Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at The Rescuers

This is going to be an unusual one for me. You see, I saw this movie exactly once when I was like six or seven and it never really stuck with me. Why is that unusual? Well, because the sequel to this film, The Rescuers Down Under, is one of my Favorite Disney Films of all time, even more so than our last film, Robin Hood. We’ll discuss the sequel in great detail when we get there, but since the sequel had such a huge impact on my childhood and this one did not it can be more difficult than usual for me to judge this one on its own merit. However, the promise I made all the way back when we covered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was that I would judge these movies for what they are, not what they’re not. So, what is The Rescuers? Well, The Rescuers tells the story of a runaway orphan named Penny who is kidnapped by two crooks and brought to the Louisiana bayou because they need someone small enough to fit through a tiny cave opening and retrieve a priceless diamond. Penny tries to send for help using a message in a bottle. Said bottle washes up in New York and is found by this secret society of mice that specializes in the rescue of lost children. The case is taken by a rescue agent named Miss Bianca who chooses the Rescue Aid Society’s Janitor, Bernard, as her backup, the two obviously having an immediate crush on one another. The thing about this film is, while there’s nothing really wrong with it and there are some parts that are enjoyable, it’s also not especially memorable, hence why it appears to have been completely overshadowed by its own sequel. It really is a shame since the visual style and background work are absolutely beautiful and some of the characters are pretty likable but the story is unfortunately fairly by the numbers. Well, let’s do our best to analyze The Rescuers.

Main Character:

I can’t front, I love Bernard and Bianca. They’re both incredibly likable characters both individually and as a couple. This is helped by the fact that they’re voiced by a pair of really great actors. Bianca is voiced by Hungarian actress Eva Gabor, sister to Zsa Zsa Gabor as well as the same actress who previously voiced Duchess in the Aristocats. Eva brings the same charm and energy to this role as her previous Disney appearance and it's just a delight. Bernard is voiced by standup comedy legend Bob Newhart who’s easily one of the best things about this movie. Newhart has this amazing quality to his delivery that never feels like he’s reading from a script. Every word out of his mouth just feels natural and often times, it’s pretty funny. I really enjoy how Bernard’ss more cautious and even superstitious nature is nicely complemented by Bianca’s reckless thirst for adventure. You get a sense that Bernard and Bianca are immediately smitten with each other. However, they don't immediately admit it to one another, instead opting to allow a romance to develop naturally. They’re actually really sweet together and their chemistry is both believable and very adorable.

Villain:

I guess when judged on her own merit, Madame Medusa isn’t an awful villain. She’s greedy, cruel and at times a little intimidating. The fact that she has two vicious looking pet alligators named Brutus and Nero at her disposal makes her feel like a great threat. However, a common criticism of this character is that she feels like a poor man’s Cruella De Vil. Well, what if I told you that in the original version of the script, this character was Cruella De Vil. This isn’t just some fan theory either, there’s evidence in the film that's been confirmed by the Disney Wiki that this character was written with Cruella in mind. Hell, they even drive the same 1941 Panther Deville. How much more interesting would the movie have been if Disney had brought one of their most celebrated villains out of retirement? You could have done so much more with that. You could have gone into what happened to her after 101 Dalmations, Medusa’s sidekick Snoops could have easily been replaced by Jasper and Horace and you could even have kept the Alligators. What a missed opportunity. Like I said, Medusa is fine, if not a bit generic, on her own, but knowing that who she could have been and that a much better villain takes her place in the sequel, she unfortunately falls short. I know I said that I should judge the film by what it is rather than by what it’s not and that applies in equal measure to the villain, but sadly, what Medusa is is a fairly uninspired knockoff of a much better character.

Side Characters:

There’s a few side characters worth mentioning, but none that really stand out. Penny is your fairly standard cute little girl and her attachment to her teddy bear was kind of adorable. I also appreciated that she wasn’t afraid of the alligators. Orville the Albatross gets a couple of laughs here and there. Supposedly, this character was another one who was supposed to be voiced by Phil Harris but things fell through. Jim Jordan does a fine job but… let’s just say that this is another character that gets replaced by a superior version in the sequel. There are these two muskrats that Bernard and Bianca encounter on the Bayou named Luke and Ellie May who are pretty funny. Their pet dragonfly Evinrude is adorable and any time Luke, who's once again voiced by our good friend Pat Buttram, force feeds someone a drink from his moonshine jug, which is implied to contain pure gasoline, it’s always hilarious. That’s about it.

Songs:

Not too much to discuss here, most of the songs aren’t especially memorable. I will say this though, the sequence for Tomorrow is Another Day was actually really nice with Bernard and Bianca flying through beautiful scenery on Orville’s back. I enjoy when films like this take a moment to let the animation and gorgeous background design breath. We also get this nice bit where Bianca falls asleep on Bernard’s shoulder and Bernard puts his arm around her shoulder. It’s really sweet.

Memorable Scenes:

This movie actually does have a couple of relatively intense scenes. There's this especially exciting sequence where Bernard and Bianca first arrive at Medusa's hideout and are chased by the Alligators. They end up having to hide in this huge pipe organ and the two gators are banging on the keys and trying to force them out. Then once Medusa sees the mice and starts firing a shotgun wildly and things actually get pretty intense. The big finale is also a lot of fun, especially with Luke and Ellie May having rallied their neighbors to join the fight. There's fireworks going off and chaos everywhere. All of it culminates in this really fun chase through the swamp where Penny and the Mice have stolen Medusa's specialized jet ski and are trying to escape but Medusa, using her alligators as makeshift waterskis, is following close behind. The whole thing actually gets pretty fun and exciting.

Story:

Honestly, there’s not really much to the story. Crooks kidnap the little girl and the mice try to save her. It’s pretty straight forward. That’s kind a shame because I really liked the idea of the Rescue Aid Society, this secret organization of mice that help small children. I’d be very interested to learn more about them and see what other kinds of cases they handle. Even little details about their world here pretty cool, such as how they repurpose everyday items for their own use. Using a comb as a stepladder or a Sardine Can strapped to the back of an albatross as an airplane are actually kind of creative. Honestly, I think this concept would have translated better to a Saturday morning cartoon. While this particular story wasn’t especially memorable, if it becomes simply the first of many adventures shared by Bernard and Bianca, I think it actually works. I’d totally have watched more adventures with these characters, even without taking the sequel into account. Hell, maybe that potential is why the film got a sequel to begin with. Still, I think the people who decided that The Jungle Book needed more airplanes should have taken a look at this as I feel it would have fit well with The Disney Afternoon. True, we got Rescue Rangers, which is a very similar concept, but I’d still have enjoyed more adventures featuring Bernard and Bianca.

The Dark Disney Factor:

There’s plenty of creepy stuff to go around in this one. The foreboding design of the bayou is nice and unsettling, as are Medusa’s alligators who patrol the swamp. There’s this bit where Evinrude gets chased by bats which I can see creeping out little kids and the fact that the diamond is found inside a human skull is pretty morbid for a children's film. There’s also this one scene where Bernard and Bianca try to sneak through a zoo and Bernard scouts ahead to see if it’s safe. All you here is a roar and see Bernard running. You never see what he’s running from, you just know that it’s big and terrifying, something I felt really added to the scare factor of the scene. Good job Disney.

Final Thoughts:

Like I said, this is not a particularly memorable film, but for what it is, it’s actually not too bad. The characters are likable, the backgrounds range from beautiful to foreboding, the concept is creative and they even manage to squeeze in a few fun action scenes. It’s not a bad movie, it just has the potential to be so much more. Fortunately, we’ll see this concept fully realized once we get to the sequel, but we have a ways to go before then. Next time, we tackle another Disney film that I have not re-watched since I was a very small child. Join me next time for The Fox and The Hound.