The Rescuers: The Rescuers / The Rescuers Down Under, 35th Anniversary Edition

Description

To commemorate the 35th anniversary of an original classic, Disney proudly presents a special 2-movie collection featuring all-time family favorites, THE RESCUERS and THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER. Join two of the world's bravest mice -- Bernard and Bianca -- as they set out on two thrilling rescue missions full of comic adventure while soaring through the Devil's Bayou and flying sky high in the Australian outback. Buckle up for the ride of your life as these tiny heroes with great big hearts outrun and outwit their rivals to save the day. Brimming with lovable characters and unforgettable music, this 2-movie collection is high-flying fun for the entire family!|The Rescue Aid Society, an international organization of mice with headquarters in the basement of the United Nations building, receives a plea for help from a little orphan girl named Penny who has been kidnapped by an evil woman, Madame Medusa. Medusa intends to use her to retrieve a fabulous diamond, the Devil's Eye, from a pirate cave. The case is taken by lovely Bianca and Rescue Aid Society custodian Bernard, who becomes her shy assistant. Together, after avoiding two brutish alligators, enlisting the help of the local swamp folk, and turning Medusa and her henchman Snoops against themselves, they rescue Penny and the diamond.|A Mickey Mouse watch can be seen on the wall of the Rescue Aid Society, the international organization of mice headquartered in the basement of New York City's United Nations.|The film was four years in the making with the combined talents of 250 people, including 40 animators who produced approximately 330,000 drawings; there were 14 sequences with 1,039 separate scenes and 750 backgrounds.|The film was one of the last Disney classics to be animated by members of Walt Disney's "nine old men," the affectionate nickname he gave his top artists at the time.|Animation historian/critic John Culhane was the role model for the character Mr. Snoops. According to Culhane, he was visiting the Disney lot when he noticed the animators taking a more-than-usual interest in him! Review: Finally "The Rescuers Down Under" gets a better pressing - This review is really more for "The Rescuers Down Under" than the original "Rescuers". I was never really a huge fan of "The Rescuers" and didn't think it was one of Disney's better efforts. "The Rescuers Down Under", on the other hand, remains to this day my all time favorite Disney movie! I'm an amateur wildlife artist, specializing in birds of prey, and it was RDU that got me into eagles in the first place! I absolutely love this movie, and it was superior to it's prequel in so many ways - the animation was much better, the storyline was great, the music score by Bruce Broughton was phenomenal. I also liked the fact that Disney decided not to make this a musical (notwithstanding McLeach's twisted renditions of "Home on the Range" and "You Get a Line, I'll Get a Pole"). I was spellbound when I originally saw this in a theater and, sadly, I was only able to see it theatrically once. But the epic outback landscapes, and Cody's flight on Marahute's back were awesome on the big screen. And the whole theater just rumbled when McLeach drove his bushwhacker around! McLeach, himself, was the definitive Disney villain - I mean, come on, he aimed his gun at a kid, threw knives at a kid, and dangled a kid into a crocodile pit, not to mention threw the kid's backpack into the crocodile pit to make everyone think he was dead! This guy was really twisted! You were cheering when he finally got his just due! Another thing I like about RDU is that you really don't have to have seen the original "Rescuers" to know what's going on - it's a great movie by itself. The eagle, Marahute, is amazing - a huge eagle, beautifully colored, with a 40 foot wingspan. Obviously, someone at Disney was a National Geographic fan, because according to the National Geographic video "Australia's Aborigines", the Aboriginal name for the white bellied sea eagle is "Marawuti", the great hunter (a 2 letter difference from "Marahute"). Cody, the Australian boy who saves Marahute, wasn't voiced by an Australian actor (I think the boy who voiced him, Adan Ryen, was actually Norwegian), so his accent sort of comes and goes, but he's still very believable as far as his character goes, even if his accent is not. And Jake, the kangaroo rat, has all the can-do of Crocodile Dundee, and always tries to impress Miss Bianca, but in the end, it's the humble Bernard who's the big hero and who ultimately wins Bianca's heart! Wilbur, the albatross, voiced by the late John Candy, provides comic relief, as does Frank, the frilled lizard. All in all, it's a great adventure story that I've seen probably over 100 times and I never tire of it. As for the DVD, they did a new digital tranfer I think, and so the graininess that was present in the original DVD release from 2000 is gone, and it's a clear picture throughout! (I remember that was a point of contention with the 2000 release). I had always hoped Disney would make a deluxe repackage of RDU for it's anniversary, but I guess this is the closest we will get. The DVD also includes "The Making of RDU", which was not on the 2000 release (but it was included on the German version!) It's only a 10 minute documentary, and although it is insightful, I wish they would have had some interviews with the voice actors. Also, I remember watching a making of RDU back in 1990, where it showed how they went to the Peregrine Fund headquarters in Idaho to draw some of the birds, but in this one, the head animator says he drew from a big, stuffed eagle on loan from the Natural History museum. (In the end credits to RDU, they do thank the Peregrine Fund). Anyway, it's nice to finally have a decent version of RDU, even if you do have to buy the 2 DVD set in order to get it. It's also nice that it's finally available on Blu-Ray, as well - I would love to see how it looks in hi-def once I have a player! I'm sure Marahute will look amazing soaring through the sky again! As long as I do have "The Rescuers" as well, I'll probably give it another chance one of these days. Review: Wonderful version of a wonderful film - I am a HUGE fan of the original movie and so am really pleased to finally see its Hi-Def release, and whilst this is not a clean-up job on a par with a Disney household-name feature like say 'Snow White', it is a really great version. Thankfully it's not been taken from the same dismal print as that of the previously released DVD, it's taken from an earlier, and altogether cleaner, print as can be plainly seen by the fact that the opening logo is the original 'Buena Vista' logo and not the later 'castle' logo that appears at the beginning of the old DVD. Therefore the restoration of this particular print just needed the DNR applying (digital noise reduction) to clean it up for Blu-ray. To remove the blemishes from the other (DVD) print would have been an altogether different, and more expensive, task, and that seems to be reserved these days for only the studio's 'diamond editions'. Anyway, the result is a smart and clean picture, with nicely saturated colours and in some places even the texture of the board that the background is painted on is visible. I own original cels and even some backgrounds from this movie and I can tell you that the colour match of this Blu-ray edition is really rather good. The few problems left on screen here and there, like one or two grit particles and out-of focus frames, are on the original film print and cannot be corrected with just a DNR pass. The 5.1 sound mix is great too, with clear upfront dialogue and nicely spread atmospherics and music. The bonus material is sadly lacking, I would have loved to see some vintage behind the scenes footage (which I know exists, as I remember watching 'making of' promotions on TV leading up to the 1977 cinema release), but instead Disney has generously added 'Down Under' as a great big bonus feature! And as the sequel was actually a bona-fide cinema release and not a straight to video 'cheap-quel' I think that its inclusion as a bonus is actually a rather magnanimous one! All in all this a great release of one of Disney's often underrated and mostly ignored animated classics.