Saturday, September 19, 2015

An 80's Girl's World

It was cloudy, fairly cool, and a little humid when I headed out this morning for a run to the Collingswood Farm Market. They were as busy as ever with people looking for produce and dairy products for barbecues, birthday parties, and block parties. Corn is down to its last two weeks, but there's tons of other fruit and vegetables out now, including the return of spinach and other hearty greens and the first local sweet potatoes of the year. I squeezed between people long enough to buy three sweet potatoes, white peaches, tiny little apples, cucumbers, a yellow and green zucchini, and what will probably be my last two ears of corn of the year.

There were a few yard sales out today. I had enough time to stop at one on Stokes Avenue in Collingswood on my way home. They had a lot of interesting stuff, but I had the money for a couple of albums (that were far more modestly-priced than the ones I saw last week):

George Harrison - The Best of George Harrison

John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band - Shaved Fish

Gordon Lightfoot - Gord's Gold

Went right home after that. Had a quick lunch while putting everything away and watching Happily Ever After. The last project of TV animation studio Filmation was this unusual Snow White sequel. The evil Lord Maliss, the brother of the Queen, kidnaps the Prince and takes him to his dark kingdom. Snow White goes after him with the help of the goofy seven Dwarfelles, girl dwarfs who control nature, and the Orko-like "Shadow Man," who protects them. Not a great movie by all means, but the Dwarfelles are funny and Snow White is a tad more proactive than she usually is in most versions of this story.

Work was on-and-off busy. It wasn't overwhelming, but the lines were a lot longer for a lot of the day than they have been. I did have some time to jot down story notes between annoyed customers. Other than them, there were no major problems, and my relief was right on time.

When I got home, I had leftovers for dinner while finishing Happily Ever After and watching The Care Bears Movie. In the first of three films made in the 80's around the sherbet-colored critters, the title bears find themselves battling an evil spell book that's taken control of a friendless magician's assistant. While two kids from Earth and a couple of the Bears befriend a group of equally colorful wild animals, the other Bears search for the kids and try to fix a machine that could help them get down to Earth faster.

Ok, so the animation is terrible, saddled with lousy continuity and odd mistakes, the songs are so-so, and the dialogue can be stilted at times. I doubt the Care Bears will ever catch on with guys the way the My Little Pony franchise did...but that doesn't mean this movie lacks merit. That evil spirit in the book and her plot - eliminate feelings and caring from the world - is surprisingly dark for an 80's kids movie. There's an especially intense sequence in the torn-apart amusement park, with the kids running from the magician and the Bears and Cousins doing what they can to help.

If you have kids who are fans of the Bears or grew up on this as I did, it's still a lot of fun if you can get past the poor animation. Just be sure to have a hand to hold for the littlest ones when the Spirit's on-screen.

No comments: