The Rescuers Down Under

What can I say? My girlfriend really likes Disney movies and Netflix has a lot of them.

The Rescuers Down Under is actually a hidden gem of Disney because I don't think a lot of people really thought the Rescuers had much left in them. The original film came out in 1977 and to be honest, I don't remember it that much. I think it was the start of mice who weren't Mikey, going out and solving crimes, a trend that Disney and other production studios did for a long time. And oddly they really let go of the franchise for 13 years before making a sequel.

Surprisingly enough, I think the sequel is a lot better than the original.

The movie starts off introducing the little boy Cody, who would eventually be the goal and kid that the Rescuers are going out to rescue.

Cody is your average blue eyed blonde American accent boy who lives out in Australia...

Well Cody is one with nature and lives to help his furry critters. He is tasked to help out a Golden eagle and holy shit, this Eagle is freakin huge. This is like mythical the size of this bird.

Of course, the bad guy comes along as a poacher named Percival McLeach (voiced by George C Scott). He wants the bird, Cody knows where the bird is, he kidnaps the boy but not until some mice see the act and transmit it all the way to New York where the Rescue Aid Society of Mice is ready to take up the case.

Of course the obvious candidates are the team of mice from the US and Hungary, Bernard and Miss Bianca (voiced by Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor).

The two heroes from the original return and park their bags to go to Australia. All the while, Bernard is trying to figure up the courage to ask Miss Bianca to marry him.

Now being a cynical asshole and not totally buying into the illusion, especially one where mice talk and have their own society going while humans are doing their thing unaware of the mice. How did Bernard get a hold of a ring so small it could fit on the finger of a mouse like Miss Bianca? Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but that bothered me for some reason when I watched this film.

The fun part about this film is that a lot of the same cast came back for this film 13 years later. Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor. Unfortunately Jim Jordan passed away and could not reprise his role as Orville the Albatross that helped them get to their location in the first movie.

Luckily, and smartly, they brought in the talent of John Candy to play Orville's brother Wilbur.

They land in Australia, and are greeted by a debonair named Jake (voiced by Tristian Roberts) and they go on their adventure to find Cody and save him.

The unfortunate thing about this movie is that in the middle... not a lot happens. Jake leading Bernard and Miss Bianca around the wilderness of Australia, all the while making Bernard jealous and insecure about Miss Bianca saying yes to his proposal of marriage. Wibur is randomly held up in a crazy mouse hospital, and Cody is just imprisoned by McLeach.

And oddly enough, this movie has the tendency to introduce characters and then just kind of forget about them for the rest of the movie.

If you've watched it, you might know what I'm talking about. It starts with Wilbur. He's just kind of left at the hospital and left to do John Candy quips, not really helping Bernard and Miss Bianca at all.

Before that, you have this random bunch of Australian critters that show Cody where the eagle is...

Never seen or heard from again.

What's even more sad about this film is that Cody spends a good portion of the second act in a room where McLeach keeps all his live animals he has trapped.

Sure they have some laughs and shenanigans in that room but once Cody gets taken out and used as bait to find the eagle, you never hear from that Koala again. You never see them freed, for all we know they starved to death in that dark outback cave.

But Cody wouldn't forget about them, would he? He loves all critters!

Nope

Cody flies off and says Fuck off to every character that wasn't on the back of his mythical bird. He forgets Wilbur, he forgets his forest friends, and he leaves his fellow captives to die.

Kind of makes the entire movie really dark doesn't it?

Put all that aside, the movie isn't bad. Its got a good cast of characters, its got some good adventure, it made every child, and me want a huge mythological eagle to ride, and it was a good continuation of The Rescuers that I think was better than the original.

Its a Disney animated sequel that wasn't totally a cash cow and had at least a little bit of heart put into it. Is it a classic? No. But its a decent enough time and I think you might enjoy it when you give it a second look years later.

But those are my thoughts on The Rescuers Down Under. What do you think? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 in order to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also give me your thoughts on movies and give me requests for future reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Its fair to say that this movie probably inspired Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers and I think there's a blatant flaw with that show that needs to be addressed. Here's that flaw. Enjoy!