The Tangerine Bear

***The Tangerine Bear*** is a 48-minute animated film for children released on November 11, 2000. It was directed by Bert Ring, and is based on the 1997 book of the same name by Betty Paraskevas and Michael Paraskevas. The voice cast includes famous celebrities Tom Bosley, Jenna Elfman, Howie Mandel, David Hyde Pierce, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Ralph Manza, and Marlon Wayans. The story is narrated and sung by country/western singer Trisha Yearwood. It was produced by Family Home Entertainment and Hyperion Pictures. Entertainment Rights held distribution rights to the film outside the United States.

Plot

A teddy bear on a conveyor belt in a toy factory is knocked over by a mouse, resulting in his mouth being sewn upside-down in a frown, unlike his brothers and sisters who are sewn with smiles on their faces. They are taken to Krolls' Department Store. The bear (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) becomes upset when all the kids take all the bears except for him. Not knowing he looks different, he wonders why no one will buy him.

Soon, the bear is placed in the store's discount box with a blue monkey named Louie Blue (Marlon Wayans) and a pull-string doll in a pink dress named Dolly (Clea Montville), who are eventually bought. Then he is dumped into a chest full of old and broken junk and brought to the tiny antique shop, Winkle's Imporium. The store owner, Mr. Winkle (Tom Bosley), notices the bear and places him on his window display with Bird (David Hyde Pierce), an agoraphobic cuckoo clock, Lorelei (Jenna Elfman), a mermaid clock, and Jack (Howie Mandel), a claustrophobic jack-in-the-box.

The bear's new friends warn him not to go near Winkle's nasty dog Virgil (Jon Polito), but he wants a chair to sit on so someone may notice him. He carefully gets down from the display but is chased by Virgil, creating a huge mess. Mr. Winkle finds the bear and gives him a tiny chair to sit on back on the window display. As time passes, the bear and his friends realize that the sun has turned his body orange or "tangerine". From then on the bear is called "Tangie".

One day, Virgil escapes with a gang of dogs when a customer comes into the shop. Winkle is happy after selling Lorelei to the first customer to visit his store in a long time but remains worried about Virgil. Once Winkle goes to sleep upstairs, Tangie, Bird and Jack notice Virgil freezing cold in the snow. Jack and Bird refuse to help Tangie rescue Virgil at first, but after saving him, Virgil becomes loyal to his new "friends".

It's Christmas time again, and Tangie and Virgil help Bird and Jack decorate Winkle's window display with Christmas ornaments and lights. Virgil takes his friends for a wagon ride to check out River Street's other Christmas lights. However, once their trip is over, Jack, Virgil, and Bird discover that Tangie fell off the wagon on the way back to Winkle's and is missing. When Tangie tries to make it back to Winkles through the snow, he is suddenly picked up and carried back to Winkles shop by someone he believes is Santa Claus, ready to finally take him to a loving home. It is really Mr. Winkle dressed up, however, and he takes him back to the shop, to Tangie and the rest of the toys' disappointment.

The next day, a man who tells Winkle that he had lost his way in the snowstorm appears at his window. The man expresses interest in Jack and Tangie for their unusual qualities and offers Mr. Winkle $200 for them. Winkle quickly tells the man that both Jack and Tangie are not for sale, since they are "his only family". Tangie realizes how nice it is to be at "home" with his wonderful family, and learns just from that being different makes each of us special.