| Bébé's Kids | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Bruce W. Smith |
| Produced by | Reginald Hudlin Willard Carroll Thomas Wilhite |
| Written by | Reginald Hudlin Robin Harris (Characters) |
| Starring | Faizon Love Vanessa Bell Calloway Marques Houston Nell Carter Tone Lōc |
| Music by | John Barnes |
| Editing by | Tim Ryder (documentary segment) Lynne Southerland |
| Studio | Hyperion Pictures |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 31, 1992 |
| Running time | 74 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $8,442,162 |
Bébé's Kids, released to VHS and DVD as Robin Harris' Bébé's Kids, is a 1992 American animated film 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 Lōc. Tom Everett, Rich Little and Louie Anderson also lend their voices.
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In the original act, Robin's prospective girlfriend asks him to take her and her son to an amusement park called "Fun World", but when he agrees she shows up with four kids.
As it turns out, Bébé's kids are extremely rambunctious, misbehaved, ill-tempered, and flat-out bad. They terrorize park staff, cut off the park mascot'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 and his girlfriend picks up Robin from a bar and make him take them to Las Vegas. Pee Wee picks up a power cord and the power goes out.
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.
The plot of the film features an animated version of Robin Harris (Faizon Love) recounting his disastrous first date with the beautiful Jamika (Vanessa Bell Calloway). Tagging along for the date are Jamika's mild-mannered son Leon (Wayne Collins, Jr.) and her best friend Bébé's three (in the words of Harris) "bad kids": Kahlil (Marques Houston), LaShawn (Jonell Green), and Pee-Wee (Tone-Lōc). 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!" His claims are backed up by the fact that whenever someone spots them, they point at them, shout "Oh no! It's Bébé's Kids!", causing everyone to flee the area, screaming.
The group decides to take a trip to the Disneyland-esque Fun World, 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 (Myra J.) and her food-loving friend Vivian (Nell Carter).
After causing havoc, the kids are taken back to their apartment, where Harris drops them off. While he is initially grateful, he sees the empty apartment they have to go home to, and the unseen Bébé has left the kids with a note that suggests the loveless existence that created them.
In the end, while back at the bar where he is telling the story, he realizes what he will become if he only cares about himself. He then returns and finds that Jamika has gotten the kids. They then reconcile and soon they, and Bébé's kids arrive in Las Vegas, which is blacked out when Pee Wee pulls apart a plug that lights the entire city, and Robin calls him a test tube baby.
A running gag is that an elderly woman is in constant peril, but never really gets hurt.
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, later being adapted into a poorly-received [1] video game on the Super Nintendo in 1993.
It was released on DVD on October 5, 2004, but was later discontinued by Paramount in March 2008. Contrary to popular belief, the tagline of the film was actually "It's Animation...With an Attitude!" and not simply "It's Animation!" as some trailers have indicated. The original theatrical and home video release were preceded by the short Itsy Bitsy Spider.
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