Care Bears – Friends Forever

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: D     Episodes: B-

 

 

This is another release featuring those lovable Care Bears, entitled Care Bears: Friends Forever.  For over twenty-five years the Care Bears have entertained children and that is exactly who this DVD is directed at, children.  The DVD includes 6 caring stories about friendship.  The episodes are taken from the 1980’s Care Bear Series, but in no particular order besides that they all include the theme of friendship.  The episodes are much better than the new Care Bear cartoons being produced today, but definitely are directed toward a much younger audience (as they have always). 

 

The episodes included on this DVD are:

 

The Best Way to Make Friends

The Two Princes

The Cloud of Uncaring

The Showdown

Beautiful Dreamer

Grumpy’s Little Friend

 

 

The Care Bears have always been popular among children and adults since their creation in 1981 by the American Greetings greeting card company.  They had 3 Feature Length Films and over 70 television episodes on ABC (from which this DVD’s episodes were taken).  Popularity and Love for these little fur balls seems undying.

 

The technicals on this 6 episode DVD release are nothing spectacular.  The picture is nothing impressive in its 1.33 X 1 Full Screen presentation.  The quality is only slightly better than an analog VHS, containing a degree of debris, bland colors, and a grainy appearance.  The sound is a weak in its Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround format, often having high/low issues.  Apparently since this particular DVD is directed at children, no extras were found to be necessary.  Would have been nice if the DVD at least contained a Care Bears game.

 

 

-   Michael P Dougherty II