Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue

Music byRichard Kosinski
Sam Winans
Paul Buckmaster
Bill Reichenbach
Bob Mann
Guy Moon
Alan MenkenCountry of originUnited StatesOriginal languageEnglishProductionExecutive producerRoy E. DisneyProducerBuzz PotamkinEditorJay BixsenRunning time32 min.Production companiesMain:
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation
Southern Star ProductionsOriginal releaseNetworkABC
NBC
Fox
CBS
USA Network
SyndicationReleaseApril 21, 1990 (1990-04-21)

Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue is a 1990 American animated television film starring many characters from several animated television series at the time of its release.^[1] Financed by McDonald's, Ronald McDonald Children's Charities, it was originally simulcast for a limited time on April 21, 1990, on all four major American television networks (by supporting their Saturday morning characters): ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox,^[a] and most independent stations, as well as various cable networks.^[2][3] McDonald's released a VHS home video edition of the special distributed by Buena Vista Home Video, which opened with an introduction from President George H. W. Bush, First Lady Barbara Bush and their dog, Millie. It was produced by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation and Southern Star Productions, and was animated overseas by Wang Film Productions. The musical number "Wonderful Ways to Say No" was written by Academy Award-winning composer, Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, who also wrote the songs for Walt Disney Animation Studios' The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.

The plot chronicles the exploits of Michael, a teenage boy who is using marijuana as well as stealing and drinking alcohol, leaving his family worried. When his younger sister Corey's piggy bank goes missing one morning, cartoon characters come to life from various items in her room and find it in Michael's room along with his stash of drugs, so they give him an intervention in the form of a fantasy journey to teach him the adverse consequences of drug use.

Plot

An unseen person steals a piggy bank off the dresser in the bedroom of a young girl named Corey. The theft is witnessed by Papa Smurf, who emerges from a Smurfs comic book with the other Smurfs and alerts the other cartoon characters in the room: Alf from a picture, Garfield as a lamp, Alvin and the Chipmunks from a record sleeve, Winnie the Pooh as a stuffed animal, Baby Kermit as an alarm clock, and Slimer, who arrives through the wall.

Alf, Garfield, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore identify the thief: Michael, Corey's older brother, who has a box of marijuana hidden under his bed. Meanwhile, Corey expresses her concerns about Michael's change in behavior since they used to have a close sibling relationship, which he angrily denies, causing him to storm out of the house. The cartoons set off to take action regarding Michael's addiction, leaving Pooh behind to look after Corey.

At an arcade, Michael smokes marijuana with his "friends" and "Smoke", an anthropomorphic cloud of smoke, who try to convince him to take harder drugs. They are chased into an alley by Bugs Bunny disguised as a police officer. He traps Smoke in a garbage can and takes Michael back in time using a time machine borrowed from the absent Wile E. Coyote. It is shown that Michael's addiction started through peer pressure from older high school students when he was around Corey's age. Back in the present, Michael's "friends" decide to smoke crack. He is hesitant to join them until one of them steals his wallet. He and Smoke chase after her until they fall into a sewer and encounter Michelangelo, who tells them that the drugs are harming his brain. Baby Kermit, Baby Miss Piggy, and Baby Gonzo take him on a roller coaster-like tour of the human brain. Michael finds himself at a park, where Huey, Dewey, and Louie as well as Tigger join the rest of the cartoons to sing about how to refuse drugs.

Michael wakes up in his room, believing his interactions with the cartoons to be a nightmare. Corey tries talking to him, but he snaps at her, nearly hurting her arm and shoving her against his bedroom wall. He tries to apologize to her, but she runs out of his room frightened. Smoke approves of his actions, but he starts having regrets. He then looks at himself in a small mirror from which Alf grabs him and pulls him inside. Inside a hall of mirrors, Alf shows Michael his current reflection, then an aged, sickly version of himself severely affected by drugs. When Michael insists that he can easily quit and is in control of his actions, Alf reveals that Smoke is actually in charge. Back in Michael's room, Smoke traps Pooh in a cabinet and starts tempting Corey into trying Michael's marijuana for herself. She believes that if she does so, she and Michael could have fun together again.

Meanwhile, the drug-induced carnival in Michael's mind leads him to Daffy Duck, who reads his future in a crystal ball and sees an almost skeletal Michael on his deathbed. After one last warning from the cartoons, an ashamed Michael stops Corey from using the drugs just in time. When he apologizes and expresses concern over whether he can change, she advises him to seek help from family. Smoke tries to persuade him otherwise, but Michael throws him out a window into a garbage truck. All of the cartoons appear on a poster on Michael's wall, and they agree to be prepared for if and when Smoke returns. Michael releases Pooh from the cabinet, who jumps into the poster with the others before the siblings go downstairs to talk to their parents.

Characters

The characters, from 10 different franchises, are (in order of appearance):

• The Smurfs: Papa Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Hefty Smurf, and some other unidentified Smurfs (although Smurfette is seen on the poster and VHS cover, she doesn't appear in the special; Harmony Smurf and Baby Smurf make picture cameos)
• ALF: The Animated Series: ALF
• Garfield and Friends: Garfield
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: Alvin, Simon, and Theodore
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
• Muppet Babies: Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy, and Baby Gonzo
• The Real Ghostbusters: Slimer
• Looney Tunes: Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck (Wile E. Coyote is mentioned but not seen; his time machine is used by Bugs Bunny)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Michelangelo (although he appears in the special, he is not shown on the poster and VHS cover)
• DuckTales: Huey, Dewey, and Louie

Voice cast

The various character owners licensed them freely due to the public service aspect of the special.^[4][5]

The special marked the first time the characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were voiced by someone other than Mel Blanc, who had died shortly before the production,^[6] prompting Warner Bros. to enlist Jeff Bergman in his place.^[7]

Broadcast

The special was screened in Australia in November 1990. Like the U.S. broadcast, it aired simultaneously on Australia's major commercial networks (Seven Network, Nine Network, and Network Ten). Prime Minister Bob Hawke introduced the Australian screening.^[8] It was screened in New Zealand in December on both TV One and Channel 2 simultaneously. Prime Minister Jim Bolger introduced it instead of the U.S. president. It was screened in Canada on the CBC, CTV, and Global Television Networks and most independent stations shortly after its original U.S. broadcast, although all of the characters had their respective shows aired on either CTV or Global but not CBC. Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney introduced it. The special was broadcast in Brazil in 1994, as Rede Manchete made Portuguese Brazilian dubbing in Herbert Richers Dubbing Studios.

In the United States, all superstations and a handful of independent stations (mainly in selected cities) aired the special, but some stations aired the special at a different period during the week the special aired on the Big Four stations and a number of cable networks. Superstations WPIX in New York City, WGN-TV in Chicago, KTLA in Los Angeles, KTVT in Dallas, WKBD-TV in Detroit, KHTV in Houston, WVTV in Milwaukee, KSTW in Tacoma/Seattle, KSHB-TV in Kansas City, and KWGN in Denver premiered the special at the same time the big four networks and cable systems premiered, with St. Louis' KPLR-TV premiered the special two hours later after its television premiere. New York's WWOR-TV and Boston's WSBK-TV would later premiere the special the following morning on April 22. The special also aired on selected cable systems, including BET, TNT, USA Network, Nickelodeon, and The Disney Channel.

Reception

Some modern critics have considered the production a time capsule of animation history during the US war on drugs,^[9] and have ridiculed it as “propaganda”^[10] and “preachy”.^[11] However, giantfrekingrobot.com described it as "the greatest anti-drug special ever made."^[9]

See also

• Who Framed Roger Rabbit
• Reefer Madness

Notes

References

External links

• Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue at AllMovie
• Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue at IMDb
• Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue: joint hearing before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the House Committee on the Judiciary, One Hundred First Congress, second session, on an entertaining way of enlightening children about the dangers of substance abuse, April 19, 1990