Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio Song Lyrics-Sing-Along Songs (2) Trailer-The Land Before Time 10: The Great Longneck Migraton Trailer-Shark Tale Game Easter Egg-film excerpts
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	77:50
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (59:08)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Mike Fallows
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Jeff Schechter Stephanie Beard Allie Cannito Catherine Disher Julie Lemieux Sunday Muse James Rankin Susan Roman Adrian Truss
Case	?
RPI	$24.95	Music	Jane Siberry Ian Thomas Craig Marshall

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Danish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Norwegian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Finnish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Journey to Joke-a-lot is a new computer animated adventure starring the Care Bears. The two previous Care Bears films used cel animation, so this new treatment has a modern appearance in comparison and seems to have a closer resemblance to the very broad range of Care Bears merchandise.

    Funshine bear has a wise-cracking sense of humour that isn't well appreciated in his home of Care-a-Lot. When his jovial manner is used in an inappropriate situation it upsets his friends, which leads him to leave in search of a place where he can joke away to his heart's content. He stumbles across the nearby town of Joke-a-Lot, the inhabitants of which recognise him as long lost royalty and swiftly crown him as King. During his stay in Joke-a Lot, Funshine learns the value of friendship and that there is a time when joking can be inappropriate, hurtful behaviour.

    The land of Joke-a-lot introduces several new characters, including Gig - a little pig who has been diagnosed with humour deficiency and expelled from school. The protagonist of the film is Sir Funnybone, a Rat-like character with his eyes on the crown jewels and a very Pythonesque voice (this caused me to launch into a Cardinal Fang routine, much to the bewilderment of my family). The film also contains some mildly humorous scenes that parody Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

    This is a fun adventure for the kids, and the messages to be found are certainly worthwhile. Although there aren't any "Care Bear Stares" to be found here, I think any child familiar with the Care Bears characters is sure to be excited by the humour, catchy songs and action.

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This is a good transfer for a children's feature. Some sites suggest the animation was composed in a 1.66:1 frame. This may account for the lack of sharpness in our transfer.

    The digital animation is rather soft, but contains enough visible detail to be impressive on a large display. The quality of the digital animation is lacking in the rendering department and isn't even close to the likes of Pixar, but the little ones aren't likely to be bothered by that. There was no low level noise evident in the transfer.

    Most colours appear rich and contain no signs of bleeding or oversaturation. I felt that the transfer was a little too bright, but this is a minor gripe and unlikely to bother young viewers.

    This appears to be a digital transfer, so there are no film artefacts at all. Some mild MPEG blocking can be seen on occasion, usually during fast motion or fades between scenes.

    An English subtitle stream is included and appears to follow the spoken word accurately. Many other languages are available as well.

    This disc is dual layered, with a layer transition placed during the feature at 59:08. This is a relatively still moment in the middle of a scene.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The default soundtrack is decided by the viewer's selection on a language menu that loads upon insertion of the disc. The English soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is generally free of any major issues.

    The English dialogue is always easy to understand. Audio sync is perfect and I didn't notice any issues regarding lip-sync.

    The surround channels are used mostly for atmospherics such as echoes and birds chirping. The surround mix is quite spacious and enveloping.

    The soundtrack includes several catchy songs that suit the general approach of the film.

    The subwoofer wasn't used to any great degree, but did make itself known on a couple of occasions that involved a bang or bump.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Film Excerpts (8)

    I'm not really sure what their purpose is, but throughout the menu pages are scattered links to short excerpts from the film. These are presented with 16x9 enhancement and stereo audio.

Sing-Along Songs (2)

    The film's two main musical numbers are presented with sing-along subtitles.

Trailers (2)

    Theatrical trailers are included for the films Land Before Time 10 and Shark Tale.

Game

    A simple jigsaw puzzle game that requires some skill in matching shapes.

    The Region 1 disc includes the following features:

• English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack
• Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack
• 1.33:1 full frame video transfer
• Seven deleted scenes
• 3 sing along songs
• Journey to Joke-a-lot Teaser and Theatrical Trailer
• Trailer for Popeye: The Quest for Pappy

    The Region 4 disc has more language options and an anamorphic video transfer. I don't see any problem with the local release in this case.

    The video and audio transfers are good.

    There are a couple of little extras included.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall