The Rescuers
From The Unofficial DisneyWiki
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [Source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Rescuers is the twenty-third full-length animated feature film in the Disney animated features canon. The story involves to mouse rescue agents, the timid Bernard, and the Hungarian Miss Bianca, setting out to rescue a young girl, named Penny, who is being held captive by treasure huntress, Madame Medusa.
The film was based on a series of books by Margery Sharp, particularly The Rescuers and Miss Bianca. It was first released on video in 1992. However the Feature Presentation logo had a navy blue and black gradient it was also the first to have an electronically muffled version of the 1988 Walt Disney Classics jingle. A potential Platinum Edition DVD has been announced for 2013.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Significance
- The film was the last to be worked on by Disney veteran, John Lounsbery, who, in a sad coincidence to Bernard’s triskaidekaphobia, died Friday, February 13, 1976.
- The last film for actors Joe Flynn (Mr. Snoops) and Jim Jordan (Orville the Albatross). Jordan retired after the film’s release and died in 1988, while Flynn drowned in a swimming pool accident, shortly after finishing recording his dialogue for the film in 1974 – still quite early in the film’s 4 year production.
- The Rescuers would go on to become the first Disney animated feature to influence a theatrically released sequel, The Rescuers Down Under in 1990.
- The last film to feature animation by Milt Kahl, who animated Madame Medusa almost entirely on his own.
- The film’s story of the two mice setting out to rescue the girl, Penny, brought back the interest for animation, which had been lost by both critics and audiences throughout the 1970’s.
- During the 1960’s and 70’s the Disney animators had been releasing comedy-esque films. ‘’The Rescuers’’ was their return to a film with “heart” and story, as had previously been done with ‘’Dumbo’’ and ‘’Bambi’’. Veteran animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston consider it to be the best film they worked on without Walt Disney’s personal supervision.
[edit] Trivia
- Originally, the Disney animators were considering reusing Cruella de Vil from ‘’101 Dalmatians’’ as the villainess for ‘’The Rescuers’’. However, due to concerns that reusing Cruella would make ‘’The Rescuers’’ seem like a sequel to an otherwise unrelated film, Madame Medusa was created in her place.
- An audio clip from ‘’Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree’’ in which a bee buzzes the “Charge!’’ theme, was reused for when Evinrude buzzes out the same tune to signal the Swamp Folk to attack. The growling noises made by Brutus and Nero, would then be reused in ‘’The Fox and the Hound’’ as the growling made by the villainous black bear.
[edit] Sequels
The Rescuers Down Under was released in 1990, marking the first sequel to a Disney animated feature. However, in direct contrast to the first film’s success, the sequel suffered from a less successful theatrical run. Although part of the Disney Renaissance, it is often considered the black sheep of the era, since unlike most other films of the time, such as ‘’The Little Mermaid’’ and ‘’Beauty and the Beast’’, it was a financial failure and received rather mixed reviews from critics; it was also the only film of the "renaissance" not to be a musical. As a result, most future Disney sequels went straight to video.
The 1988 Disney animated feature, Oliver & Company was originally supposed to be a follow-up of Penny’s life, following her adoption at the end of the first film. However, due to concerns that the story wouldn’t have been convincing, Penny was replaced by a similar girl, Jenny.
[edit] References
- ↑ Los Rescatadores - Edición Platino. ZonaDVD. Retrieved on 2009-06-07.
| Previous Animated Feature: | Next Animated Feature: |
| The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh | The Fox and the Hound |
