Review of The Rescuers (1977) by Jon T — 05 Jan 2013

THE RESCUERS was one of Disney's more successful films during the studio's dark age of the '70s. At the time, audiences were losing faith in the Mouse House, especially since their post JUNGLE BOOK output left a lot to be desired.

Compared to predecessors ROBIN HOOD and THE ARISTOCATS, THE RESCUERS at least offered a more adventurous story -- in which two mice come to the aid of a girl imprisoned on a swampy river boat and search for the prized diamond Devil's Eye.

Aesthetically, however, this is not one of Disney's more pleasing films; the animation has a very jaded and rough quality, almost as if it was done primarily on pencil, and the backgrounds lack intricacy and detail.

Furthermore, in spite of the plot's premise, the picture drags too long, even at its 76 minute running time, with scenes that feel very much like padding. In particular, the songs by Shelby Flint, although beautiful and pleasant, make the unfortunate mistake of stopping the story in its tracks.

Even the villains are disappointing; Madame Medusa, for instance, is greedy, brassy, and cruel, but she's not scary, and her aide-de-camp Snoops is basically clumsy. Furthermore, the human child Penny is portrayed rather weakly -- she has no major backbone and is too saccharine to be believable.

The only reason this still gets a marginal recommendation is because of the appealing mouse heroes as voiced by Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor and the occasional action scene (like Orville the albatross having a close encounter with Snoops' fireworks, the pirate's underground high-tide geyser cave, crocodile chase, as well as a dragonfly evading vicious bats -- and even then most of these scenes are geared toward the younger set), but all in all, time has not been kind to THE RESCUERS.

If you want a more epic treatment of this story, see THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER instead; not only is it better animated, it's much more exciting, period... something this one often isn't.