The Rescuers Down Under
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| The Rescuers Down Under | |
|---|---|
 Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Hendel Butoy Mike Gabriel |
| Produced by | Thomas Schumacher |
| Written by | Margery Sharp (books) Jim Cox Joe Ranft |
| Starring | Bob Newhart Eva Gabor John Candy Tristan Rogers Adam Ryen George C. Scott Frank Welker Wayne Robson Russi Taylor Bernard Fox Douglas Seale |
| Music by | Bruce Broughton |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 16, 1990 |
| Running time | 74 min |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $47,431,461 |
| Preceded by | The Rescuers (1977) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Rescuers Down Under is the twenty-ninth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and was released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution on November 16, 1990. The film, which takes place in the Australian Outback, is the sequel (Disney's first for an animated feature) to the 1977 film The Rescuers, based on the novels of Margery Sharp.
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[edit] Production
The Rescuers Down Under is notable for Disney. It was the first Disney traditionally-animated movie to completely use the new computerized CAPS process. CAPS allowed more efficient and sophisticated post-production of the Disney animated films, and made obsolete the traditional practice of hand-painting cels. As a result, The Rescuers Down Under was the first feature film for which all original film elements were completely made within a digital environment, with the exception of the backgrounds and the animators' drawings, which were done the traditional way and then scanned into the computers. It is Disney's second animated feature that does not include any musical numbers, the first being Disney's The Black Cauldron. The film also has CGI for a lot of special sequences such as McLeach's 3-D-style truck and perspective shots of Wilbur flying above the Sydney Opera House and when he flies out of New York City. A team of over 415 artists and technicians were required for the production of the film. Five members of the team traveled to the Australian Outback to observe, take photographs and draw sketches to properly illustrate the outback on film.[1]
On its first release, The Rescuers Down Under was followed by a short subject starring Mickey Mouse in an adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper. (This was only the second new Mickey Mouse short made since the 1950s, the first being Mickey's Christmas Carol, which was made to accompany the 1983 re-release of The Rescuers.)
[edit] Plot
The movie starts with Cody, a young boy from the Outback, who hears a distress call that leads him to find a giant wedge-tailed eagle named Marahute in a rope trap on top of a cliff. After Cody frees the eagle, he accidentally gets knocked off the cliff; Marahute catches him at the last moment and gives him a ride on her back. After she shows him her eggs and gives him a feather as thanks for saving her, Cody sets off for home. On the way, he stumbles into a poacher's trap set by Percival McLeach. McLeach realizes that Cody knows where Marahute is and kidnaps the boy, since he wants to capture the bird and sell her.
Bernard and Bianca, the protagonists of the original The Rescuers film, receive word from the Rescue Aid Society of Cody's kidnapping. They go to find Orville the albatross who aided them previously, but instead find Wilbur, Orville's brother. Bernard and Bianca convince Wilbur to fly them to Australia to save Cody. In Australia, they meet Jake, a kangaroo rat, who flirts with Bianca, much to Bernard's chagrin. He serves as their guide and protector in search of the boy. Wilbur is immobilized when his spinal column is bent out of its natural shape, convincing Jake to consign him to hospital. When he refuses to undergo surgery and instead attempts to flee, Wilbur's back is unintentionally straightened by the efforts of the mouse medical staff to prevent him escaping through a window. Cured, he departs in search of his friends.
At McLeach's ranch, Cody has been thrown into a cage with several of McLeach's captured animals after refusing to give up Marahute's whereabouts. Cody tries to free the animals, but is thwarted by Joanna (McLeach's pet goanna). McLeach tells Cody that someone else has shot Marahute, tricking Cody into leading him to Marahute's nest. Bernard, Bianca, and Jake, half-aware of what is happening, jump onto McLeach's vehicle.
At Marahute's nest, the three mice try to warn Cody that he has been followed; just as they do, McLeach arrives and captures Cody, along with Marahute, Jake, and Bianca. Wilbur arrives at the nest, whereupon Bernard convinces him to sit on the eagle's eggs, which Bernard had saved from Joanna moments before. McLeach takes Cody and Marahute to Crocodile Falls, where he ties Cody up and hangs him over the crocodiles. Bernard follows the truck and disables McLeach's vehicle. McLeach then tries to shoot the rope holding Cody above the water. Bernard tricks Joanna into crashing into McLeach, sending the both into the water. The crocodiles chase McLeach, while behind them the damaged rope holding Cody breaks apart. Although McLeach manages to fight off the crocodiles, only Joanna makes it to the shore while McLeach falls off the waterfall.
Bernard dives into the water to try to save Cody, but fails. Jake and Bianca free Marahute just in time for her to burst free and retrieve Cody and Bernard. Bernard, desperate to avoid any further incidents, proposes to marry Bianca, who accepts eagerly while Jake salutes him with a newfound respect. All of them depart for Cody's home. Wilbur, whom they have neglected to relieve of his task, incubates the eggs until they hatch - much to his dismay.
[edit] Characters
The Rescuers Down Under features three characters from the first film: Bianca, Bernard, and the Chairmouse.
- Bernard, voiced by Bob Newhart, a mouse and the United States representative of the Rescue Aid Society.
- Bianca, voiced by Eva Gabor, a mouse and the Hungarian representative of the Rescue Aid Society
- Wilbur, voiced by John Candy, an albatross.
- Cody, voiced by Adam Ryen, a young boy.
- Marahute, voiced by Frank Welker, a wedge-tailed eagle; scaled to the size of Argentavis.
- Percival C. McLeach, voiced by George C. Scott and Frank Welker (singing voice), a poacher.
- Joanna, voiced by Frank Welker, a goanna and McLeach's pet.
- Jake, voiced by Tristan Rogers, a kangaroo rat.
- Red, voiced by Peter Firth, a male kangaroo captured by McLeach.
- Frank, voiced by Wayne Robson, a frill-necked lizard captured by McLeach.
- Krebbs, voiced by Douglas Seale, a koala captured by McLeach.
- Faloo voiced by Carla Meyer, a female kangaroo.
- Chairmouse, voiced by Bernard Fox, chairman of the Rescue Aid Society.
- Doctor Mouse, voiced by Bernard Fox.
- Nurse Mouse, voiced by Russi Taylor.
[edit] Reaction
Most critics praised the film. On Rotten Tomatoes, 77% of the critics reviews were positive. But despite the fair critical success, the film underperformed at the box office, grossing only $27 million. The film's poor box-office performance discouraged Disney Studios to release any sequels to animated Disney movies theatrically. Only when they were fully convinced that the sequel would be a success would they release it theatrically, such as The Jungle Book 2 and Return to Never Land, which were both successful.
The Rescuers Down Under is considered the black sheep of the Disney Renaissance era (1989-1994) because of its poor box-office performance as well as its lack of musical numbers, ironic given the success of the original The Rescuers and despite its reasonable critical reviews. However, despite its poor reception, a third movie was later planned for 1996 (presumably due to its successful home video release), but Eva Gabor suddenly died the previous year from respiratory failure from complications of food poisoning. Therefore, the planned movie and all future Rescuers sequels were scrapped.
[edit] Soundtrack
| The Rescuers Down Under | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Soundtrack | ||
| Released | 1990 | |
| Recorded | 1990 | |
| Label | Walt Disney Records | |
| Producer | Bruce Broughton | |
| Professional reviews | ||
- Main Title
- Answering Faloo's Call
- Cody's Flight
- Message Montage
- At the Restaurant
- Wilbur Takes Off
- McLeach Threatens Cody
- The Landing
- Bernard Almost Proposes
- Escape Attempt
- Frank's Out!
- Cody Finds the Eggs
- Bernard the Hero
- End Credits
[edit] Home video
The Rescuers Down Under was released in the Walt Disney Classics video series in 1991 on VHS and Laserdisc like The Rescuers. However, unlike The Rescuers, the sequel did not make it to the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection. It was released on DVD on August 1, 2000 as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. It has yet to join the several other Disney films in the "Platinum/Special Edition" DVDs.
[edit] References
- ^ The Rescuers Down Under. Disney Archives. Disney Online. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
[edit] External links
- The Rescuers Down Under at the Internet Movie Database
- The Rescuers Down Under at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Rescuers Down Under at the Big Cartoon DataBase
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