rank quite high on the cute meter. And this one sends the needle right off the chart. You've never seen such cuteness." Adele Freedman also gave it a positive review, commenting: "[It] has a lot going for it if you can tolerate the Bears." Edward Jones of Virginia's The Free Lance-Star praised it, but stated that "More comedy would have helped broaden [its] appeal to older youngsters." The Deseret News of Utah gave it three stars out of four (a "Good" grade) with this comment: "Sticky sweet, but a nice message." Michael Blowen began his review of the film by stating that "[it] satisfies the primary obligation of a bedtime story—before it's half over the children will be fast asleep." He added that "this sugar-coated trifle could only satisfy the most ardent Care Bears fan", and that "the characters themselves lack definition". The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said, "Who except a callous scrooge would carp about the fact that The Care Bears Movie espouses a psychopop philosophy of 'sharing our feelings' that seems drawn straight from the pages on one of those insufferable self-motivation tomes? No one, that's who." Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post wrote, "The best cartoons recognize the dark side of kids, their penchant for violence, their fearful fantasies. [This movie] just patronizes them. It even has a child chortling, 'Aren't parents great!' Well, they are and they aren't, and kids know that." The animation in the film received mixed reviews as well. Adele Freedman praised the style and backgrounds, and called the special effects "stunning". Likewise, John Stanley wrote that "The style is cartoonish and cute" in his 1988 film guide, Revenge of the Creature Features. While complimenting it as "a harmless film diversion", Stephen Hunter said that "the movie has the lustrous, glossy look of the very best in children's book illustrations". "On the other hand," he added, "the producers obviously couldn't afford an expensive [multiplane] camera, the staple of the Disney product, and so the scenes have a depressing flatness to them. And the backgrounds, so brilliantly developed in Disney, tend to be blurry and hastily done." Jim Moorhead of Florida's The Evening Independent said, "[Nelvana's] animation is not the best. Far from it. Everything's in pastels, fine details are largely missing, mouth movements are minimal and the motions of the figures are scarcely better than some of those awful Saturday morning cartoons on TV." The