Sky's The Limit is a pilot movie to the Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures series. It takes place after the pilot and was released in 2009 as a straight to DVD movie.
Summary[]
After the Berryworks water supply is blocked by a giant rock, everybody has to work together to find water before they are forced to leave Berry Bitty City behind. But the Berry Girls head off after hearing a rumor that might fix everything.
Plot[]
Strawberry Shortcake is on her way to the Berry Works with Pupcake. Everyone works together to collect the berries when Strawberry asks what they would do should they run out of berry juice, since its importance to keep Berry Bitty City powered. They would have no choice but to leave in that case, but because they have a lot of berries they don't see that happening. Strawberry decides to drop the subject, since they don't seem too worried.
Later at the Cafe, Orange Blossom has gathered some berrykin to build a fountain with her. Blueberry seems skeptical of their capabilities but Orange reminds Blueberry of what she said before, then she shows them the drawing she prepared for their plans. When Lemon expresses concern that someone could fall in, Raspberry attempts to come up with some solutions to remedy this- unaware of the Berrykin behind her imitating her ideas.
As this is going on, Custard is running the blender until Strawberry redirects her. Mr. Longface arrives having decided to pay Strawberry a visit and they initially talk about latter's idea of a smoothie recipe. Then Strawberry attempts to use this moment to make him spill the beans regarding the next chapter of the story he's been telling them. He refuses, deciding to talk about family instead. While they converse, problems outside begin to arise when juice spews out of a half-finished pipe. Strawberry is shocked after witnessing the chaos occurring outside, and she heads to the Berry Works to investigate.
She decides a juice short isn't too concerning, when a warning bell starts to go off to alert everyone of an approaching storm. The girls and Pupcake manage to get inside, with Orange accidentally dropping her drawing; the wind lifting it from the ground and carrying it away.
Being stuck in the cafe for the time being, the girls attempt to trick Mr. Longface into revealing the next chapter of his story. He refuses to budge, and he happens to notice that the storm quit. This causes the girls to drop the subject.
The Berry Works water supply is blocked by a big rock being held by a keystone. Princess Berrykin drives off in order to find more water as the others try to determine what to do about the rock. Even if they move it, the riverbed beyond it would most likely ruin the town due to the gathering water, and if the keystone is removed the big rock will roll down and flatten Berry Bitty City.
Orange -who didn't hear this- tries to push the keystone out, causing debris to rain down on her. Strawberry decides the rock should be off limits in the mean time and they sit down nearby to wait for the berrykin. But when they don't return that evening she suggests they look for them. The Princess arrives and points out she located a source of water, but because it's so far away they will have to move from the City over the next two days.
Everyone feels depressed by this bleak situation until Mr. Longface appears to tell them about the Great Geyser Stone, a gold stone that spurts water when placed in the sunlight. Strawberry asks him to verify such a tall tale and he recalls that it can be found south of Berry Bitty City. The girls decide they must go out to look for it but Strawberry remains unsure, but with nothing left to lose they decide it's work checking out. They make plans to leave the following morning.
Strawberry leaves her pets with some Berrykin, and says farewell to the Princess before she and the other Berry Girls, along with Mr. Longface, take off. They arrive at a blocked path, leading Plum to crack a joke while posing dramatically to keep their spirits up. Mr. Longface insists they just need to keep going south, although his compass is broken, and the sun can't be used because the tall plants are covering it up from their point of view.
It's then Orange Blossom gets an idea, but she believes it's not worth mentioning until Strawberry convinces her to try. Orange explains how the Banyabana Flower always points towards the sun, even when its hidden. The flower in question is right there, and for spotting this, Strawberry elects Orange to be the group leader.
With the direction determined the group continue on their way while Mr. Longface reviews the previous chapter of his story. This causes distraction and he fails to see the sliding slope before him, causing him to slip. The girls attempt to come up with a plan and Orange pulls out an oak leaf. They hop onto it, except for an anxious Blueberry who worries they could get hurt. She reluctantly joins in after being reminded that they don't have the time to think of something else.
After being launched into the air with Mr. Longface, the girls land atop some daisies. Blueberry had a lot of fun and she excitedly gushes while Strawberry checks on everyone else. She is concerned that they must be off-course by now, but Mr. Longface assures Strawberry that they are going the right away. She remains unconvinced, but the herd of stampeding bunnies distracts them. Some flowers fall down and block the bunnies from reaching the group, allowing them to use the flowers as a makeshift path. Lemon is scared but Strawberry holds her hand to help her across.
At the edge of the flower field the bunnies are catching up to them. Just then, Lemon gets an idea and tells everyone to run in place. The stem of the flower twists and loosens the flower, allowing it to spin and take itself to the sky. The girls enjoy their ride until they realize they're about to land in a nest of bristling thistles. They manage to avoid them, except for Raspberry and Mr. Longface, whose flowers got stuck on the thistles. Mr. Longface has no problem sliding down the stem with his book still in hand, but Raspberry worries until Plum encourages her with a few jokes. Mr. Longface remarks they are right on course and they continue on, only to realize that this location might be worth returning to, to set up a new home should they fail to locate the geyser stone.
Strawberry is confused and suspicious, leading her to bring Mr. Longface off to the side to speak in private with him. He eventually explains that they must locate the cavern of seven waterfalls. It's right up ahead.
As they head to the cave the girls find themselves stopped by a deep canyon with no way to cross it, which upsets them deeply. Mr. Longface tries to cheer them up and convince them they can just build a new Berry Bitty City, but by now Plum is at her limits and she runs away in tears. Strawberry follows her distressed friend and convinces her that she doesn't have to feel ashamed of crying. Plum confesses that while she's been making jokes to keep everyone' spirits up, she's so worried that they might have to leave Berry Bitty City. Nothing could replace it, she doesn't want to leave.
The girls are more determined to put in the proper effort of locating the geyser stone as they realize that they all feel the same way. They continue on their journey, using a vine as a makeshift bridge; but it doesn't help anything. Mr. Longface becomes concerned and expresses that this might be too much for them to handle, but the girls insist otherwise. Lemon takes some reeds and braids them together to make a stronger, more durable rope for them to use, and this allows everyone to cross. Mr. Longface attempts to convince them not to, which distracts Raspberry and causes her to become uneasy until Lemon offers to lend her a hand. Strawberry is forced to drag him with her.
Inside the cave, the girls don't see any waterfalls or the geyser stone. Mr. Longface suggests that it was stolen but Orange spots a glittering stone in a pool of light. The girls think this must be it and prepare to fetch it, only for Mr. Longface to come clean and admit that he made up the story. Initially they don't hear him, instead they praise him for his help thus far. They grab the stone and run for outside to test it. Mr. Longface stops them and attempts to tell them not to bother, because it's past sunset and too late. They will have to wait until the morning. He tries to confess again, but he struggles to say anything. The girls set up camp and snack on marshmallows around a campfire. They try to encourage him to finish the story but he claims he's too tired, so he slinks off to get sleep. While disappointed, the girls respect his wishes and soon turn in.
He attempts to steal the stone while they sleep, only for it to land on the nearby ledge. He tries to knock it down using his cane, but he loses his hat in the process, then his book. He then falls onto the ledge. The girls hear him and quickly approach to ask what happened, leading Mr. Longface to come up with an excuse, claiming that a thief tried to steal the stone. The girls are suspicious, but they have a friend to rescue, along with the stone. Raspberry gets an idea, only to dismiss it because she thinks it is silly. Strawberry and the others implore her to share it, convincing her that no idea she could come up with could cause them to judge her poorly for it. They're all friends, and its worth sharing. Raspberry agrees, and she suggests that they lower one of them onto the ledge using rope to help Mr. Longface and grab the stone.
Strawberry is lowered and she grabs the stone. But while she's being pulled up the ledge begins to crumble, causing Mr. Longface to fall until he grabs a nearby root. Strawberry has the girls lower her but it's not enough, causing Raspberry to volunteer herself. She ties the rope around her waist and has the others hold onto her feet so that she can save the others and get the stone. Strawberry grabs Mr. Longface with her free hand, but his weight makes it hard for her to hold him. She has no choice but to drop the stone, in order to use her full strength and pull him to safety.
Safe once again, Mr. LongFace expresses gratitude for Strawberry and the others for having saved his life, but the girls mourn the loss of the stone they were depending on to fix everything. Strawberry takes it especially hard, feeling like she let them down and for all the danger they were put into. Plum comforts her. Suddenly Mr. Longface's book falls out of his vest. Blueberry catches it and discovers that it is a cook book, not the legendary tale he was telling them, much to her ire and shock. Strawberry demands that Mr. Longface explains himself, and he begins to cry hysterically. He comes clean with them and explains that he made it up; the only family he has left is his mother's cookbook, and the stone they found was fake gold. He only told them this story to try to lift their spirits, he didn't realize that his lie would lead them to go this far. Although everyone is disappointed, Strawberry blames herself for the whole thing. The girls feel defeated as they approach the campfire once more.
The next day the group return for home. They don't see anyone until the Strawberry's pets run up to them to greet her, along with the Berrykin. Princess Berrykin is delighted that they returned safely, until Strawberry breaks the bad news to them. She suggests everyone start to pack. Mr. Longface feels terrible.
Helping at Orange's store, Blueberry finds Banyabana seeds on the shelf which reminds Orange about the adventure, while over at Sweet Beats Studio, Raspberry cheers up a gloomy Plum with her "thistle dance" from earlier. Strawberry and her pets look over the pictures on the walls of her Cafe.
Everyone heads outside when Blueberry spots Orange's drawing from the other day, against a tree. The colors have been washed out because of the rain, but this gives her an idea. She maps out her plan and explains that it is possible to deal with both problems. One group will use rope to lasso the keystone holding the rock in place. Before that, the other group will use a big net to deflect the rock into the nearby ravine. While everyone is supportive of the idea, Strawberry hesitates and isn't sure, still affected by their earlier failure. She tries to convince the others not to bother because it's so risky, only for them to remind her of what she told them before. Strawberry recalls how she let them down, but the others argue that she didn't. She helped them many times during their quest. Strawberry remains unconvinced and points out that they're going to need a lot more help. Blueberry suggests they ask the Berrykin then, but Strawberry points out that they were already leaving, and probably wouldn't want to take another risk. Orange is convinced that it would be fine if Strawberry asks them to help, but she is unsure. This causes Raspberry to express that Strawberry has a talent for motivating others, and the other girls agree with her.
This helps Strawberry realize that she gave up too quickly, and she puts her faith in the others as they have her. She runs off to locate the Berrykin and ask them for help while the other girls prepare. They make a strong rope and sew up fabric for the net. Strawberry and the Berrykin find a suitable fallen branch for use, and she happens to notice Mr. Longface still seems saddened. She tries to get him involved, which almost works until Blueberry accidentally makes a remark that causes him to further sulk. They don't have the time to worry about him though.
Blueberry's group successfully pulls out the keystone and the rock goes rolling down the riverbed. Strawberry's group holds onto the rope until just the right time but when they release it, the knot of the rope gets caught by a tree. With the rock threatening to break through the net, Strawberry convinces Mr. Longface to help and she uses his book to hit the knot repeatedly until it comes free. This causes the book to be destroyed but the ropes loosened up enough that the net is able to send the rock into a puddle of mud. Water begins to flow again and the Berry Works starts back up, much to everyone's relief.
Later, a party is held at the cafe and Strawberry has a special gift for Mr. Longface. They wouldn't have figured out a plan to remove the rock had he not sent them on that quest. However he feels as though he shouldn't be forgiven so easily. Strawberry convinces him that it's okay to give him a second chance; everyone deserves it. The present is revealed to be a blank book for him to write his stories.
Meanwhile, Blueberry and Raspberry present Orange with the finished fountain. They have nicknamed it "The Great Geyser Fountain" and admire how well it works until juice begins to gush everywhere suddenly. Strawberry doesn't appreciate the chaos and goes to investigate, while Mr. Longface takes over the Cafe. However, everyone is in such a happy mood, the girls enjoy themselves dancing with each other and the party resumes. They gather at the cafe again and the movie concludes with everyone singing together.
Quotes[]
- Plum: Looks like it's the end of the road for us!
- Strawberry: We'll think of a way.
- Blueberry: I hope so, because without water, the berries will die!
Lessons[]
Each Berry Girl learned a lesson that tested their character throughout the story:
- Orange rushed into something without entirely thinking it through, and it ended badly. This caused her to become reserved and shrink back when it came time for her to take responsibility for the group. She realizes the difference between recklessness and bravery, and that things are worth talking about before putting them into action.
- Blueberry attempts to come up with a rational solution when time is limited, and learns that sometimes immediate action must be taken and our instincts must be trusted.
- Lemon became paralyzed with fear until Strawberry is able to instill courage in her, allowing her to realize that new things don't have to be scary.
- Plum constantly cracks jokes and laughs throughout the whole journey to keep everyone uplifted, but she neglects her own feelings until she became overwhelmed. Strawberry helps her realize that it's okay to express how she feels, and that she shouldn't try to bottle her negative feelings up for the sake of others.
- Throughout the movie, Raspberry would often throw out ideas in a jumbled-up, convoluted manner. She has been always shy and timid, not really expressing herself and feeling silly when she did. Strawberry assures her that it won't make them change their opinions of her and that all ideas are worth verbal expression. This allowed her to express herself more clearly with some encouragement.
- Mr. Longface sees the girls' disappointment for being forced to leave their beloved home, so he tries to cheer them up with a fanciful story. He never believe the girls would attempt to find it, so out of shame he leads them around to try to make them give up, learning that lying to others for their happiness may make things worse.
- Strawberry struggles to stay positive and encouraging as the girls had to deal with stress, until the dangerous situation they are put in caused her to grow sullen and doubtful after learning the truth. She loses faith in herself and her courage, and starts to doubt her friends own abilities until they manage to tell her of what they learned from this trip to convince her not to give up yet.
Trivia[]
- In the theme song of the cartoon series, four clips from the film were inserted and do not appear in the actual show: the group walking under a big sparkly purple flower; Strawberry and Lemon floating on the flowers; Strawberry hugging Pupcake; and Strawberry, Lemon, Blueberry, and Pupcake exiting the cafe to look around when the rain stops.
- All the aforementioned clips are used for the opening segments of Seasons 1 and 2. The first scene is not included in the Season 3 opening segment; none of these clips are included in Season 4 opening segment.
- Tiny coloring details differ from the series, including Orange's eyes and Plum's hair accessory.
- Blueberry says the word "die" in this film, a word not often used in children media. This is the only use of this word in the series.
Goofs[]
- When all the girls head inside the cafe during the rain, Lemon can be seen moving her arms, trying to rub her braid even though she wasn't touching it.
- After Strawberry says "We're going to have to move to the water", Plum says "move" but Lemon's voice is heard and Blueberry says "What Do You Mean" in Plum's voice.
- During the credits there appear to be still images, one of which reveals the movie was cropped inward. In the film, Plum is hugging Mr. Longface, but in the credits it zooms out to reveal Strawberry observing them.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Sky's the Limit at the Internet Movie Database