The Magic of the Golden Bear: Goldy III (1994) is one of those oddball family films from the ‘90s that barely made a ripple but somehow lingers in the deep crevices of my addled VHS-era memory. I can’t get its image out of my head, so I’m just going to plaster it here for no one’s benefit.
As the box art proudly announced, this one stars Cheech Marin, Buck Flower, and Mr. T – whose star power had dimmed just enough to land him in this straight-to-video head-scratcher. The series was produced by Magic Bear Productions, which (shockingly) doesn’t seem to have done much else, and like many direct-to-video films of the time, it leaned heavily on recognizable actors to give it some shelf-cred.
The plot follows Jesse, a girl living with her grandfather and her very special bear, Goldy, who apparently possesses magical qualities. When a bad magician shows up to steal Goldy’s power, well… some running into a forest happens, Mr.T shows up in a Tonto outfit, and – listen, I only saw a screener once 30 years ago, and that’s about as far as I got. I just needed to confirm this thing existed, let alone that it was the third in a franchise.
The Goldy series started with Goldy: The Last of the Golden Bears (1984) and Goldy 2: The Saga of the Golden Bear (1986), both relatively straightforward folksy family dramas about kids and their bear. But by 1994? Seems things got weird.
If you remember this, it’s probably because your babysitter picked it up to keep you quiet while she talked to her boyfriend on the phone.