The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

The second film of the so called Disney Renaissance and the only one of them not to be a musical. And because of that, often a very overlooked and forgotten film. Which, I suppose, makes sense. All of the other Renaissance films are certainly more memorable than this one, and are such an integral part of the childhood of anyone who grew up in the 90s.But this film certainly has a lot of good things going for it. The animation, for one, is absolutely gorgeous. The first scene alone, with a long, zooming shot over the outback, is worth the price of admission alone. The flying scenes and the variety of gravity-defying camera angles are also stunning in multitude of ways, the character designs are both creative and flawless, the colours are vibrant and the whole film has a really good feel to it.It's also both nice and very odd to see a sequel in the actual Disney canon. Not that I approve of Disney sequels in general, for obvious reasons, but if you had to make one for any film in the Disney legacy, The Rescuers is one of the stronger candidates. I mean, the original film ends in a cliffhanger of all things.Unfortunately the film suffers from almost the same problems the original film did. The story, while perfectly passable, is not very exciting, especially when compared to the other Disney films of the time. A kid is in danger and somehow it falls to two mice to do the rescuing. The plot is mostly an excuse for some action scenes, a lot of character-based oddness and for the nice animation to shine. Which is fine, don't get me wrong, but it's simply not all that ambitious.The characters are also once again equally bland. The eponymous rescuers, Bernard and Miss Bianca, are both fine, but nothing overly special. The villain is a nice deviation from the norm, but fails to be very memorable. The supporting characters are probably the best thing about this film, aside from the animation, but even they can't hold a candle to other Disney side characters that debuted in the 90s.And that's The Rescuers sequel. It's good, but not great. A fun little adventure for the children, but lacking that spark that would make you watch it again and again even as an adult.

Entertaining sequel to "The Rescuers" sees Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor back to voice the characters of Bernard and Bianca mouse of the rescue service, which operates out of the UN to help children in need, and in this tale a young boy living in Australia has been abducted by an evil poacher called Mr. McLeach(voiced by George C. Scott) who wants the boy to lead him to a large and rare eagle that he wants to kill, but the boy refuses. It is up to Bernard and Bianca to save the day again... Though not as charming and moving as the first, this still is a respectable effort, with a worthwhile message and an ambitious visual approach. Shame there wasn't a third adventure...

This is a sequel to the adventurous "The Rescuers" from Disney, a story about two mice named Bernard and Miss Bianca from the Rescue Aid Society out to rescue a boy named Cody and his golden eagle friend Marahute from kidnapping poacher, Percival McLeach, in Australia. He is after the endangered species bird for its profitable quarry. As a result, the rescuing Bernard and Bianca team up with the society's local field operative, Jake The Kangaroo Rat, to find Cody, stop McLeach and save Marahute. This movie, Disney's 29th full-length animated feature film and the only such film to be a sequel, is like a daring and fun action-adventure movie, but with animals serving as the protagonists. It's non-stop adventure from Cody freeing Marahute to Bernard and Miss Bianca going through rushing waters to rescue Cody. All the characters, especially the critters, are lovable and memorable. The subplot of Cody and his newly-formed friendship with the eagle he rescued is interwoven into the main plot very well, expanding on the "Rescuers" topic of the movie.This movie, like its prequel, is probably one of the more obscure of Disney films as it does not utilize the fairytale method. I personally like "The Rescuers" more because I thought it was more charming and heartfelt and contained more unforgettable songs. But, this movie is nonetheless one of the more exciting Disney features that would sure delight an audience of all ages.Grade B

The Rescuers Down Under (1990) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Sequel to the 1977 film has an Australian boy being kidnapped by a poacher because he learns that the kid knows the location of a golden eagle and its eggs. Soon the Rescue Aid Society are informed and both Bernard and Bianca are on their way. THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER was considered a major flop when it was first released and I must admit that it's somewhat shocking that Disney would select THE RESCUERS as a film to make a sequel to. Not that the original film is bad but there's certainly many better known titles out there that they could have done a sequel to and I'm sure they would have gone over better with crowds. Either way, this film isn't nearly as good as the original and I think this is mainly due to the story here not being all that good. We've got the same concept of what we saw in the original but the biggest change is that we're now in Australian, which I'm sure was in response to CROCODILE DUNDEE being such a hit. There are a few things that really work here including an amazing opening sequence where the boy ends up on the back of the eagle and goes for an incredibly fun journey through the clouds. If the rest of the film had more scenes like this one then it would have been much better. I also thought that the animation was great but then again you expect this from Disney. Both Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor are good reprising their roles and we get John Candy and George C. Scott doing fine work as well. THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER is far from a bad movie but it never quite reaches the level of the first film, which wasn't a classic either.