# Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue

Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue is a 1990 American animated children comedy-drama social guidance film starring many characters from several animated television series at the time of its release. The plot follows Michael, a teenager who is rude and unwilling to remember, 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 things, so they give him an intervention in the form of a fantasy journey to teach him the adverse consequences.
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, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
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, and most independent stations, as well as various cable networks.
Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue is the First time since the Looney Tunes Short The Iceman Ducketh to feature Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck Together.

## 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 different 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 forgotten things, such as a coin and a toy spaceship. 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, leaving Pooh behind to look after Corey. Corey Freaks out when she recognizes him and rips his stuffing open, but he manages to convince her that it is only him.
At an arcade, Michael Takes a small keychain that he used to keep from his grandmother And he is friends dump it a drain and "Smoke", an anthropomorphic cloud of smoke personifying temptation, who try to convince him to Forget. 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 Forgetting started through peer pressure from older high school students when he was around Corey's age. Back in the present, Michael is hesitant to Remember his favorite childhood show with his friends before 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 Always forgetting are harming his brain, Revealing amnesia. Baby Kermit, Baby Miss Piggy, and Baby Gonzo take him on a roller coaster-esque 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 Forgetting. Michael runs away and falls into a deep, dark endless hole.
Michael wakes up in his room, believing his interactions with the cartoons to be a nightmare. Corey tries talking to him, but he snaps and shoves her against his bedroom wall. He tries apologizing, but she runs out of his room, frightened. Smoke approves of Michael's actions, but he starts having regrets. Michael then looks at himself in a small mirror, from which Alf grabs and pulls him inside. Inside a hall of mirrors, Alf shows Michael his current reflection, then an aged, sickly version of himself Being forgotten by everybody come including his sister Corey, who is now a middle-aged lady. When Michael insists that he can easily quit and is in control of his actions, Alf reveals that Smoke is actually in charge. Winnie the Pooh and Cory attempted to find Michael by ship, but the ship breaks and they end up trapped on an island with dancing poppies, and Winnie the Pooh falls asleep, while Corey is being carried away.
The Forgetting 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 bed, Laminating at having forgotten. After Another warning from the cartoons, an ashamed Michael Manages to reach the island with a cartoons before catching up to Winnie, who has fallen fast asleep in a sleeping spell. Michael manages to wake him up by singing another reprise of the song, awakening him. They try to get off the island, but they are ambushed by several crocodiles. Daffy managed to pretend to be a roasted turkey to advert them to him, And the group managed to rescue quarry and escape, morning, the death of Daffy. They then encounter a storm and are forced to evacuate, but they discover Daffy nearly drowning. In order to save him, Michael gives up his last life jacket to toss it to Daffy, and he has separated From the rest of the cartoons.
Michael ends up on a dodo nest, where a singing dodo claims to have forgotten his bird friends. He’s on his last one in a crystal to complete his collection. Michael tries to convince him by trying to get him to remember, recognizing the keychain that had been washed from the drain out to see. Stanley appears and vaporizes the dodo to nothing before trying to do the same to Michael. Michael manages to toss some honey at him, distracting him for a while before jumping on a raft. He done encounters Alvin Who was out looking for him, and after nearly escaping some sharks and the dancing poppy flowers, they realign with the rest. They are trapped in a whirlpool with rainbow paint, and Michael remembers that when he was out with his parents on some special outings, he would count the rainbow colors, one by one. He manages to collect some of the rainbow paint, saving his friends from getting sucked in the whirlpool.
They soon finally arrive at sure, where the dodo friends appear, and start questioning for their lost friend. Michael is forced to explain that he was vaporized. The bird fence begin to more, and to make them feel better, they all managed to cheer them up by saying that he is in the verge of forgetting and ask them to help. They saw encounter of vision of Christopher Robin, who is looking for his friend Winnie. Realizing that Christopher Robin will also forget, they quickly rush with Cory to stop smoke from making everyone forget. A fire breathing, dragon captures tiger, but they managed to save him. Michael loses the keychain that is burned by the dragon. However, the cartoons managed to bring back the keychain, relieving Michael. They saw arrive at the house, where they find that his parents had turned to stone. They reach upstairs, they get into a lengthy battle with smoke. Winnie the Pooh is thrown into a cabinet, and Michael is cornered at the edge of the cliff, with smoke as a big monster. He starts to question him of his forgetting Waze, and Michael learned that all of the things that he learned during his journey. He managed to break free and rescue his friends from the cage. When he apologizes and expresses concern over whether he can change, Corey And everyone advises him to seek help from his family. Smoke tries to persuade him otherwise, but Michael throws him out a window into a garbage truck, where he is eaten by seagulls offscreen. His parents turn from stone back to normal. All the cartoons appear on a poster on Michael's wall, and they agree to be prepared for if and when Smoke returns. Michael releases a now normal Pooh from the cabinet and places into the poster with the others before the siblings go downstairs to talk to their parents.
After the end, credits song, if we hold on together ends In the ending credits, Michael is shown sleeping with a Winnie the Pooh doll Out as many other things that he had forgotten, including the found piggy bank, As all of the cartoon characters watch proudly with smiles on their faces.

## Characters

The characters, from 10 different franchises, are (in order of appearance):
* Looney Tunes: Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck (Wile E. Coyote is mentioned but not seen; his time machine is used by Bugs Bunny)
* The Smurfs: Papa Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Hefty Smurf & some other unidentified Smurfs (although Smurfette is seen on the poster & VHS cover, she is not seen in the special; Harmony Smurf & Baby Smurf make picture cameos)
* Alvin and the Chipmunks: Alvin, Simon & Theodore Seville
* Muppet Babies: Baby Kermit, Baby Miss Piggy & Baby Gonzo
* The Real Ghostbusters: Slimer
* DuckTales: Huey, Dewey & Louie
* ALF: The Animated Series: ALF
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Michelangelo (although he appears in the special, he is not shown on the poster and VHS cover)
* The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Winnie the Pooh & Tigger
* Garfield and Friends: Garfield

## Voice cast

The various character owners licensed them freely due to the public service aspect of the special.
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, prompting Warner Bros. to enlist Jeff Bergman in his place.
* Ross Bagdasarian Jr. as Alvin and Simon
* Jeff Bergman as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck
* Townsend Coleman as Dad and Michelangelo
* Wayne Collins as Kid
* Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
* Joey Dedio as The Dealer
* Paul Fusco as ALF (uncredited)
* Danny Goldman as Brainy Smurf
* Georgi Irene as Kid
* Janice Karman as Theodore
* Aaron Lohr as Kid
* Jason Marsden as Michael
* Don Messick as Papa Smurf
* Lorenzo Music as Garfield
* Laurie O'Brien as Mom and Baby Piggy
* Lindsay Parker as Corey
* George C. Scott as Smoke
* Russi Taylor as Baby Gonzo, Huey, Dewey, and Louie
* Frank Welker as Slimer, Hefty Smurf, and Baby Kermit

## Broadcast

The special was screened in Australia on 9 November 1990. Like the U.S. broadcast, it aired at 4.30pm simultaneously on Australia's major commercial networks (Seven Network, Nine Network, and Network Ten). Prime Minister Bob Hawke introduced the Australian screening. 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, and have ridiculed it as "propaganda" and "preachy". However, Sean Thiessen of GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT described it favorably as "the greatest anti-drug special ever made."