Ah, Care Bears. For any of us who grew up in the 80s, the resurgence of toys geared toward pushing all our nostalgia buttons can be frightening. Suddenly on toy shelves, you are confronted with not only Care Bears, but Strawberry Shortcake, Masters of the Universe, and the like, and in order to relive your own childhood, of COURSE your children must have these same toys you grew up with.

The Bear

Care Bears Share Bear entered our house for my daughter's third birthday. The fact that my mother picked her out a cute purple bear, when I had received a Care Bears Grumpy Bear back in the day was not lost on me. Ah well.

Care Bears Share Bear is exactly what you would expect from a Care Bear: pastel fur (in this case, lavender), with a white snout and white belly. The belly has a design on it specific to each Care Bear; Share Bear's has two intertwined lollipops with hearts on them. She also has a tuft of lavender "hair" on top of her head, and her "foot" paws have darker purple fur heart designs. All Care Bears have a red plastic heart embedded in their rear ends that says "Care Bears." Care Bears are surface washable only according to their care instructions.

The Video

The video is the bane of my existence. Have no fear; they have surpassed themselves in cheapskate-dom. The video is titled: Share Bear Presents "The Two Princesses" and "Care Fair Scare". Viewing the video, you realize that it's merely two episodes of THE SAME CARE BEAR CARTOONS YOU WATCHED AS A KID. The production values are deplorable for cartoons in this day and age, and they have even gone so far as to include a "trailer" for The Care Bears Movie which, according to imdb.com, was released in 1985.

The cartoons are annoying at best, and excruciating at worst, and what's more, they don't even seem to include any character named Share Bear! The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I believe Share Bear to be a new bear that wasn't even around back in the 80s.

The Figurine

I don't have much to share about the figuring in all honesty. It was small; it was plastic, and it was "lost" somehow in the wrapping. The quality was akin to something you might get in a McDonald's Happy Meal, although there are Happy Meal toys I've seen that were nicer.

The Whole Package

Overall, I think that the Care Bears, especially Care Bears Share Bear have a good message behind them. It's hard to fault a toy that your daughter lugs around everywhere (including having me strap her into the infant car seat already in the car for the arrival of the new baby) that reminds her to share.

However, I REALLY wish they would make stuffed animals safer for machine washing, because they do tend to get grimy getting lugged around all day long. And you would think in this day and age they could have spent a few dollars to make some new videos that actually included the new Care Bears they are marketing. And well, that didn't annoy the parents quite so much. My daughter LOVES the video, and I'm happy to say that our VCR is currently not working, so we are unable to watch any VHS tapes. Phew!

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): gift
Type of Toy: Stuffed Toy
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months