stores everywhere." Steve Millburg from the Omaha World-Herald, however, found it misleading and complained that the Cubs "are not 'a new generation' at all". Several critics considered the film a prequel to the original: the Omaha World Herald reviewer; Edward Jones of Virginia's The Free Lance-Star; Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times; and Bill Cosford of The Miami Herald. According to Michael H. Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "Care Bears Movie II is what the film industry calls a 'requel,' tracing the origin of the Care Bear family and relatives of other species." In his Animated Movie Guide, animation expert Jerry Beck gave Care Bears Movie II a half-star (½) out of four, and offered this consensus: John Stanley expressed his views likewise in his 1988 film guide, Revenge of the Creature Features: "Care Bears Movie II is a sort of pre-sequel that, I suspect, requires its audiences to have some prior knowledge of Care Bears," Vincent Canby said in his New York Times review. "Very young kids may love this, but anybody over the age of 4 might find it too spooky." Hal Lipper of the St. Petersburg Times remarked that it "is an enormously engaging cartoon—quite a feat when you consider the saccharine psychobabble passing for dialogue". The Miami Herald's Bill Cosford gave it two and a half stars out of four, the same rating he had applied to its predecessor. Edward Jones commented that "The animation can't compare with the best of Disney. Take a look at Sleeping Beauty [...] and you'll see the difference." Likewise, Italian critic Paolo Mereghetti complained, "[This is an] ugly sequel with awkward animation, and not even the small fry will find it fun." Charles Solomon said, "The new Care Bears film...is even more sloppily made and hawks its goods even more shamelessly. [...] The film makers seem more concerned with showcasing the toys than providing entertainment; shared profits obviously count for more than shared feelings. If someone started selling 'Hate Bears,' there undoubtedly would be a film about them." Gene Siskel awarded the film zero stars out of four (along with "Thumbs Down" on At the Movies—the Siskel & Ebert TV show having not been introduced yet), while Leonard Maltin gave it a "BOMB" rating in his Movie Guide, and added: "Your kids deserve better entertainment than this treacly stuff about the Kingdom of Caring. Prefab animation from the