Bebe's Kids

Bébé's Kids
File:Bebe's kids.jpg DVD Cover
Directed by	Bruce W. Smith
Written by	Robin Harris (characters) Reginald Hudlin (screenplay)
Produced by	Willard Carroll Thomas L. Wilhite
Starring	Faizon Love Vanessa Bell Calloway Marques Houston Nell Carter Tone-Loc Tom Everett Rich Little Louie Anderson
Edited by	Tim Ryder (documentary segment]] Lynne Southerland
Music by	John Barnes
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	July 31, 1992 (USA)
Language	English
Budget	Unknown
Box office	$8,442,162 (USA)

Bébé's Kids (released to VHS and DVD as Robin Harris' Bébé's Kids) is an animated feature produced by the Hudlin Brothers and Hyperion Pictures, directed by Bruce W. Smith, and released on July 31. 1992 by Paramount Pictures. The first ever animated feature to feature an all-Black main cast, the film is based upon comedian Robin Harris' "Bébé's Kids" stand-up comedy act. It features the voices of Faizon Love, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Marques Houston, Nell Carter, and Tone-Loc. Tom Everett, Rich Little and Louie Anderson also lend their voices. The movie plays on BET on occasion as of 2006.

History

Original stand-up version

In the original act, Robin's prospective girlfriend asks him to take her and her son to Disneyland, but when he agrees, she shows up with four more kids, belonging to her friend Bébé.

As it turns out, Bébé's Kids are extremely rambunctious, misbehaved, ill-tempered, and flat-out bad. They terrorize Mickey Mouse, cut off Donald Duck's feet, try to steal Robin's 8-track/radio (while he's listening to it), and make a general menace of themselves. Their reputation is so bad that even the police refuse to mess with them.

In a second act, the Kids kidnap Robin and make him take them to Las Vegas. He tries to get a lion to eat them, but even the lion has heard of them and refuses to even try.

The name Bébé's Kids (alternately pronounced/spelled Bay-Bay Kids) has come to refer to any group of misbehaved children.

Animated film version

Bébé's Kids was the first animated feature film targeted toward an African-American audience. The film made a few changes to the original story, reducing the number of Bébé's kids from four to three, and moving the location from Disneyland to a generic amusement park named "Fun World", which is totally demolished by the kids' antics.

Plot

The plot of the film finds an animated version of Robin Harris (voiced by Love) recounting his disastrous first date with the beautiful Jamika (voiced by Calloway). Tagging along for the date were Jamika's mild-mannered son Leon (voiced by William Collins, Jr.) and her best friend Bébé's three (in the words of Harris) "bad-ass kids": Khalil (voiced by Houston), LeShawn (voiced by Jonell Green), and Pee-Wee (voiced by Tone-Loc). The kids, Harris remarks, are so bad that "even a circus can't train those kids! I thought the devil was through when he made Rosemary's Baby, but ohhhhhhh no! Oh no! Now we got...Bébé's Kids!"

The group decides to take a trip to the Disneyland-esque FunWorld, where they find more trouble than fun. Harris attempts more than once to get rid of the kids so that he and Jamika can be alone, but there is no escaping or besting the kids. "We don't die", says Pee-Wee, "we multiply." Also causing trouble are Harris' alimony-demanding ex-wife Dorthea (voiced by Myra J) and her best friend Vivian (voiced by Carter).

Release and reaction

Featuring a hip hop-inspired art style and soundtrack, Bébé's Kids was underpromoted by Paramount and did not do very well until it resurfaced on home video and HBO in 1993. Since then, it has gone on to be a cult classic and was released on DVD on October 5 2004.

Trivia

• There might be clues that LeShawn has a few feelings for Leon. When Khalil hits Leon on the head, LeShawn hits Leon on the head and asks her "Why are you always picking on me?" and Khalil said that his sister's crazy about him. There is a scene were Leon plays the weight machine and the other 3 pick on him about being a weenie. Leon says "At least my Mama's here." he makes LeShawn angry. Then, Khalil pushes Leon into LeShawn and they kiss. Pee-Wee and Khalil start to laugh but she comes back with a sledgehammer. When Robin takes the kids home, LeShawn gazes in Leon's eyes and then she slaps him.

• All the toons' noses have an intentionally drawn loop.

• When the background music is rather upbeat, the characters can be seen walking to the beat. The examples are when the woman in the green skirt walks towards Robin at the bar, when Robin gets out of the car and walks towards Jameka, when Peewee gets off his tricycle and walks towards Robin, and the kid in blue overalls at CARLS.

• According to Khalil, it is revealed that the surname of Bebe's kids is Wooten so the real names of Bebe's kids are LeShawn Wooten, Khalil Wooten and Pee-Wee Wooten. Leon's surname is unknown.

• After Robin leaves an argument with Dorethea, Vivian says "He still loves you."

• It is revealed that LeShawn or Khalil is 5 years old

• In the Straight Jacking song, PeeWee says he's 3 years old but he drinks Similac.

• Leon's song, Freedom is a parody compared to George Michael's We Are

• In a spoken word track called "Death" on Ice Cube's Death Certificate album, Khalid Abdul Muhammad references the film, saying "Bebe's kids, we don't die, we multiply."

• According to Pee-Wee, it is revealed that the Pizza man does not come to their neighborhood anymore, the neighborhood is located as 14th & W. Davison, based in Detroit, Michigan.

• Leon was said to be a Mama's boy but since the infamous Leon-LeShawn kiss, Khalil said Leon had a little Bebe in him.

Bundled with all releases of the film (theatrical, TV, home video (VHS and DVD) was an animated short subject, Itsy Bitsy Spider, which later became an animated series for the USA Network. It starred the voice talent of Jim Carrey as the exterminator.

A video game based upon the movie was released on the Super Nintendo. This game is regarded by many gamers as one of the worst games ever made, mostly for its repetitious music and difficult gameplay.

A soundtrack was also released for the film on August 25, 1992. The tracks contained on it were:

1. Tear It Up (On Our Worst Behavior)by Immature
2. I Got It Bad, Y'All by King Tee
3. I Got The 411 by Urban Prop
4. It Takes Two To Make A Party by Maxi Priest featuring Little Shawn
5. 66 Mello by New Version of Soul
6. Oh No! by Arrested Development
7. Straight Jackin' by Bebe's Kids (The voices of)
8. Freedom Song by Bebe's Kids (The voices of)
9. I Ain't Havin' It by Faizon Love
10. Standing On The Rock Of Love by Aretha Franklin
11. Your Love Keeps Working On Me by Joey Diggs
12. Can't Say Goodbye The O'Jays
13. Deeper by Ronald Isley
14. All My Love by Phil Perry featuring Renee Diggs
15. I Want To Thank You For Your Love by The Emotions

External links

• Bébé's Kids at IMDb