The Berenstain Bears (TV Series) The Messy Room (1985) User Reviews

This started the Berensain Bears era of animation and its first animated series on a sour note

[ddempseylewis · 4/10 · 8 August 2022]

I am appalled that this episode and the way it was executed was how this animated series officially started. First off Mama bear was completely unlikable and very mean towards Brother and Sister, which is out of character for her and she is even meaner to the cubs than she was in the source material. She gets fed up with their messy room but instead of telling them why she hates messy rooms, why brother and sister should keep their rooms clean, and simply demanding that they pick up the room while barring them from any fun until they do the job, Mama immediately resorts to ultimatums and demands that the cubs have their very messy room clean within 15 minutes or else she will take away all of their toys and throw the toys in the trash. Clearly 15 minutes is not enough time for the cubs to get the job done and so they go into a panic and cram all their belongings in the closet. Papa was very likable in contrast to mama but mama never apologizes to the cubs for her horrible behavior. Overall this episode is jarringly mean spirited for a show geared towards young kids and mama is awfully frightening when mad and raging over messy rooms.