Tangerine Bear

A misfit teddy bear and his outcast friends find a home in this familiarly themed animated Christmas musical with songs and narration by country singer Trisha Yearwood. Life doesn't start out well for "Tangie" (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas), whose smile is stamped on upside-down in a factory mishap. The frowning bear doesn't make the department store cut before Christmas and winds up in an out-of-the-way shop of seconds and used items run by the kindly Mr. Winkle (Tom Bosley) and his cranky watchdog, Virgil. But Tangie makes the best of things, befriending the other gadgets in the window (a cuckoo clock voiced by David Hyde Pierce, a jack-in-the-box voiced by Howie Mandel, and a mermaid clock voiced by Jenna Elfman). He even wins over the ornery bulldog, who softens up enough to take the crew on an impromptu sled ride the following Christmas. The sweet sensibility of this 46-minute offering will probably most appeal to children ages 2 to 8, especially if they have read the book by Betty and Michael Paraskevas. --Kimberly Heinrichs