"Faith is a bluebird, we see from far. It's for real and as sure as the first evening star. You can't touch it, or buy it, or wrap it up tight, but it's there just the same, making things turn out right." -Rufus the Cat
Initial thoughts before viewing: As a child of the 90s, I was much more familiar with this movie's sequel The Rescuers Down Under (1990) than the original Rescuers film from 1977. I watched Down Under first (although I was aware that there was an original, older movie out there with Bernard and Miss Bianca). I don't recall have strong feelings towards The Rescuers either way once I finally saw it. I will say that as a whole, both Rescuers films are generally overlooked in the Disney fandom.
If you have never seen The Rescuers or need a refresher, here is a link to the movie's Disney Wiki page where you can read the plot summary.
Highlights:
-The Rescuers has a solid story with a proper mystery. It had been a second since I saw this movie, so I was pleasantly surprised how interested I was in solving the mystery of what happened to little orphan Penny. Spoiler alert: it involves child labor and a huge a$$ diamond. The villain, Madame Medusa, is like a broken down version of Cruella de Vil (she's a seedy pawn shop owner who aspires to live the high life), but she's still unique enough in her own right. Fun fact: The Cruella vibes were intentional. Originally, Disney was considering reusing Cruella De Vil as the villain for this film, but this was later abandoned and Medusa was created instead. Medusa is hot headed, crazy, and steals every scene she's in. The Rescuers has solid story all around, and how the mystery unfolds is nicely satisfying.
-The opening credits sequence is hauntingly beautiful. The film begins in an abandoned river boat in Devil's Bayou, where our deuteragonist Penny drops a message in a bottle containing a plea for help into the river. The bottle is carried out to sea and washes up in New York City where mice discover it. This is the very first Disney animated classic film to feature a small prologue prior to the start of the opening credits; the credits are thus attached into the storyline as they are shown over beautiful still images describing the journey of Penny's bottle. The song played over the credits is appropriately entitled "The Journey" and is actually sung from the perspective of the bottle ("I'm lost at sea without a friend"). The combination of the emotional song, evocative still images, and the mysterious circumstances around Penny's entrance makes this entire opening sequence incredibly memorable and haunting. Two thumbs up. 👍👍
-Penny the Brave. To say that Penny goes through a lot in this movie is an understatement. She's around 6 or 7 years old, yet displays an amazing amount of faith and emotional strength. This is best exemplified during the poignant "Someone's Waiting for You" sequence, sung as Penny begins to lose her faith after Medusa cruelly speaks to her. During this segment, the star of faith that her friend Rufus the cat mentioned earlier in the story lights up the night sky. It's a touching, empowering moment that really shows Penny's strong character and determination. She may be just a little girl with her teddy bear, but her resilience and faith is exemplary. 💖
Random Thoughts I Had While Watching:
-"Mice can talk like anybody. Didn't you know that?" Penny talks to animals like it's a completely normal thing, yet she's the only human character to do so in the movie. When asked about how she does this, Penny says assuredly "Mice can talk like anybody." I guess Penny can talk to animals because she takes the time to actually listen to them!
-From janitor to agent. Bernard starts out as a janitor at the Rescue Aid Society and only gets to go with Miss Bianca on the Penny assignment because SHE chooses him has her partner. By the end of the movie, it's pretty apparent that Bernard is a full time agent now. Um...don't agents need some sort of training? Or I guess anybody (er, any mouse) can do it.
Closing Thoughts:
-What can 2 little mice do? This question is asked repeatedly throughout the movie, and the answer is A LOT! Bernard and Bianca rescue Penny and save the whole movie! I love the message here: anyone can make a difference. Don't let naysayers wear you down -- where there is a will, there is a way. Nice lesson, Disney.
-This movie is criminally underrated. No one ever talks about this movie. I'll say it again for the cheap seats in the back: NO ONE EVER TALKS ABOUT THIS MOVIE. But why? The more I thought about this movie, the more I liked it. I love the darker, more mysterious tone of the plot. The Rescuers feels like it was crafted with so much care and respect towards the albeit bizarre storyline (mice rescuing a kidnapped orphan on a bayou, come on). But somehow it all works. It's a more serious animated adventure, but still full of old-fashioned Disney charms. It has beautiful music, loveable characters, and an emotional resonance that rivals Dumbo (if you don't get teary eyed during "Someone's Waiting for You", you may be a monster).
Side note: You may have noticed that I did not have a 'Disliked' section for this post - that's because even after sitting with this movie for more than a week, I could not come up with anything I disliked enough to warrant a mention here. Does that mean this movie is perfect? Nope nope nope. This just means that there was nothing in The Rescuers that I reacted to super negatively (that's a first).
You may or may not be surprised to learn that The Rescuers was very well received by both critics and audiences upon it's initial 1977 release (it did spawn a sequel, after all). Critics were hopeful that The Rescuers signaled a new golden age for Disney animation (spoiler alert: it did not). Still, modern critic Tim Brayton claims that The Rescuers is "The one completely successful Disney feature produced between 1967 and the beginning of the company's renaissance in 1989." Yay for The Rescuers, ouch for the other 8 Disney animated features that came out during that timeframe.
My Rating: 7/10
My Rating Scale/System:
10 - Masterpiece / Award Worthy 🤩
9 - Almost perfect / Exceptional 🥰
8 - Great / Well-crafted 😁
7 - Good / Noteworthy 😊
6 - Above average / Memorable 🙂
5 - Solidly average 😐
4 - Mixed feelings / Mediocre 😕
3 - Uninteresting / Struggle bus 🥱
2 - Barely watchable 😡
1 - Failure / Why is this a thing? 💩
