This is so clearly within the lazy years of Disney; lifeless settings, chaotic lines, blatant character copies. Yet because of its simple, quiet nature, it stands out. Bernard and Bianca are completely endearing characters, and their mission (though wrought with manipulation) is admirable and tearful. (Side note: it's so weird to me that this is the only Disney Animation Studios film to get an official sequel)

Finally, I watched "The Rescuers", the oldest Disney animated feature I hadn't seen yet... till today. So this is a fresh review devoid of emotional bias, yet to say that I didn't have any experience with the film wouldn't be totally true. Large excerpts were featured in a Disney TV Special dedicated to villains, and it was before the Renaissance, so the last animated villain was Madame Medusa. The clips gave many parts away, the little girl named Penny (and her dear Teddy bear), Brutus and Nero were there and the sequence was the one when they found the Devil's Eye into the skull before the tides rose. I had the program recorded on VHS so I watched many times, and since it must have covered 10% of the story, I had the feeling I had watched quite a bit of the film.Then came Disney Renaissance and you could find movies like "Aladdin", "Little Mermaid" and "The Lion King", as for the post-Golden Age films, you could have "The Jungle Book", "Robin Hood" but for some reasons, "The Rescuers" wasn't easy to spot. I watched though the sequel set in Australia and I had the strange feeling I had seen the first film as I was already familiar with the main protagonists. That's just to say, as it's time to conclude this prologue, that my story with the film consists on missed opportunities. And now, that I remember it, I bought the film from my local DVD store three years ago, and it had the sequel on it. Now, discovering such an old gem, so late in my life, gave me a strange feeling, similar to the times where I was discovering the Disney classics. That alone added to the enjoyment, and it was enjoyable, much more, in a very simple and charming way. It starts in an abandoned steamboat in the Bayou, the darkness making it even creepier. Then a little girl, watched by two malicious crocodiles, drops a bottle with a message on the river. It is, I guess, the first ever prologue featured in a Disney film, it's not much long, but it does two things: it sets the tone of a modern story (no book to be opened) and starts the emotional opening credits. The Oscar-nominated theme song "Someone's Waiting for You" is played while we follow the little bottle in still images during its journey over the ocean. A rather economical opening credit sequence, but effective... and that perfectly describes "The Rescuers".The prologue says more: the little girl is already held captive, so the story had already started and we're getting through it halfway, no need for exposition or long build-ups, it'll come later through the investigation. When the credits stop, there's another little marvel of animation when we get to the United Nations building, quite an unusual sight when you think of the last Disney film featuring a lion sucking his thumb and an outlaw fox. The human animation seems like made through rotoscoping but it creates the perfect contrast with the following eye-catching oddity: mice from all over the world getting off their owners' luggage to meet in their own organization: Rescue Aid. They're from Austria, Turkey, Pakistan, India, and there's also a fat mouse from Arabia with the sunglasses, that really cracked me up.Mice are interesting characters for animation I guess, it can be a coincidence that many more mice-centered movies would be made in the 80's ("The Secret of NIMH" or "An American Tail") their size allow them to populate one frame with extremely diverse characters in the same time and give you a bigger picture than with bigger characters. Think of the beautiful entrance of Hungarian representative Bianca and the way each mouse is literally hypnotized by her, starting with the jittery janitor, Bernard (Bob Newhart). Think also of the scene where they visit the Orphanage or Medusa's pawn shop, again their small size is the foil for great artistic setting and it's delightful to have small creatures evolving in an urban world, where you could even bump into a NRA badge. Disney had small creatures before, but either they evolved in an anthropomorphic world or were in a rural ancient setting à la Cinderella. Modernity, this time, enhances the appeal of the film, you have Orville; a clumsy albatross who plays like an airplane, and Barnard is as uneasy as in a real one, and I can't blame him. You also have Evinrude, a dragonfly who buzzes and moves a leaf on the water like a speedboat. Every element is cleverly used by the animation while we also evolve in a naturally sized world, at least on the scale of little Penny, one of the most endearing characters of the film. And I guess it's time to speak about the great characterization. Bianca, voiced by Eva Gabor, is so daring, sweet and optimistic, she forms a great pair with the timid Bernard, who's never as funny as when he tries to 'play it cool' although it's not his strong suit. And the little touch of romantic mystery between the two characters also adds to the enchantment. Medusa belongs to the funnier side of Disney villains, but she's effective and the animation helps. Her body language is even more effective than her lines. This doesn't come as a surprise, the film was one of the last the Nine Old Men contributed to before passing the torch to the new generation, including Don Bluth. I don't know if it rather closes the post-Golden Age or foresees the improvement that would lead to the Renaissance, but there's a transitional vibe from the film that leans toward the positive feeling. The animation improves and culminates with the climax, the characters are endearing, and the music features some catchy songs, as I still have this "Rescue" anthem in my head as if I truly had discovered the film, as a kid.

The Rescuers, at least in my opinion, is one of the forgotten Disney films. Though perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it's one of the most overlooked Disney films. Most people know that it exists, certainly, it's part of Disney canon, and I'd even say that most people have even seen it. But not all that many people talk about it. I've never met any person who claims this as one of their favourites.And yeah, I can see why. The Rescuers is a fine movie, perfectly good children's entertainment. But, it's not very memorable. The characters range from slightly below average to merely good. The animation, while impressive in certain ways, is rather dark in its style and doesn't even try to reach for the stars like so many other Disney films. The music is okay, the story is okay and that's about it. It's okay. Which for a Disney film is not really a compliment.I truly think they should have made Cruella De Vil the villain. Yeah, this was going to be a sequel to One Hundred and One Dalmatians. But, alas, someone decided that the audience would feel confused. Disney, making baffling executive decisions since the 70s. Because, while Madame Medusa is not the worst Disney villain we've seen, she just feels like a poor man's Cruella De Vil, or perhaps like something of a practice run for Ursula from The Little Mermaid. In a word she's okay, but something's missing.Then again, Bernard and Biance, the eponymous rescuing mice, are both very good characters, the backgrounds do look gorgeous, the story does some interesting things we haven't seen in Disney films before this one, and as stated, it isn't bad in any way. It just isn't great. Certainly worth a watch for all fans of Disney, but personally I rate it pretty low on my list of canon films.

The Rescuers is a 1977 Disney movie and it is their 23rd animated classic in the Disney Canon. The movie opens up with a young orphan girl named Penny who is kidnapped by an evil woman who owns a pawn shop called Madame Medusa(who looks like a cross between Bette Midler and Bernadette Peters for some strange reason)who wants Penny to get the devils eye(which is a diamond that is somewhere in a cave).So Penny writes a letter and puts it in a bottle and throws it in the swamp. Meanwhile a mouse finds the message in the bottle from Penny and the film starts. We are later introduced to two mice called Bernard(voiced by Bob Newman)and Bianca(voiced by Eva Gabor who also provides the voice for Duchess the cat in The Aristocrats)who are in the rescuers red society which is a group of mice who are like private eye detectives who rescue people that are in trouble. So Bernard and Bianca are set off to find Penny and bring her back home. They meet some interesting charcthers along the way of their journey to find the little girl.Overall I have never seen this film before and I saw it with a blind eye,so I din't know what to make of it first,but to be quite frank I actually thought it was entertaining and cute. Also here is some trivia for ya Don Bluth and of course Richard Rich(who directed one of my all time favourite animated movies that is not from Disney The Swan Princess) both worked on this movie together,before they left Disney and started THERE own business against Disney Animation which is NO MORE. The film is extremely underrated and it reminded me of Basil Mouse Detective as I saw bits and pieces of that film.Overall if you love animal movies then this one isn't all that bad its cute and suitable for 6 years up. 6.1/10Out of 5 I give it a *** out of *****.