Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot
Encyclopedia
Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot is a 2004 children's animated feature, produced by Nelvana
Limited and released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment
. Directed by Mike Fallows and written by Jeffrey Alan Schecter, this was the fourth film to star the Care Bears
, and their first in over 15 years. This was also the first one in the franchise to be computer-animated
.
The film centres on Funshine Bear, a Care Bear who loves to laugh and tell jokes. After one of his jokes backfires against Grumpy, another of the Bears, Funshine runs away to find a place where others can appreciate his talents better. He discovers a town known as Joke-a-lot, where laughter and humour are the order of the day, and soon becomes the area's "King". Unknown to the Bear, a rat named Sir Funnybone is using him that way in order to possess an important object called the Royal Sceptre.
Journey to Joke-a-lot premiered in the United States on October 5, 2004, through Lions Gate, and was subsequently released overseas through Universal Studios
. It received generally positive reviews, although the computer animation was singled out. In the midst of this installment's success, Lions Gate released a 2005 sequel, The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie
. A soundtrack album, featuring the film's songs and some original tracks, was released by Madacy Kids
on the same day as the film's debut.
for the upcoming Care Bear Fair. His fellow Care Bears come by for a look; one of them, Funshine, loves telling jokes and making the other Care Bears laugh. After they reluctantly agree to try the carousel, it goes out of control and sends them into the sky before crashing down. Grumpy feels even worse after Funshine tries to cheer him up with a joke on height restrictions, which the other Bears find funny. Grumpy is not amused, and even goes so far as to tell Funshine that if he doesn't understand that cheering up is not making fun of, then maybe Funshine doesn't belong in Care-A-Lot. As a result, the Bears force Grumpy to apologise to the ursine comedian. Reading from a note, Tenderheart Bear realizes that Funshine has felt sorry for Grumpy and has gone in search of a place where his talents can be better appreciated. The other Bears are worried about his fate; as they cannot hold their Fair without him, they decide to look for him regardless and bring him back to Care-a-lot. Five of them— Tenderheart, Grumpy, Wish, Cheer and Share —volunteer, while Laugh-a-Lot, Love-a-Lot, Friend, Good Luck, Bedtime and Champ stay home to get ready for the fair.
The day after he runs away ("Make Em Laugh"), Funshine hears circus music in the distance, and strays from his camping spot to find out. Taking a seat on a bumper car
, he embarks on a long ride which leads him to Joke-a-lot, a town where humour is dominant ("In the Land of Joke-a-Lot"). The area's residents are astonished when he lands via parachute upon the town square; a female piglet called Gig tells him where he now is. Then a rat named Sir Funnybone arrives at the scene, and dubs Funshine the area's long-lost King (although Funshine insists otherwise). Funnybone actually placed the car within the woods so that he could begin to gain his own power; he tells that to his henchmen, a trio of houseflies named Phido, Cleon and Bidel.
Eventually, Funshine learns the hard way that "serious" is a very bad word in Joke-a-lot. The Joke-a-lot residents celebrate a "Laff-Fest" in his honour; Funnybone gives him a tour of the town, and takes him to his Royal Palace, where Funshine learns of the last two Kings and is introduced to the Royal Sceptre. Stored in a vault within the voice-activated Royal Treasury, the sceptre holds the Royal Jewels of Joke-a-lot, which Funnybone says are "the source of the magic power behind all the fun" there; only the king is granted access. Funshine wants to look, but Funnybone tells him that a coronation is about to take place. He plans to take command of the sceptre, now in the hands of a slow, elderly alligator called Grand Duke Giggle.
At the coronation, Joke-a-lot's new "king" tells his audience two jokes to pass the time, before Grand Duke Giggle proceeds to give him the sceptre. Meanwhile, the other Care Bears find his belongings and take the same ride that he did. After they crash into the Royal Palace, Funshine is delighted to see them, but the Bears are a bit puzzled over what he has become. They miss Funshine and want him to return to Care-a-lot where he belongs; thus, he must make a very difficult decision—to head back home with them, or remain King of Joke-a-lot ("Here I'm a King"). He then announces that he will go home, but Sir Funnybone wants him to stay as king.
During the "Laff-Fest", Giggle gives the sceptre to the new king. Funnybone orders Phido, Cleon and Bidel to steal it when Funshine is not looking. He gets into the Treasury with it, unlocks the Royal Jewels, and escapes with this loot on a pink dirigible
. As Grumpy is fixing his carousel, the other Bears must use it to stop Funnybone. The machine spins onto the dirigible, bursting the balloon and sending it aground.
When the Care Bears come to the rat, he reveals his real name and homeland—Basil Ratbone
, from the No Fun Atoll, whose inhabitants have lived through a "serious" modus operandi
. He wanted the jewels so much to enliven his fellow residents that he planned on stealing them from Joke-a-lot, and even pretended that Funshine's "tummy symbol" was the royal birthmark. Instead, the real one—a "smiley mouth"—was at the back of Gig's ears. The other Bears open the chest to find a jack-in-the-box, and other toys, which Funshine assures them are the real magic jewels. Funnybone apologises for his misdeeds, and soon all of Joke-a-lot attends a coronation in which Gig becomes their Princess (though she is really more like a Queen). The Bears promise to return to Joke-a-lot on occasion, and ride home on the flying horses from their carousel.
studio, and also at Sparx Animation, under the working title The Care Bears in King Funshine the Great. The first in a tentative series, it was self-financed by Nelvana in the US$3–5 million range; a team headed by the studio's executive vice-president, Scott Dyer, oversaw its production. In early 2003, Artisan Entertainment
acquired the distribution rights to the film from Nelvana. Glenn Ross, the president of Family Home Entertainment
(then owned by Artisan), announced the characters' reinvention and re-introduction to parents and young viewers.
soon after. In the U.S., the film's release coincided with the second annual National Care Week; it debuted at eighth place on Billboard
' s VHS sales chart in late October 2004, and sold more than 500,000 copies by April 2005. In January 2005, Journey to Joke-a-lot was a nominee in the "Animated DVD Premiere Movie" category at the fifth annual DVD Exclusive Awards. The film aired on cable television's Disney Channel
in December 2004 and May 2005. In the midst of Joke-a-lot' s success, Lions Gate Home Entertainment released another computer-animated film with the Care Bears, Big Wish Movie
, on October 18, 2005.
The DVD contains seven deleted scenes: "Laugh If You Want To!", "Caring Is Serious Business", "Which Way to Funshine?", "I Wonder", "Packs-A-Magic!", "Unpacks-A-Magic!" and "The Great Escape!". In his introduction to those scenes, director Mike Fallows says to the audience, "Congratulations on finding your way this far." All of the scenes have partially completed animation except the last one, "The Great Escape!", which has finished animation.
magazine said of Journey to Joke-a-lot: "While [it] ain't no Shrek
—the gold standard—the movie is still amusing enough to charm the target demographic of ages 2–5 and should do well with parents looking for harmless kiddie fare." Bruce Kluger of Parenting commented likewise: "The computer animation might not be as quaint as the pen-and-ink of the 1980s version, but the new songs and brisk pace make this one a keeper for a new generation." In July 2005, Rob Lowing of Sydney, Australia's The Sun-Herald
gave it three stars out of five, and wrote: "Adults will find this computer-generated cartoon as sickly sweet as fairy floss but tiny tots will love the colourful blobs—oops, we mean the Care Bears. [...] Support characters that look like toys, four bright songs and lots of giggling will score with the under-fives." Saskatchewan's The Star Phoenix also praised the film and its soundtrack, adding that "Even the movie is "bear"-able for grown-ups with subtle adult humour woven into the silliness." But MaryAnn Johanson of the Flick Filosopher called it a "horryifying attempt at children's entertainment", adding that "The cold CGI animation removes any vestige of coziness that might have been found in what is essentially a giant advertisement for itself." She referred to the title setting, Joke-a-lot, as "a sort of Oz-meets-Candyland with just a soupcon of pastel near-oddity Tim Burton
might have pondered in a moment of sentimental weakness".
; Jane Siberry wrote and performed the opening track, "With All Your Heart". A soundtrack album released by Madacy Entertainment
's Madacy Kids label features 13 tracks, five of which were featured in the film: "With All Your Heart", "Make 'Em Laugh", "In the Land of Joke-a-lot", "Here I Am a King" and "I Like My Friends a Lot". Some weeks after the release of Joke-a-lot, Siberry performed "With All Your Heart" at the Alix Goolden Hall in Victoria, British Columbia; Adrian Chamberlain of that province's Times Colonist wrote that "[she] performed [the song] with absolute sincerity, even the jaunty refrain which is whistled. Only an artist like this—so intensely focused, so innately talented—could deliver such a diversity of elements in a potent and convincing manner." In 2005, Ian Thomas was nominated for a Gemini Award
for Best Original Score for an Animated Program or Series, for his work on the film.
Nelvana
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 known for its work in children's animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s...
Limited and released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
. Directed by Mike Fallows and written by Jeffrey Alan Schecter, this was the fourth film to star the Care Bears
Care Bears
The Care Bears are characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik. In 1983, Kenner turned the Care Bears into plush teddy bears...
, and their first in over 15 years. This was also the first one in the franchise to be computer-animated
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
.
The film centres on Funshine Bear, a Care Bear who loves to laugh and tell jokes. After one of his jokes backfires against Grumpy, another of the Bears, Funshine runs away to find a place where others can appreciate his talents better. He discovers a town known as Joke-a-lot, where laughter and humour are the order of the day, and soon becomes the area's "King". Unknown to the Bear, a rat named Sir Funnybone is using him that way in order to possess an important object called the Royal Sceptre.
Journey to Joke-a-lot premiered in the United States on October 5, 2004, through Lions Gate, and was subsequently released overseas through Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. It received generally positive reviews, although the computer animation was singled out. In the midst of this installment's success, Lions Gate released a 2005 sequel, The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie
The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie
The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie is a 2005 children's animated feature, produced by Nelvana Limited and released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment. Directed by Larry Jacobs and Ron Pitts, and written by Jeffrey Alan Schechter, the film is a follow-up to the Care Bears' previous efforts in 2004's...
. A soundtrack album, featuring the film's songs and some original tracks, was released by Madacy Kids
Madacy Entertainment
Madacy Entertainment is a company based in Mount Royal, Quebec that publishes DVDs, CDs, and formerly VHS tapes. Most of the products are frequently seen in Walmart, Best Buy and other discount stores in the United States and Canada, often at low retail prices, as compared to releases by major labels...
on the same day as the film's debut.
Plot
The Care Bears live in a cloud-filled land known as Care-a-lot ("With All Your Heart"). One of the Bears, Grumpy, is working on a rainbow carouselCarousel
A carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...
for the upcoming Care Bear Fair. His fellow Care Bears come by for a look; one of them, Funshine, loves telling jokes and making the other Care Bears laugh. After they reluctantly agree to try the carousel, it goes out of control and sends them into the sky before crashing down. Grumpy feels even worse after Funshine tries to cheer him up with a joke on height restrictions, which the other Bears find funny. Grumpy is not amused, and even goes so far as to tell Funshine that if he doesn't understand that cheering up is not making fun of, then maybe Funshine doesn't belong in Care-A-Lot. As a result, the Bears force Grumpy to apologise to the ursine comedian. Reading from a note, Tenderheart Bear realizes that Funshine has felt sorry for Grumpy and has gone in search of a place where his talents can be better appreciated. The other Bears are worried about his fate; as they cannot hold their Fair without him, they decide to look for him regardless and bring him back to Care-a-lot. Five of them— Tenderheart, Grumpy, Wish, Cheer and Share —volunteer, while Laugh-a-Lot, Love-a-Lot, Friend, Good Luck, Bedtime and Champ stay home to get ready for the fair.
The day after he runs away ("Make Em Laugh"), Funshine hears circus music in the distance, and strays from his camping spot to find out. Taking a seat on a bumper car
Bumper car
Bumper car is the generic name for a type of flat ride consisting of several small electric cars which draw power from the floor and/or ceiling, and which are turned on and off remotely by an operator...
, he embarks on a long ride which leads him to Joke-a-lot, a town where humour is dominant ("In the Land of Joke-a-Lot"). The area's residents are astonished when he lands via parachute upon the town square; a female piglet called Gig tells him where he now is. Then a rat named Sir Funnybone arrives at the scene, and dubs Funshine the area's long-lost King (although Funshine insists otherwise). Funnybone actually placed the car within the woods so that he could begin to gain his own power; he tells that to his henchmen, a trio of houseflies named Phido, Cleon and Bidel.
Eventually, Funshine learns the hard way that "serious" is a very bad word in Joke-a-lot. The Joke-a-lot residents celebrate a "Laff-Fest" in his honour; Funnybone gives him a tour of the town, and takes him to his Royal Palace, where Funshine learns of the last two Kings and is introduced to the Royal Sceptre. Stored in a vault within the voice-activated Royal Treasury, the sceptre holds the Royal Jewels of Joke-a-lot, which Funnybone says are "the source of the magic power behind all the fun" there; only the king is granted access. Funshine wants to look, but Funnybone tells him that a coronation is about to take place. He plans to take command of the sceptre, now in the hands of a slow, elderly alligator called Grand Duke Giggle.
At the coronation, Joke-a-lot's new "king" tells his audience two jokes to pass the time, before Grand Duke Giggle proceeds to give him the sceptre. Meanwhile, the other Care Bears find his belongings and take the same ride that he did. After they crash into the Royal Palace, Funshine is delighted to see them, but the Bears are a bit puzzled over what he has become. They miss Funshine and want him to return to Care-a-lot where he belongs; thus, he must make a very difficult decision—to head back home with them, or remain King of Joke-a-lot ("Here I'm a King"). He then announces that he will go home, but Sir Funnybone wants him to stay as king.
During the "Laff-Fest", Giggle gives the sceptre to the new king. Funnybone orders Phido, Cleon and Bidel to steal it when Funshine is not looking. He gets into the Treasury with it, unlocks the Royal Jewels, and escapes with this loot on a pink dirigible
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
. As Grumpy is fixing his carousel, the other Bears must use it to stop Funnybone. The machine spins onto the dirigible, bursting the balloon and sending it aground.
When the Care Bears come to the rat, he reveals his real name and homeland—Basil Ratbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
, from the No Fun Atoll, whose inhabitants have lived through a "serious" modus operandi
Modus operandi
Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning...
. He wanted the jewels so much to enliven his fellow residents that he planned on stealing them from Joke-a-lot, and even pretended that Funshine's "tummy symbol" was the royal birthmark. Instead, the real one—a "smiley mouth"—was at the back of Gig's ears. The other Bears open the chest to find a jack-in-the-box, and other toys, which Funshine assures them are the real magic jewels. Funnybone apologises for his misdeeds, and soon all of Joke-a-lot attends a coronation in which Gig becomes their Princess (though she is really more like a Queen). The Bears promise to return to Joke-a-lot on occasion, and ride home on the flying horses from their carousel.
Cast
| Name | Character | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Julie Lemieux Julie Lemieux -Character voices:Julie Lemieux has provided the voice for characters such as Sammy Tsukino and Young Sapphire in Sailor Moon, Darien Shields in Sailor Moon R the Movie: Promise of the Rose, and Peruru in Sailor Moon Supers the Movie: Black Dream Hole. She has also played Funshine Bear Care Bears:... |
Funshine Bear | |
| Stevie Vallance | Share Bear | |
| Andrew Sabiston Andrew Sabiston Andrew Sabiston is a Canadian actor, theatre and television writer and lyricist. He went to St. Michaels University School in Victoria, British Columbia, graduating in 1982, the same year as classmate Leslie Hope. Both had been cast in their final year in the Paul Almond movie, Ups & Downs, which... |
Tenderheart Bear | |
| Susan Roman Susan Roman Susan Roman is a Canadian voice actress best known for voice acting the role of Lita/Sailor Jupiter in the North American DiC dub of the anime, Sailor Moon. She is one of the few voice actors to remain throughout the entire run of the series... |
Good Luck Bear | |
| Sunday Muse Sunday Muse -Biography:Muse launched "Sunday Muse Cartoon Voices for Kids", a workshop in Toronto, New York, California, and Vancouver, as a way to share everything she gained during her years as a lead voice actress. Her clients had roles on Family Guy, Super Why!, Will and Dewitt, Miss Spider, Rolie Polie... |
Cheer Bear | |
| Rob Tinkler Robert Tinkler Robert Tinkler is a Canadian actor and television actor who is primarily known for his voiceover work. He is the voice of Howie on Almost Naked Animals, Max on The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police, Delete in the series of Cyberchase, Cenotaph & Brooklyn in Beyblade, Rubeus in the... |
Grumpy Bear | |
| Stephanie Beard Stephanie Beard Stephanie Beard is a Canadian actress, voice actress and television and radio personality. Her radio host persona goes by Suga BayBee, and as co-host of The Zone, she was called Sugar.Beard was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada... |
Wish Bear | |
| Angela Maiorano | Love-a-lot Bear | |
| Katie Griffin Katie Griffin Katie Griffin is a Canadian actress, voice actress, and singer. She is most famous for voicing Alex in Totally Spies! and Sailor Mars in Sailor Moon. She is also the voice of Yoko in Team Galaxy and Laugh-a-Lot Bear in Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot and as a plush toy... |
Laugh-a-lot Bear | |
| Catherine Disher Catherine Disher Catherine Wilder Disher is a Canadian actress who won a Gemini Award for Best Actress for her role in the Canadian mini-series Snakes & Ladders, and was nominated for her role as Dr... |
Friend Bear | |
| Linda Ballantyne Linda Ballantyne Linda Ballantyne is a Canadian voice actress.Born in Toronto, Canada, she is best known for voicing the title role of Serena/Sailor Moon in the the second half of the English version of Sailor Moon.... |
Champ Bear | |
| Scott McCord Scott McCord William Scott McCord is a Canadian actor, voice actor, singer and bandleader for the soul/rock pop band . On television he is best known for playing Dan Kuso in Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Owen and Trent in Fresh Animation's Total Drama series.- Animation:* 6teen - Stone* Babar and the Adventures of... |
Bedtime Bear | |
| Adrian Truss Adrian Truss Adrian Truss is a British-born Canadian actor, writer and director whose more recent work is as a voice actor for animated children's TV shows and Movies.Since moving from England to Canada in 1957, he has starred in many movies, plays, and television shows... |
Funnybone | |
| Allie Cannito | Gig | |
| James Rankin | Grand Duke Giggle | |
| Jamie Walson | Scribe | |
| Len Carlson Len Carlson Len Carlson was a Canadian voice actor on many animated television series from the 1960s onward, an occasional live-action TV actor, and a Kraft Canada TV pitchman during the 1970s and 1980s... |
Philo | |
| Neil Crone Neil Crone Neil Crone is a Canadian voice actor and comedian who does the voices of Gordon the Big Engine, Splatter and Diesel 10 from the film Thomas and the Magic Railroad. He does Phillip the Concierge in the My Secret Identity episode "Sour Grapes"... |
Bidel | |
| Tony Daniels Tony Daniels -Voice Acting Roles:-References:*... |
Cleon | |
| Rick Miller | Kangaroo Guard | |
| Carolyn Larson | Computer (PAL) | |
Production
Journey to Joke-a-lot was produced at Toronto's NelvanaNelvana
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 known for its work in children's animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s...
studio, and also at Sparx Animation, under the working title The Care Bears in King Funshine the Great. The first in a tentative series, it was self-financed by Nelvana in the US$3–5 million range; a team headed by the studio's executive vice-president, Scott Dyer, oversaw its production. In early 2003, Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and...
acquired the distribution rights to the film from Nelvana. Glenn Ross, the president of Family Home Entertainment
Family Home Entertainment
Family Home Entertainment was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California.-General information:...
(then owned by Artisan), announced the characters' reinvention and re-introduction to parents and young viewers.
Release
Upon release, Journey to Joke-a-lot was the fourth film to feature the Care Bears, and their first one in over 15 years. It was also the first computer-animated installment in the franchise, and its first feature to go direct-to-video. Backed by an advertising campaign worth more than US$2 million, the film was released in North America by Artisan's successor, Lions Gate, on October 5, 2004; overseas rights were handled by Universal StudiosUniversal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
soon after. In the U.S., the film's release coincided with the second annual National Care Week; it debuted at eighth place on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
in December 2004 and May 2005. In the midst of Joke-a-lot
The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie
The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie is a 2005 children's animated feature, produced by Nelvana Limited and released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment. Directed by Larry Jacobs and Ron Pitts, and written by Jeffrey Alan Schechter, the film is a follow-up to the Care Bears' previous efforts in 2004's...
, on October 18, 2005.
The DVD contains seven deleted scenes: "Laugh If You Want To!", "Caring Is Serious Business", "Which Way to Funshine?", "I Wonder", "Packs-A-Magic!", "Unpacks-A-Magic!" and "The Great Escape!". In his introduction to those scenes, director Mike Fallows says to the audience, "Congratulations on finding your way this far." All of the scenes have partially completed animation except the last one, "The Great Escape!", which has finished animation.
Reception
A writer for the Video BusinessVideo Business
Video Business was a trade publication and web site owned by Reed Business Information serving the information needs of retailers, distributors, content suppliers, and other professionals related to the electronic entertainment industry....
magazine said of Journey to Joke-a-lot: "While [it] ain't no Shrek
Shrek
Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
—the gold standard—the movie is still amusing enough to charm the target demographic of ages 2–5 and should do well with parents looking for harmless kiddie fare." Bruce Kluger of Parenting commented likewise: "The computer animation might not be as quaint as the pen-and-ink of the 1980s version, but the new songs and brisk pace make this one a keeper for a new generation." In July 2005, Rob Lowing of Sydney, Australia's The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald is an Australian tabloid newspaper published on Sundays in Sydney by Fairfax Media. It is the Sunday counterpart of The Sydney Morning Herald. In the 6 months to September 2005, The Sun-Herald had a circulation of 515,000...
gave it three stars out of five, and wrote: "Adults will find this computer-generated cartoon as sickly sweet as fairy floss but tiny tots will love the colourful blobs—oops, we mean the Care Bears. [...] Support characters that look like toys, four bright songs and lots of giggling will score with the under-fives." Saskatchewan's The Star Phoenix also praised the film and its soundtrack, adding that "Even the movie is "bear"-able for grown-ups with subtle adult humour woven into the silliness." But MaryAnn Johanson of the Flick Filosopher called it a "horryifying attempt at children's entertainment", adding that "The cold CGI animation removes any vestige of coziness that might have been found in what is essentially a giant advertisement for itself." She referred to the title setting, Joke-a-lot, as "a sort of Oz-meets-Candyland with just a soupcon of pastel near-oddity Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
might have pondered in a moment of sentimental weakness".
Music
The music for Journey to Joke-a-lot was composed and produced by Canadian musician Ian ThomasIan Thomas (Canadian musician)
Ian Thomas is a singer, songwriter, actor and author. He is younger brother to famed comedian and actor Dave Thomas.-Career:...
; Jane Siberry wrote and performed the opening track, "With All Your Heart". A soundtrack album released by Madacy Entertainment
Madacy Entertainment
Madacy Entertainment is a company based in Mount Royal, Quebec that publishes DVDs, CDs, and formerly VHS tapes. Most of the products are frequently seen in Walmart, Best Buy and other discount stores in the United States and Canada, often at low retail prices, as compared to releases by major labels...
's Madacy Kids label features 13 tracks, five of which were featured in the film: "With All Your Heart", "Make 'Em Laugh", "In the Land of Joke-a-lot", "Here I Am a King" and "I Like My Friends a Lot". Some weeks after the release of Joke-a-lot, Siberry performed "With All Your Heart" at the Alix Goolden Hall in Victoria, British Columbia; Adrian Chamberlain of that province's Times Colonist wrote that "[she] performed [the song] with absolute sincerity, even the jaunty refrain which is whistled. Only an artist like this—so intensely focused, so innately talented—could deliver such a diversity of elements in a potent and convincing manner." In 2005, Ian Thomas was nominated for a Gemini Award
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...
for Best Original Score for an Animated Program or Series, for his work on the film.
See also
- List of American films of 2004
- Canadian films of the 2000s
- List of Nelvana franchises
- List of animated feature-length films