Western Animation / Care Bears: Journey to Joke-A-Lot

All I wanna do is make 'em laugh!

In the land of Joke-A-Lot,
Everybody laughs a lot!
Don't have to work all day,
Just have to joke and play!
In the land of Joke-A-Lot,
It's the funniest little spot!
We laugh the whole day through,
As long as the joke's on you!
In the land of Joke-A-Lot!

Care Bears: Journey to Joke-A-Lot is the first Care Bears movie to be animated in 3D, as well as the first to be released straight to DVD. It was released in October 5, 2004, produced by Nelvana and distributed by Family Home Entertainment. It was followed by Care Bears: Big Wish Movie in 2005.

The story follows Funshine Bear, who has left Care-A-Lot after Grumpy unintentionally hurt his feelings. He ends up in the exciting, hilarious world of Joke-A-Lot, where he meets a little pig girl named Gig, as well as Sir Funnybone, who declares Funshine the king of Joke-A-Lot. But Funshine is soon torn between which place he truly calls home, and little does Funshine know, something not-so-funny is going on as Funnybone secretly plots to use Funshine's rule to steal the royal jewels of Joke-a-Lot.

This film features some well-known Toronto-based Canadian voice actors, including Julie Lemieux as Funshine, Sunday Muse as Cheer Bear, Stephanie Beard as Wish Bear, Scott McCord as Bedtime Bear, and Susan Roman as Good Luck Bear.

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"In the land of TV Tropes, everyone tropes a lot...":

• Accidental Misnaming: At one point, Sir Funnybone refers to Gig as "Fig".
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Gig is the real heir to the Joke-A-Lot throne.
• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • This version of Tenderheart Bear is orange rather than brown.
  • This is the movie where Champ Bear's fur color was officially changed from yellow/tan to true blue. He is consistently blue in all proceeding generations.
  • In this movie, Share Bear's fur goes from lavender to velvet red due to her toyline having the same color at the time of the film's release.
  • Cheer Bear's fur is changed from carnation pink to peach in this movie.
• Art Evolution: This is the movie that changed Share Bear's tummy symbol from a milkshake to two lollipops.
• Award-Bait Song: "Here I'm A King" sure sounds like one.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Funshine being crowned king.
• Beary Friendly: Pretty much a rite of passage for a Care Bears cartoon.
• Big Bad: Sir Funnybone is the main villain of the film, having set up Funshine's reign of king to steal the royal jewels of Joke-A-Lot.
• Birthmark of Destiny: Sir Funnybone claims that Funshine's tummy symbol is the symbol of Joke-A-Lot royalty. However, it is later discovered that the real symbol of Joke-A-Lot royalty is a smiley-face birthmark. Said birthmark is later discovered on the back of Gig's head, revealing that she is the ruler of Joke-A-Lot.
• Brick Joke: "I'm not Dave!"
• Canon Foreigner:
  • Joke-A-Lot and all its residents, including Gig, Sir Funnybone, and Grand Duke Giggle.
  • There's also Laugh-A-Lot Bear, who only appears in this movie and its sequel.
• Chekhov's Gun: Grumpy's rainbow carousel spinning out of control is used again in the climax to stop Sir Funnybone from getting away with the royal jewels.
• Ending by Ascending: The movie ends with Funshine, the bears, and even Funnybone leaving Joke-A-Lot by taking to the sky on the flying carousel horses.
• Gender Flip: Funshine, who was female in the previous generation, is male in this movie. He is also consistently male in every generation afterwards.
• Good-Times Montage: Funshine spending a day in Joke-A-Lot before his coronation as king the day after.
• Informed Obscenity: The word "serious" is considered foul language in Joke-A-Lot.
• Jerk Ass Has A Point: While Grumpy was harsh to Funshine by saying that maybe he doesn't belong in Care-A-Lot, he is right that Funshine can be (unintentionally) insensitive with his jokes.
• List Song: "Make 'em Laugh", in which Funshine lists various ways to make people laugh. The chorus also contains themes of an "I Want" Song.
• Meaningful Name: Gig's name is a play on "giggle" and "pig".
• Melancholy Musical Number: Funshine's "Here I'm a King", as he laments between staying in Joke-A-Lot as king and leaving the throne to go home to his friends.
• Oh, Crap!: Gig gets a really big one when she witnesses Funnybone stealing the royal jewels and realizes he planned everything.
• Overly Long Gag: Grand Duke Giggle taking quite some time to reach Funshine in the throne room during his coronation.
• Perpetual Smiler: The fact that "serious" is a dirty word in Joke-A-Lot says a lot about its residents.
• Pink Means Feminine: Downplayed. Gig, a girl, is pink, but she's also a pig.
• Punny Name: Sir Funnybone was originally from the No Fun Atoll.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Funshine delivers one heck of a call-out to the people in the castle kitchen when they laugh at him for wanting to get out of the cake he fell into.
  Funshine: You're all so busy having a good time that you didn't even notice that I needed your help! I mean, it's good to laugh and have fun, but it's just as important to think about other people’s feelings! Sometimes that's the best way to show that you care...
• The Reveal: Two:
  • Sir Funnybone's real name is Basil Ratbone, he's from the No Fun Atoll, and the reason he wanted the treasures of Joke-A-Lot is so he could bring them back to his hometown and cheer up the residents.
  • Funshine isn't the heir to the throne of Joke-A-Lot; Gig is.
• Rhymes on a Dime: In Joke-A-Lot, as Gig quotes: "When the whistle blows, everyone knows, it's time to rhyme, until you hear the chime."
• Short-Lived Leadership: Funshine's reign as king of Joke-A-Lot.
• Spectacular Spinning: Grumpy's rainbow carousel spinning rapidly and launching into the air. Share fears this.
• Tragic Dropout: Gig was expelled from her school for not being funny enough.
• Unwitting Pawn: Funshine is this in Sir Funnybone's plan to steal the royal jewels.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Any Care Bear who isn't Tenderheart, Cheer, Grumpy, Share or Wish is not seen again after they head off in search of Funshine.

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