Studio: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation, Southern Star Productions (animation by Wang Film Productions)
Produced by: Buzz Potamkin
Short Synopsis
Someone steals a little girl's piggy bank from her bedroom. Papa Smurf sees it happen, climbs out of a Smurfs comic book and raises the alarm, and the cartoon characters in Corey's room come to life: ALF from a picture, Garfield from a lamp, Alvin and the Chipmunks from a record sleeve, Winnie the Pooh from a stuffed toy, Baby Kermit from an alarm clock, and Slimer from Ghostbusters through the wall. They track the thief to Corey's teenage brother, Michael, and find his stash of marijuana under the bed. Michael has pushed his sister away and storms out, and the characters set off after him. At an arcade he smokes with his friends and with Smoke, a sinister living cloud who personifies temptation and urges him on to harder drugs. Bugs Bunny, disguised as a policeman, traps Smoke in a dustbin and takes Michael back in time to see how peer pressure got him started. Michelangelo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles warns him in the sewer, the Muppet Babies take him on a roller-coaster tour of his own brain, and Huey, Dewey, Louie and Tigger join the others in a song about saying no. Back in his room, Michael lashes out at Corey and frightens her, then confronts his own reflection, rejects Smoke and returns the piggy bank.
Why It Matters
- The film is a unique piece of cross-studio co-operation: characters owned by Disney, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, Marvel and others appear together, a rare crossover in the years after Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). It is a time capsule of American children's television in 1990.
- It was simulcast on all four major U.S. networks and most independent and cable stations on the same Saturday morning, an unprecedented broadcast for an anti-drug message. Its song "Wonderful Ways to Say No" was written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, the songwriters of The Little Mermaid.
Notes and Trivia
- The VHS release, financed by McDonald's, opened with an introduction by President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush.
- See also: Jetsons: The Movie (1990).