The Rescuers Down Under

You know, I’ve been thinking a few things over. I called the animated sequence of Mary Poppins unnecessary, but still gave it the #2 spot when I reviewed it. Then why was I so harsh with The Little Mermaid? I’ve realized that just because there’s a bit of a flaw in the outcome of an otherwise great film, doesn’t mean it deserves to be cast down so low.

I’m bringing it up to #3.

Anyway, 1990 saw the second film of the Renaissance and the first sequel made by Disney. Eva Gabor and Bob Newhart returned to reprise their roles of Bianca and Bernard in The Rescuers Down Under. But there’s also a couple new roles, featuring John Candy and George C. Scott of Patton fame. Although it failed at the box office, its opening weekend saw it fourth behind Home Alone, Rocky V, and Child’s Play 2.

Set in the Australian Outback, the poacher McLeach (Scott) has kidnapped the young boy, Cody (Adam Ryen) in order to capture an endangered golden eagle named  Marahute. Bianca and Bernard come to his rescue with the help of Orville’s brother, Wilbur (Candy) and a kangaroo rat named Jake (Tristan Rogers).

While this film did poorly in theaters, I actually find it to be much better than the original. It’s one of those sequels that didn’t try to shoehorn in a continuation of the first film, nor did it exaggerate the lesser qualities of our favorite characters and completely ruin them. It presents our characters having actually matured between the films and gives them a completely new adventure. That’s not to say that new adventures always make for a great sequel (Temple of Doom, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace). The Rescuers Down Under didn’t need exaggeration to make it bigger and better. It had a greater production value by using computer animation to give it the wonderful sense of grandeur it had. It’s a very beautifully animated film with a lot of big moments that really work, like the opening scene showing the Outback.

Anyway, despite Cody being kidnapped, you’d never describe him as helpless. Many times, he’s actually trying to find a way out of the predicament he’s in. He even has the spine to stand up to McLeach at certain times. And speaking of our villain, McLeach is just a guy trying to make money, he just happens to do it in a very unethical and illegal way. I’ve said that Disney portrays the criminal class rather well with Sykes as the organized gangster and Ratigan as the criminal mastermind. McLeach is the manipulative, street smart, black market thug out for himself and doesn’t care who gets in his way, because he’ll just get rid of them. His (short) version of “Home on the Range” is twisted and shows that he really just sees everything as a means to an end. George C. Scott also had the best voice for him.

Bernard also goes through quite a bit in this film. While it’s hilarious to see him continually be interrupted when trying to propose, you can feel his frustration. But his best moments are when he used the advice given by Jake early on in the film to get a razorback to do his bidding. He went from a superstitious coward in the first film, to someone willing to take risks by the end of this one. And it worked.

Wilbur is also fun as the main source of comedic relief. And it’s good that they gave him his own subplot after arriving in Australia. Following the mice around and complaining about a bad back would have made the film suffer. However, Frank is the funniest character in the movie.

The music is done really well too. But, note that this is the only Disney Renaissance film to not be a musical. The original really wasn’t and this one didn’t need to be either.

#11.

Initial Reaction: The Rescuers Down Under

One of the few times where a sequel surpasses the original in terms of quality.

The animation improves, the story is better, and the returning characters have matured between films while retaining what we enjoyed most about them. And Bernard even grows a pair during the action.

None of the new characters feel out of place. Wilbur is great in that he doesn't try to act like Orville and Cody is much more than helpless.

In terms of villain, not only does McLeach deliver, but George C. Scott provides the perfect voice.


This is probably going to be high. Right now, it's at #11.

At the same time, I'm reconsidering where I put The Little Mermaid. I'm thinking I may have been too harsh on it for it's one fault. After all, I put Mary Poppins at #3 when I thought the animated sequence was unnecessary.

The Rescuers

In 1977, Eva Gabor would star in another Disney movie alongside Bob Newhart. Based on the Margery Sharp books, The Rescuers and Miss Bianca, the film known as The Rescuers would be the highest grossing animated film of all time until Don Bluth released An American Tail in the 1980s. It was the last time Milt Kahl and Frank and Ollie would work on a film together. This film was also the first Disney movie to warrant a sequel, with The Rescuers Down Under. Not The Jungle Book as I had previously stated.

The flamboyant Madame Medusa (Geraldine Page) is trying to get her hands on the world’s largest diamond, which is hidden in a dank and gloomy swamp. However, she needs someone who will fit in a tiny hole so she kidnaps an orphan girl named Penny (Michelle Stacy).

Penny sends out a message in a bottle asking for help. The message is found by the all-mouse Rescue Aid Society, who send out Agent Bianca (Gabor) and the janitor, Bernard (Newhart).

Along the way, they are assisted by an albatross named Orville (Jim Jordan), a dragonfly named Evinrude (James MacDonald) and the denizens of the swamp (Jeanette Nolan, Pat Buttram, George Lindsey, Larry Clemmons, Dub Taylor, and John Fiedler).

Once again, the villain is the most memorable part of the film. Medusa is very reminiscent of Cruella De Vil, trying to put on a façade of glamour and refinement, thinking she has a sense of subtlety, but loves to go overkill and has a tendency to go berserk when she isn’t getting her way. She’s also got a shotgun in this film. A shotgun with which she uses to try and kill Bernard and Bianca. The pet alligators are a nice touch to. Medusa’s henchman, Snoops, is also fairly interesting. Like with Merlin, there’s a sense that he’s obfuscating incompetence and can actually be fairly useful when he wants to. This is seen at the end where he manages to escape and laughs at Medusa’s misfortune. You can tell he also really doesn’t like Medusa and is just partnering with her for a cut in the profits, as he really doesn’t want to let Penny drown in pursuit of the gem.

And then there’s Penny. She suffers from The Aristicats’ problem in that she’s there to be cute and innocent for the sake of it. However, the helpless, endearing and naïve traits that Disney was going for just become incredibly annoying. On the other hand, Stacy does good voice work and makes it sound like Penny’s always three seconds from having a nervous breakdown. Considering her situation, she probably is, but she needs more characterization than “I’m here, save me.”

As for the mice, Bernard and Bianca are good foils for each other. She’s strong willed and doesn't care about what troubles they may befall, he’s superstitious and constantly wondering about what could go wrong. The alligators turning on Medusa at the end is also ironic, considering their names are Brutus and Nero.

As for everything else, the music is decent and the animation is pretty good. The story is your average kidnapping and salvation plot, but even if Penny suffers from a lack of characterization, everyone else carries it along quite well.

Final Call: A good film with mostly great characters. #11. 

The Aristocats

While The Jungle Book was the last film to be in production when Walt died, he had approved a film that would later be released in 1970. The Aristocats, featuring the voices of Eva Gabor, Phil Harris, Sterling Holloway, and Scatman Crothers, is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe. Released December 11, the film revolves around a family of aristocratic cats making their way back home after being kidnapped by a butler.

The film opens as a cat named Duchess (Gabor) and her kittens, Marie (Liz English), Berlioz (Dean Clark), and Toulouse (Gary Dubin) live in the mansion of a retired opera diva (Hermione Baddeley) and her Butler, Edgar (Roddy Maude-Roxby). The diva states that she wishes her fortune to be left to her cats until they die and then it will go to Edgar. Edgar is unwilling to wait for the cats to die, so he plots to get rid of them.

He sedates them and release them in the Paris countryside. However, he is ambushed by two dogs, Napoleon and Lafayette (Pat Buttram and George Lindsey). Edgar escapes and the cats are left on a riverbank. In the morning, they meet an alley cat named Thomas O’Malley (Phil Harris) who guides them back to Paris. Along the way, they meet a couple of English Geese (Monica Evans and Carole Shelley) and O’Malley’s best friends, Scat Cat (Scatman Crothers) and his jazz band who sing “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat.”

Eventually, they return to the mansion and O’Malley leaves. Edgar captures the cats again and locks them in a trunk bound for Timbuktu. The mouse Roquefort (Sterling Holloway) is sent by O’Malley to get the band and they arrive to fight Edgar with Frou-Frou the horse (Nancy Kulp).

The cats are saved, Edgar ends up being shipped to Timbuktu and the will is rewritten to include O’Malley. The film finishes by shattering the fourth wall.

So Walt dies and this is the best that five of the Nine Old Men can come up with without his leadership? The animation is nice, “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat” is somewhat catchy and the two dogs are hilarious, but everything else about this film just exudes mediocrity and cutesiness for the sake of being cute.

I’ve said a weak story can be saved by good characterization, which is what made Sword in the Stone so good. However, if those characters are made of wood, a weak story just falls flat on its face. Cats playing musical instruments and, in the case of Toulouse, painting is an interesting concept but it doesn’t really serve the film in any meaningful way. It’s basically a road trip movie with the idea of finding their way home, but their talents don’t really have any impact on the story whatsoever.

Duchess and O’Malley do get together at the end of the movie, but their romantic subplot just feels really forced. At least Lady and the Tramp tried to make the defiance of love at first sight interesting and while it failed, it at least gave some amount of effort.

And how the two dogs break the fourth wall at the end of the movie is just painful. Breaking the fourth wall has to be done well and cleverly. Usually, it’s done for a reason, but this time, it feels like it’s done just to be clever and bring back the dogs. It results in too much of a good thing.

Final Call: One of Disney’s most forgettable films. Drops like a stone to become #16.