The Rescuers Down Under

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 takes place in the Australian Outback and is the sequel to the 1977 film The Rescuers, based upon the novels of Margery Sharp.
==Plot==
Set in the Australian Outback, a young boy named Cody rescues and befriends a rare giant eagle named Marahute, who shows him her nest and eggs. Later on, Cody unknowingly falls into an animal trap set by Percival C. McLeach, a local poacher who is wanted by the Australian Rangers.
When McLeach finds one of the eagle's feathers on Cody's backpack, he is instantly overcome with excitement, knowing that catching an eagle of that size would make him rich because he had caught one before (which was Marahute's mate).
McLeach throws Cody's backpack to a pack of crocodiles in order to trick the Rangers into thinking that Cody was dead and he kidnaps him in his attempt to force him to reveal the whereabouts of Marahute.
A mouse (who was the bait in the trap) runs off to alert the Rescue Aid Society. A telegram is sent to the Rescue Aid Society headquarters in New York City, where Bernard and Miss Bianca, the RAS' elite field agents, are assigned to the mission, despite Bernard's attempts to propose marriage to Bianca.
They go to find Orville, the albatross who aided them previously, but instead, they find his brother Wilbur. Bernard and Bianca convince Wilbur to fly them to Australia to save Cody.
In Australia, they meet a hopping mouse named Jake who is the RAS' local regional operative. He becomes infatuated with Bianca and starts flirting with her, much to Bernard's chagrin. He serves as their "tour guide" and protector in search of Cody.
At the same time, Wilbur is immobilized when his spinal column is bent out of its natural shape, convincing Jake to send him to a nearby hospital run by mice. Wilbur (who is scared of the surgical equipment that the doctor intends to use, including a chainsaw) refuses to have surgery and is forced to flee. His back is unintentionally straightened by the efforts of the mouse medical staff preventing him from escaping through a window. After being cured, Wilbur leaves to look for his friends.
Meanwhile, at McLeach's ranch, Cody has been thrown into the cage with his father Craig and several of McLeach's imprisoned animals for refusing to give up Marahute's whereabouts. Cody attempts to free himself and the animals using various objects tied together with a hook on the end, but he is thwarted every time by Joanna, McLeach's pet goanna.
Realizing that Marahute's eggs are Cody's weak spot, Joanna tries to shoot the door, McLeach tricks Cody into thinking that Marahute has died, which causes Cody to lead him straight to Marahute's nest. Knowing that Cody's going to fall for a trap, Bernard, Bianca and Jake jump onto McLeach's Halftrack to follow him.
At Marahute's nest, they try to warn Cody that he has been followed; just as they do, McLeach arrives and captures Marahute, along with Cody, Jake, and Bianca. Following McLeach's orders, Joanna tries to eat Marahute's eggs, but then realizes they are actually egg-shaped rocks.
Frightened that McLeach might be angry with her, Joanna drops the stones over the cliff instead. When she leaves, Bernard crawls out of the nest with the hidden eggs, grateful that Joanna fell for the trick. Just then, Wilbur arrives at the nest where Bernard convinces him to sit on the eagle's eggs so Bernard can go after McLeach.
Enraged by Cody's interference, McLeach takes his captives to Crocodile Falls, where he ties Cody up and hangs him over a group of crocodiles, trying to feed him to them. But Bernard (riding a wild razorback pig he had tamed using a horse whispering technique that Jake had used on a snake earlier) follows and disables McLeach's vehicle.
Then, McLeach tries to shoot the rope holding Cody above the water, and in order to save Cody, Bernard tricks Joanna into crashing into McLeach, which causes them to fall into the water, which causes the crocodiles to focus their attention from Cody toward McLeach and Joanna, while the badly damaged rope that's holding Cody behind them starts to break.
McLeach fights and fends off the crocodiles, but even though Joanna manages to reach the shoreline, McLeach is swept over the waterfall to his death. Bernard dives into the water to save Cody, but struggles to; his actions buy Jake and Bianca enough time to free Marahute so they can save both Cody and Bernard.
Not wanting any other incidents, Bernard proposes to Bianca who eagerly and happily accepts while Jake salutes him with a newfound respect. But as all of them leave for Cody's home and back at the nest, Cody remembers that his dad and the animals are still back at McLeach's Lair. After the rangers arrest McLeach who survives the falls, Cody tells the rangers about his dad and the rest of the imprisoned animals, Craig and the animals have led by Faloo who releases them. Marahute takes the mice back to Wilbur at her nest Bernard also realizes.
Marahute's eggs finally hatch, much to Wilbur's dismay when Marahute returns, and Wilbur takes the mice back to New York. The rangers take Cody and his dad back home to reunite Chloe who thinks her son has died. Marahute visits the family in their house, Cody asks her if her children is safe, Marahute nods in agree. After Marahute, Cody and his family leave, Wilbur flies by and into the moon.
==Voice cast==
* Bob Newhart as Bernard
* Eva Gabor as Miss Bianca
* John Candy as Wilbur
* Tristan Rogers as Jake
* Adam Ryen as Cody
* George C. Scott as McLeach
* Wayne Robson as Frank
* Douglas Seale as Krebbs
* Frank Welker as Joanna and Additional Special Vocal Effects
* Bernard Fox as Chairmouse/Dr. Mouse
* Peter Firth as Red
* Billy Barty as Baitmouse
* Ed Gilbert as Francois
* Carla Meyer as Faloo/Cody's Mother
* Russi Taylor as Nurse Mouse
* Peter Greenwood as Airport Captain and Radio Announcer
* Phil Proctor as French Mouse
* Mickie McGowan as International Mice
==Release Dates==
Country	Premiere
 	November 16, 1990
==Box Office==
The Rescuers Down Under had failed to reach the success of its predecessor, making it the lowest grossing film in the Disney Renaissance era.
==Critical Reception==
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Rescuers Down Under has an overall approval rating of 68% based on 25 reviews collected, with a weighted average score of 6.2 out of 10.
According to the critical consensus: "Though its story is second-rate, The Rescuers Down Under redeems itself with some remarkable production values—particularly its flight scenes."
The staff from Halliwell's Film Guide gave it two stars out of four calling it a "slick, lively and enjoyable animated feature" and "an improvement on the original."
Roger Ebert gave 3 out of 4 stars and wrote in his review: "Animation can give us the glory of sights and experiences that are impossible in the real world, and one of those sights, in The Rescuers Down Under, is of a little boy clinging to the back of a soaring eagle. The flight sequence and many of the other action scenes in this new Disney animated feature create an exhilaration and freedom that are liberating. And the rest of the story is fun, too."
Also giving it three stars out of four, Gene Siskel summarized the film as a "bold, rousing but sometimes needlessly intense Disney animated feature [sic]" where "good fun is provided by a goofy albatross (voiced by John Candy), one in a long line of silly Disney birds."
Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the movie's animation and the action sequences, though remained critical of the storyline labeling it "trifle dark and un involving for very small children", though acknowledged its "slightly more grown-up, adventurous approach may be the reason it does not include the expected musical interludes, but they would have been welcome."
Also finding error with "such a mediocre story that adults may duck", the staff of Variety, nevertheless, wrote that the movie "boasts reasonably solid production values and fine character voices."
TV Guide gave the film 2½ stars out of four, writing: "Three years in the making, it was obviously conceived during the height of this country's fascination with Australia, brought on by Paul Hogan's fabulously successful "Crocodile" Dundee. By 1990, the mania had long since subsided, and this film's Australian setting did nothing to enhance its box office appeal. Further, the film doesn't make particularly imaginative use of the location. Take away the accents and the obligatory kangaroos and koalas, and the story could have taken place anywhere. Another problem is that "the rescuers" themselves don't even enter the action until a third of the film has passed. And when they do appear, they don't have much to do with the main plot until near the film's end. The characters seem grafted on to a story that probably would have been more successful without them. Finally, the film suffers from some action and plotting that is questionable in a children's film. The villain is far too malignant, the young vigilante hero seems to be a kiddie Rambo, and some of the action is quite violent, if not tasteless."
Josh Spiegel echoes that point and expands on it further, explaining: "The Rescuers Down Under tanked with barely $3.5 million in its opening-weekend take, Katzenberg removed all television advertisements for the film. By itself, that's not the worst possible fate, but it proves that he had zero confidence in its ability to perform at a seemingly ideal time of year. Here's the thing: the more demoralizing fact isn't that Katzenberg yanked the marketing. It's that Disney set The Rescuers Down Under up to fail, opening it on the same weekend as a little film called Home Alone, otherwise known as the highest-grossing film of 1990. He may not have been able to predict its long-lasting impact on popular culture, but Katzenberg likely had enough tracking information to tip him off that Home Alone would be a monster laying waste to everything in its path. The Rescuers Down Under was forced to take the hit, then and afterwards."
Ellen MacKay of Common Sense Media gave the film four out of five stars, writing: "A rare sequel that improves on the original".
==Movie Trailer==
The Rescuers Down Under - 1990 Theatrical Trailer
==Trivia==
*This is the first animated feature film to use digital ink and paint.
1990 films
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