The Rescuers | | Cast : | Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, Geraldine Page | | Director : | John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Art Stevens | | Studio : | Walt Disney Home Entertainment | | Format : | Animated, Color, Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | June 22, 1977 | | DVD Released Date : | November 03, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | G (General Audience) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 27, 2005 | | Summary | Outstanding Disney animated classic, but a disappointing DVD release! | Content
 | Disney's 23rd animated classic, The Rescuers, ranks high at the top in the list of my favorite Disney animated features, followed by other grand masterpieces like Bambi (1942) and Lady and the Tramp (1955). I've owned "The Rescuers" on VHS since I was very little and as I grew up, I came to love the film, more and more, also, I was beginning to pay more attention to quality and details, that's why I was very disappointed with this highly anticipated DVD debut. Right off the bat, I'll state that it is obvious that Disney spent less time on this film's release than that of one of their new animated sequels. This DVD was an absolute disgrace to the classic and I know the film has more to give then what's here.
I'll start off describing the film. Based on two children's novels by Margery Sharp, "The Rescuers" and "Miss Bianca," Disney's The Rescuers is the story of a mouse organization called the Rescue Aid Society, in search for a lost little girl, who they find has been kidnapped by wicked treasure-seekers. The black-hearted Madame Medusa has taken a young orphaned girl named Penny away from her home, Morningside Orphanage in order to keep her captive hoping that she will be able to find a large diamond in a dark cave by the shore. After months of being forced into dangerous diamond-finding missions, Penny sends a plea for help which arrives in the shores of New York City. The heartbreaking plea has beautiful mouse Miss Bianca begging to be assigned onto the mission and chosing for a partner, the shy janitor mouse, Bernard. Meeting several characters along the way, Bernard and Miss Bianca think up an elaborate plan to rescue the little girl and have her safely back at the orphanage.
Besides a warm and soft storyline, memorable and colorful characters, The Rescuers also features a very beautiful soundtrack. Dark and sinister music creates the scary mood of swamp waters, while soft, lullaby melodies caress the sometimes heart-breaking scenes including the lonely little girl and the reading of the embottled plea. Although its hard to tell from this DVD, the film features sharp and believable animation, with lively movement. The art in this film varies in quality, the film opens beautiful with an artistic song sequence ("The Journey") which combines beautiful ocean-view paintings with a very moody song making a very breath-taking scene indeed. While the backgrounds are very artistic in the swamp and cave scenes, they somehow seem to get kind of murky and sketchy in the "modern scenes" such as the visit to the airport or the New York streets. Besides "The Journey," The Rescuers includes 4 other pretty songs, "Rescue Aid Society," "Tomorrow is Another Day," "Someone's Waiting for You" and "For Penny's a Jolly Good Fellow."
Now, about the DVD release. Absolute trash, one of the worst Disney DVD releases ever. It really shows, as soon as you look at it, that there's nothing special in this DVD edition, and that is as soon as you look at the cover, which is a re-use of the previous VHS Masterpiece Collection cover with a few things changed. The back of the DVD states the film received a "snappy new remastering," a pretty embarrassing remark may I say, the 1992 video release looked better, and I mean it. The DVD includes poor bonus features, one of them a short, 2 minute game that is sure to bore the lights out of the youngest of children. Picture quality for the film looks absolutely terrible, the colors are washed out and the picture isn't too sharp, very blurry and shaky sometimes. The darker scenes are the worst, the animation looks solid and bland and the backgrounds look pretty much black, without any life. Of course, that isn't the way the film was meant to be, but sadly, that's the way it has grown to look like after almost 30 years. A shame, when much older films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs look like jewels even after 68 years. Many other flaws make this DVD edition not worth your money. Other reviews state, "fans should be pleased," but I think:
Disney fans want more, film fans deserve more. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 11, 2005 | | Summary | Margery Sharp would be pleased! | Content
| The classic adventures of "The Rescuers" (The classic ones, not the sequel) have become the most forgotten among Disney films, a real shame because this film is absolutely delightful and no little Disney fan should be left to grow up saying "I have never seen 'The Rescuers'." Disney did a wonderful job of bringing to life the marvelous works of Margery Sharp, combining its sweet innocence with its hilarious evil and darkness.
Disney changed the story quite a bit, but they did keep all of the elements that made Sharp's works so memorable. The story is about an innocent, sweet orphaned girl named Penny who is being held captive by the evil Madame Medusa and Mr. Snoops, two fun, retouched Diamond Dutchess and Mandrake. Madame Medusa needs someone small to squeeze down a black hole that leads into a dark and humid cave by the shore where the Devil's Eye Diamond is hidden. Madame Medusa will stop at nothing to retrieve the precious jewel, even if it means endangering the welfare of the little girl.
Penny, after being held at an old riverboat away from (human) civilization, starts sending pleas for help through old bottles and this is how the film opens in the beautifully crafted sequence "Who will rescue me?" in which the destined bottle's pleas for being saved from the raging ocean waves are sung. This 'destined' bottle manages to bring the message to the Internation Rescue Aid Society in New York which is ran by mice. Mr. Chairman, after having all of the rodent delegates sing their catchy hymn "Rescue Aid Society," selects two mice, Bernard and Miss Bianca, to take on the dangerous journey. Meeting such fun and great characters like the lovable cat Rufus and the fun-filled Orville, the two mice travel to the dark Devil's Bayou where they will rescue the little girl with the help of charming swamp creatures and take revenge on the mean Madame Medusa, Mr. Snoops and the two gators, Brutus and Nero.
Disney captured Margery Sharp's world in a wonderful way, bringing to life the innocent melodrame, the bittersweet moments together with hearwarming scenes that call for a tear or two. "The Rescuers" is a classic Disney adventure and one of the most heartwarming ones ever. Would Disney still be alive today if it hadn't been for "The Rescuers?" Probably not, the studios were focusing too much on comedy and forgetting that the heartwarming stories always captured audiences better. Sadly, the Disney empire is making the same mistake today with their newly released "comedies" and forgetting about what once made them so great with films like "The Rescuers."
The film also includes three other beautiful songs, "Tomorrow is Another Day" and "Someone's Waiting for You." The latter one was even nominated for an Academy Award in 1978. The film is highly recommended although it has really come the time for it to be deeply cleaned with Disney's wonderful restoration processes. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 27, 2005 | | Summary | One of the Disney films that deserve to be on top! | Content
| Disney's The Rescuers offers the high quality in entertainment that has been absent from Disney releases for over a decade. Instead of being one of those '70s comedies, The Rescuers focused more on telling a heartwarming tale and believe me, it delivered one of the most charming Disney experiences ever. The story is about an orphaned girl named Penny who sends an urgent call for help through an old bottle. The bottle is picked up by the society of mice called the Rescue Aid Society. Miss Bianca, a soft-spoken Hungarian mouse volunteers for this task and choses the brave but shy Bernard for a partner. Soon, the companions take off in the wings of the fun albatross Orville who flies them off to the bayou where they find Penny. The two mice learn that Penny has been taken captive by two evil treasure hunters, Madame Medusa and Mr. Snoops who keep the little girl under constant watch with their pet crocodiles, Brutus and Nero. In their journey, Bernard and Bianca meet some fun and loving characters, Rufus the wise and friendly cat, Evinrude, the strong-willed non-talking dragonfly (Who is one of the greatest non-talking Disney characters other than Dumbo.) and Ellie Mae, a sort of Don Bluthish beaver, a very friendly character who offers help to the mice calling in the swamp folk.
"The Rescuers" offers a grand and warming tale for both kids and adults to enjoy. The movie offers lots of humor, fun, warmth and the very best of 1970s songs. The musical numbers in the film are blended with the film rather than have the story stop in order for the characters to annoyingly perform one of their numbers like in say, "Aladdin." The five songs in the feature are trully wonderful, "The Journey," "Tomorrow is Another Day" and "Someone's Waiting for You" are very touching and soft. The first opens the film in a show of beautifully painted pieces of ocean view which softly displays the opening credits. The second one is more lively and the very best song in the film and the third one is more depressing, yet it creates the most heartwarming and beautiful scene. The other two "Rescue Aid Society" and "For Penny's a Jolly Good Fellow" are brillant additions also, since they set up the happier moments in the film, which has one of the sweetest endings.
The film is highly recommended and one of Disney's finest. So, why isn't it more popular? Well, it had the back luck to open at a time when Disney films were of lower quality and The Rescuers got pulled into the hole as well. "The Rescuers" was a true highlight in the period and it clearly outdoes out any '60s, '70's, early '80s or late '90s Disney animated releases. The Rescuers is a gem for the whole family and also the last true Disney classic. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 14, 2005 | | Summary | Not Margery Sharp's novel, but delightful! | Content
| Disney's version of Margery Sharp's timeless tale of little mice, The Rescuers, is really delightful, even if it doesn't contain the same plot or all of the characters from the original. Disney did a wonderful job of bringing Sharp's world to the screen, there's something really appealing about the way Disney handled the film, a bunch of little mice using small human objects in order to create their little society meeting building, inside a lost luggage bag and using cadles for lighting and other small objects. The opening is very nice, the film opens with a beautiful ballad with breathtaking paintings that capture a dramatic ocean view and slowly tells the journey of the little girl's bottle. The animation is wonderful! A little sketchy sometimes but the characters are very believable and realistic and everything is smooth. It's easy to tell that the film is pretty old, there are a lot of artifacts present through the movie, but those don't really lower the value and fun the film offers.
The storyline is very appealing, also. There's something so warm about the story of a sweet and lonely orphaned girl with only her Teddy as companion, being taken away by an evil and black-hearted treasure hunted into a dark bayou where she must do slave work in order to retrieve the diamond the evil woman has so long been wanting. Another villains make you feel for the little girl, a mean warden, Mr. Snoops and a due of alligators, Brutus and Nero who play babysitter to the little girl. However, the girl isn't alone, a bunch of small critters like Ellie Mae and Luke are there to make sure she is alright while real rescuers come and save the girl. Sharp's beloved mice, Bernard and Bianca fly on wings to save the girl and with the help of Ellie Mae, Luke and others, they will achieve this.
This movie is wonderful for adults and children alike. Margery Sharp's fans will be pleased with this beautiful film based on the timeless classic stories. A sequel to this gem was done years later, "The Rescuers Down Under" which is a disgrace to both the original film and Sharp's work, taking her characters into a modern world and ruining the appeal of her stories. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 24, 2005 | | Summary | The last Disney classic of the second Golden Age! | Content
| The Rescuers, made in 1977 is known to be the last Disney animated film in the second golden age of Disney animation, it is trully a gem, filled with charm and simple beauty. It was also the last great classic before the studio fell in a deep era of "depression," in which films like The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Black Cauldron (1985), The Great Mouse Detective (1986) and Oliver & Company (1987), which although somehow had the simple magic (Except Oliver & Company) of earlier animated films from the '60s and '70s, were unable to capture a great deal of attention. The Rescuers is credited with bringing a new interest to animation that was slowly fading, but that didn't last too long as critics were later disappointed with films that followed, The Rescuers showed freshness and charm that weren't seen there after until The Little Mermaid (1989).
The Rescuers is the soft tale of a little orphaned girl, kidnapped by Madame Medusa, who needs the girl to retrieve the world's largest diamond and will stop at nothing to achieve her evil did, even if it means putting the little girl's life in threatening situations like lowering her into a dark cave by the shore, where the diabolic jewel rests. A cleverly developed organization of mice, named the Rescue Aid Society, gets an embottled plea for help from the girl and soon two chosen mice Bernard and Miss Bianca fly on the wings of Orville to rescue Penny from Madusa and Mr. Snoops. The film features beautiful animation, presented poorly in this dusty-looking DVD release, clever story-telling, lovely little characters and 4 expectacular songs, beginning with "The Journey," which opens the film in a breathtaking sequence of paintings, singing this song is the bottle wondering who will rescue it from the menacing waves and from being "lost at sea without a friend" in a never ending journey, a great, underrated song.
Now, this DVD isn't worth your money, get yourself the video tape instead which is not better, but just as good and much cheaper. The DVD offers horrid picture quality and the whole film and packaging seems neglected and rushed. |
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