Product: The Rescuers Down Under [VHS] (1990)
Rating: 2.0
Ugh, pretty weak!
Yes, this was the first Disney sequel, but don't be fooled, this doesn't make it any superior to the line of cheaply made sequels that followed. This film is considered an animated classic, but it doesn't live up to the classic Disney animated features, including the brilliand and original 1977's The Rescuers, it is down there with weak Disney releases like 101 Dalmatians (1961), The Black Cauldron (1985), Oliver & Company (1987) or the souless and unimaginative Aladdin (1992). The film does have good animation, and right now it may even seem as if the animation were superior to that in the original, but that is not playing fair, because The Rescuers Down Under was released with explendid picture quality, while The Rescuers was released with a poor "snappy new remastering."The film doesn't live up to the original The Rescuers, one of my personal favorites, it doesn't have the charm or the sweet atmosphere the original had and it suffers from weak characters. Bernard and Bianca have not developed since the original film, they've gone down, the only advancement is in Miss Bianca's age, who now matches Eva Gabor's voice at the time and she looks like a wealthy old mouse. A pretty lame character, voiced by John Candy named Wilbur was brought to replace Orville since Jim Jordan had passed away. Wilbur is Orville in disguise, a complete remake, the only difference is the color of his scarf. He even uses the same take off gag as Orville did in the original film.In this rather weak sequel, the two mice from The Rescuers (1977) are back, this time to rescue a rather bland boy from the hands of evil Mcleach, who's sidekick is a lame lizard named Joahnna. The two characters try hard to replace the adorable Penny, Brutus and Nero the aligators and funny enough, it seems as if Amos Slade was back! No excitement here, the opening sequence which is said to be "breathtaking" looks like flat moving pictures poorly created by the multi-plane camera.If you haven't seen this film, don't bother you haven't missed much. If you are a fan of the original, you'll probably dislike this one. I recommend the original The Rescuers (1977) instead.2/5 (The two stars is for the effort, the 3 taken away is for the ugly result.)