Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
My parents and I revisited two Disney movies on Disney+ recently. They were ‘The Rescuers’ and ‘The Rescuers Down Under’. I loved these two films about two mice rescuing kids in distress when I was little. I enjoyed the second film more the first, but they’re still good entertaining films to watch.
The two main stars of ‘The Rescuers’ movies are Bernard, who’s first a jittery janitor mouse (voiced by Bob Newhart), and his co-agent Miss Bianca (voiced by Eva Gabor, who did Duchess in ‘The Aristocats’). I wish there was a third movie or at least an animated TV series featuring the Rescuers.
‘The Rescuers’ films are based on a series of books by Margery Sharp. The first film is most notably based on ‘The Rescuers’ from 1959 and ‘Miss Bianca’ from 1962. The film has Bernard and Miss Bianca setting out to rescue Penny, an orphan girl who is being held prisoner in the Devil’s Bayou by Madame Medusa.
The film was released in 1977. It was fun to see how Bernard and Miss Bianca set out to rescue Penny, especially from a treasure huntress who’s obsessed with obtaining a certain diamond called the Devil’s Eye. It can be argued the first ‘Rescuers’ film is tame in terms of approach and the action.
That’s certainly true especially with it being made in 1977 and what film technology was available. But I found the movie fun, featuring some memorable characters. As well as Bernard and Bianca, Orville, an albatross who gives the two mice a ride to Devil’s Bayou as if he was an airline plane here.
Penny also likes to have her teddy bear around and like a 6-year-old girl, believe him to be real. 😀 The evil Medusa has her business partner Snoops as well as two pet crocodiles Brutus and Nero. I’m surprised Medusa had two trained crocodiles. It’s lucky she and Snoops did not get eaten by them. 🙂
There’s also Evinrude, a dragonfly who gives Bernard and Bianca a ride to Medusa’s hideout in the leaf boat. It was fun to see Evinrude act like a motorboat and such. There’s also Ellie Mae and Luke (voiced by Pat Buttram, who also did ‘The Aristocats’), two muskrats that help Bernard and Bianca. 🙂
The second ‘Rescuers’ movie is ‘The Rescuers Down Under’, which was released in 1990. Amazing that a sequel was made 13 years after the first film was made. I found the second film more dynamic than the first. That’s especially in the action, the animation, the tension and the opening music here.
In the second film, Bernard and Bianca travel to Australia to save a boy named Cody from a villainous poacher from the Australian Outback. The poacher, McLeach, wants to capture a rare golden eagle that Cody befriends. Bernard and Bianca assist Cody to protect the eagle as well as the eggs she has.
This time around, Bernard and Bianca get helped by Wilbur (voiced by John Candy) who helps to get the mice to Australia. Wilbur is Orville’s brother and is an albatross himself. There’s also Jake, a self-confident, charismatic hopping mouse who knows the Australia Outback like the back of his hand. 😀
McLeach has a pet goanna (a lizard-type animal) called Joanna, who enjoys intimidating her captives and has a fondness for eggs. My favourite scene with Joanna is when she manages to eat all of McLeach’s eggs. The moment where McLeach tells her to open her mouth had me in stitches a lot. 😀
I found the erratic fill-necked lizard called Frank, who was imprisoned with Cody and other animals by McLeach, very funny. I also like how Bernard ends up saving the day, rescuing Cody; the eagle and the eagle’s eggs. Bernard gets to propose marriage to Bianca by the film’s end. She happily accepts him.
The two ‘Rescuers’ films are great to watch! The second film is my favourite, but they’re both good and I find them nice to watch during a difficult time – please keep safe. I’m pleased I’ve been able to revisit them this year. So far, I’m really happy with subscribing to Disney+ with watching the things I like.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
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