The Rescuers first came out in 1977 at the end of Disney's silver age. I remember this movie as strange but really good. The sequel, The Rescuers Down Under, came out around 1990 when I was three years old, and I know I saw it but I couldn't remember anything about it aside from the trailer and the Happy Meal toy I got once. So I borrowed it from the library to find out why. My analysis reveals the answer.
In the first movie, two mice named Bernard and Bianca have to save a little girl named Penny who was kidnapped from a New York orphanage and taken to a Louisana bayou to search for a diamond called the Devil's Eye. According to Wikipedia, the villainess is supposed to resemble Cruella DeVil from 101 Dalmatians, but she looks a little like Ursula from The Little Mermaid too. Her henchman looks like the radio parts guy from The Brave Little Toaster, and also according to Wikipedia Penny was supposed to make a reappearance in Oliver & Company but they changed the character to Jenny instead. The orphanage's cat, Rufus, is sort of like Gepetto due to his mustache and the advice he gave to Penny comparing faith to a bluebird outside the window. Also, Penny's teddy is obviously Winnie the Pooh, and the writing takes shots at Annie sometimes. Bianca is the Hungarian representative to the Rescue Aid Society located under the humans' United Nations building. Bernard is only a janitor but he takes the oath very seriously (the very catchy Rescue Aid Society song that once heard you will never be able to get out of your head). The chairmouse won't let Bianca take the assignment alone because she's female (the only other one being the German representative, but after the song she's quickly forgotten). Bernard was actually the first one to speak up about it being too dangerous for her alone, so Bianca chooses him to accompany her despite his not being an agent. Why is this okay? While that pisses me off, I don't care so much because the two make a great team.
In the second movie, we don't know how much time has passed chronologically. In real time, however, it's been over a decade and the animation technology has improved (in fact, according to Wikipedia this film was made to show off said animation, and it shows). Despite this, the sequel is forgettable and unnecessary. It isn't a bad movie, but not much was memorable, which explains why I didn't remember it as well as the original. The first movie was endearing and developed its characters - for example, Bianca is always late and Bernard is superstitious about the number thirteen. In the sequel, not much is added to their characters other than Bernard attempting to propose to Bianca throughout the movie only to be interrupted each time. It's not like he isn't brave, he's just overly cautious, so his actions toward the end of the movie aren't really that surprising as he demonstrated courage and competence in the first one as well. Anyway, in the sequel a young boy named Cody is kidnapped by a hunter in the Australian outback when he won't give up the location of a rare golden eagle and her nest. Instead of getting local help, a mouse whom Cody had saved from a trap earlier sends a distress signal all the way to the Rescue Aid Society (abbreviated as RAS in this film) in the States, where they must fly out in the midst of a snowstorm.
While the first film feels like sort of a mystery they must solve to find Penny and get a gist of the situation so they can rescue her, the second one feels more like a road trip that's taking too damn long. Once they land in Australia they meet a kangaroo rat named Jake (who by the way seems more than capable of handling a rescue mission and should have been called upon sooner rather than having him run what passes as an airport for mice) and trek across the outback until they find the hunter's camp. While I will credit the sequel's opening musical score as being adventurous and upbeat, the plot really drags along and doesn't get interesting until the hour mark (which is about 2/3 of the way in). The original may have used up time with beautiful songs and some stupid cartoon antics, its pacing was far better and at least remained interesting and not all that annoying. The sequel is full of pointless scenes that don't go anywhere, and you can never get those minutes of your life back. The ending doesn't suck, although it does end in a weird place, but that's all. At least it's better than the Ferngully movies. I would also recommend The Rescuers to people who liked The Goonies because of the treasure hunting subplot. Also, I wouldn't exactly call them "big-lipped alligator moments," but what is it with both Rescuers and Rescuers Down Under that includes the villains threatening to feed the kids to alligators/crocodiles? What the eff, Disney? Captain Hook is one thing, but innocent children?
In both films, Bernard is voiced by Bob Newhart and Bianca is voiced by Eva Gabor. You may also recognize her as Duchess from Disney's The Aristocats (her accent doesn't change despite Bianca being Hungarian and Duchess being French, but it suits her/them just fine). Don Bluth's name actually appears in the credits of the first film, which is interesting considering he later came out with An American Tail, also about mice.
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