbow before, and Oopsy always got there via Wingnut. They look around for something they can use, and then one of the rockets keeping Grizzle's lair afloat starts to sputter...
Morning has broken in Care-a-lot, much to the dismay of Funshine, Share, and Grumpy, as the Funderbolt still isn't done (but everything else is, apparently), and everyone else in town breaks through the red tape to enter the park. Out of options, they pretend to still be asleep in the hopes that everyone will go away. It doesn't work, of course, and
everyone wants to know what's going on. Funshine and Grumpy start to explain, but
Grizzle cuts in, introducing himself as a friend of Oopsy's, and unveils the Care Taker. Everyone is impressed, except for Grumpy, who is naturally skeptical about anything Oopsy had a hand in. For some reason, Grizzle drags Wingnut out, despite the robot's reluctance, and offers to let Grumpy be the first to try it. Which he does, with Funshine and Share's encouragement. He doesn't appear to have as much fun as Cheer did, but he admits to having a little fun once it's over. Knowing that "kinda fun" is a glowing endorsement from Grumpy, everyone else lines up to ride, and Wingnut tries to warn them, but Grizzle restrains him as bear after bear climbs in.
Cheer and Oopsy continue their escape plans, although Cheer gets a facefull of exhaust in the process. Finally, the rocket is ready, and they take off. But with no way to steer, they go careening through the sky everywhich where, but eventually get aimed in the right direction.
Back in Care-a-lot, the final bear goes through the Care Taker, and everyone goes up and demands another ride, despite Grizzle's "one ride per customer" policy. Everyone's incessant nattering finally drives Grizzle over the edge, and he bellows at them all to be quiet. Taken aback by this, the Care Bears prepare to give him a Care Bear Stare, until they finally notice that their badges are gone. While everyone panics, Grizzle takes a glass sphere out of the Care Taker and reveals that the colors swirling inside are the stolen badges. He starts to reveal his backstory, but only gets as far as telling them that he's watched them all for years, when Cheer and Oopsy make the scene, crashing their rocket into Grizzle and then the fountain. But they're too late, as Grizzle places the sphere inside his suit and announces the end of Care-a-lot!
The badges' energy courses through his suit, surrounding him with green energy, but when he tries to use it, nothing happens. Oopsy figures out what's going on, and triumphantly tells Grizzle that belly badges only work when you care, which Grizzle routinely does not. But while he may not be able to harness their power, he can at least keep the Care Bears from using them. He takes the sphere out of his suit and tells Wingnut it's time to leave, but the robot, empowered by Oopsy's escape, finally stands up to Grizzle. So Grizzle prepares to leave without him. But Wingnut trips him up, sending the sphere flying. It lands on the Funderbolt track and starts rolling. Grizzle takes a flying leap and lands on the entrance platform, declaring that if he can't have the badges, then no one will, and sends a car to meet the sphere halfway. Oopsy takes a confusing tack, stumbling around, and when Grumpy calls him on it, he explains that he's trying to force an 'oopsy.' And knocks Grumpy into the fountain again, which sets off the same chain reaction that destroyed the Funderbolt the first time. And it all breaks again, proving that they didn't improve the worksmanship any when they fixed everything, and it all would have happened again, anyway. When the middle of the track breaks away, the car Grizzle sent goes flying, twirling in midair as it goes. Which is exactly the kind of thing Grumpy had been looking for to spice up the Funderbolt! Oopsy manages to
catch the sphere in midair and drops the heart arch on Grizzle, but the sphere flies out of his paws! Luckily, Wingnut also makes a midair rescue, and the sphere is safe. Unfortunately, Grizzle uses his arm extensions to smash the sphere when no one's paying attention. The swirling colors fly up into the air and Grizzle leaps up and declares that they're no longer Care Bears. Oopsy points out that he never had a belly badge, but he's still a Care Bear, and Wingnut says something, too. I have no clue what he said, but everyone agrees with him. Grizzle, seeing where this is going, tells Oopsy to stop, but there is no going back now. Oopsy points out individual examples, despite Grizzle telling him that "it won't work." Everyone bands together, but Grizzle just berates them.
Suddenly the sky is filled with
Aurora Borealis, the light of their belly badges coming back to them, even though Grizzle declares this is impossible. "Not when you care like we do," Oopsy says, and draws a shooting star on his belly. Grizzle, not to be outdone, says that he took their badges once and he can do it again. But before he can say anything else, he
falls out of his suit again (with Wingnut whistling innocently in the background), and though he calls for Wingnut, his suit picks him up, and he can see he's about to be betrayed. Sure enough, Wingnut and his suit strap him into one of the Funderbolt cars and send him back up to his lair.
With Grizzle gone, Grumpy insists it's time to get back to work, since Oopsy may have saved the day, but he still broke the park again. Oopsy goes to (sadly) put up signs again, but Grumpy stops him, showing him the plans for the
triple loop he inspired, and when the park reopens, he gets the first ride. Oopsy asks if he can bring a friend, and Cheer assumes it'll be her, but really he meant Wingnut. Better luck next time, Cheer ^_~ And so Oopsy and Wingnut ride, and the opening theme shows up again, with new verses. Wingnut keeps Oopsy from destroying the park again and gives him an airtour of WooHoo World. He also pushes Oopsy out of the way of some falling paint and gets covered himself, so everyone pitches in and cleans him up
until he sparkles. Then the
core five ride the Funderbolt and the movie is over.
Overall, this was a fun little movie, and a lot better, especially animationwise, than the previous CGI efforts. I admit that the bears look a little weird, but Grizzle and Wingnut really shine! Everyone having eyes the same color as themselves mostly worked, but on a few bears it looked really odd.
Storywise, I think that Grizzle is better characterized here than in the TV series, but that could be because this is a longer story. And Oopsy is definitely cuter here (personality, I mean) than in the cartoon. I mean, all his little dejected moments really got me, y'know?
Anyway, I do not regret buying the DVD, and that's all you can ask for, really.
