The Rescuers

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This film is a pretty big departure from what we’ve seen so far, being a non-musical, more adventure-based film with a more serious tone overall. And it does provide a pretty entertaining primary narrative and a fantastic villain in Madame Medusa, although a lot of the music leaves something to be desired.

The Rescuers is a pretty simple story, as you would expect. Two mice are sent to rescue a little girl named Penny from the evil Madame Medusa, who is using her to try and find an elusive diamond.

The film doesn’t come across as too cartoony for a lot of its runtime, which is obviously extremely surprising for a Disney film in general, let alone an animal based one. It is packed with enough sillier moments to be entertaining, but it also has some very good action sequences and these two aspects balance each other out very nicely. Unfortunately, it also starts out with a lot of potential for character development in the journey the two characters go on, which isn’t really developed all that well in the long run, so that’s a shame.

For example, Bernard starts off as a lowly cleaner, whilst clearly wanting to be a part of the Rescue Aid Society and is given a chance to go on a mission, but in spite of this set up, he just goes, with no excitement or desire to prove himself and doesn’t really go on any emotional journey throughout the film, which leaves his story feeling a little flat overall.

Other than the opening song, the music is also not great- it’s not awful, there is just nothing particularly memorable about it. The same also goes for the animation- it looks nice and the lines are certainly softer than the movies that came before it, which is a nice change, but there is just nothing particularly outstanding.

What is great about The Rescuers is the villain. Madame Medusa has everything that made Cruella De Ville great- from her over the top demeanour to Geraldine Page’s brilliant voice acting, she’s just a lot of fun to watch.

Overall, whilst not being particularly ground-breaking, The Rescuers is a fun adventure with a great villain and an entertaining enough storyline.

Rating

Good guys: In spite of a lack of development and overall blandness, Bernard and Bianca are likable enough, so the good guys get 5/10

Bad guys: Madame Medusa is a really fun villain, so the bad guys get 7/10

Animation: It’s nice to see some softer lines to the characters, but there’s nothing else particularly noteworthy animation wise, so the animation gets 5/10

Music: Other than the opening song, none of the others are memorable, so the music gets 5/10

Plot: The action is entertaining, but the lack of character development is a bit disappointing considering the potential that was there, so the plot gets 7/10

Overall Rating: 29/50

Next review The Fox and the Hound