The New Dawn of Animation
While the 1986 “Gong Show" may not have been as successful as the previous year, it did provide Disney with its next animated project and the chance to try something that the studio had, oddly, resisted for 50 years: a sequel. At the suggestion of Peter Schneider, the VP of Feature Animation, Katzenberg earmarked ’91 as the release date of a follow up to the surprise 1977 box office smash, the Rescuers.
In the franchise - loving marketplace of today, sequels are almost assured in any film with even mild box office success, especially if they’re animated. But Disney avoided that practice for 50 years, namely because its focus was ono regular theatrical re - releases of existing films to revive their popularity and, more importantly, their merchandise sales.
As previously mentioned, the success of the Rescuers took everyone by surprise. The film took $48 million at the worldwide box office on a budget of 7.5 million, making it one of the most successful films in Disney history. It’s European popularity was incredible, helped by a very successful rerelease in 1983. At the time, it made perfect sense that the Rescuers would be the first Disney film to have a sequel, even if today we might be wondering. As an action - adventure akin to James Bond, the narrative of the Rescuers lent itself very well to a follow up. Most Disney adventures told a complete story, often ending with a clear and definitive climax, which the Rescuers did, but the world of its narrative fit the mould perfectly for further adventures of the pair of brave mice who fly to the rescue of children all over the world. The possibilities for a sequel were endless, but, incredibly, the producers only had one location in mind; because in 1986, a little film called Crocodile Dundee became a monster hit. On an $8 million budget, the film took $328 million at the box office. Quickly becoming the highest - grossing Australian film ever and the second highest - grossing fil of the year. Even landing an Oscar nomination. So perhaps it’s small wonder that Disney looked to send the Rescuers down here.
Supervising aniamtors Mike Gabriel and Hendel Butoy were assigned to direct the Rescuers Down Under, so Gabriel enlistend storyboard artist Joe Ranft to serve as story supervisor, who immediately, and rightly, suggested that Cody be designed and voiced by and Indigenous Australian local and had a heated discussion over it with Katzenberg, but Ranft was overruled and the character was designed as a blonde white boy.
THE STORY
In the Outback of Australia, though it looks more like the bush, a young boy named Cody is called upon to liberate a golden eagle caught in a poacher’s trap. So he climbs a huge ridge and frees Marahute. She takes him on a breathtaking flight back to her nest, where we see she’s laid three eggs. Apparently, the father was trapped by a poacher too, but the poacher finished the job. After Marahute gives Cody one of her own feathers, she flies him back to the ground to go home, and on the way home, he gets caught in a poacher’s trap. He runs into Percival C. McCleach and his pet goanna, they kidnap Cody after they see Marahute’s feather in his bag and he refuses to betray her. So, his call for help is relayed to New York, where the Rescue Aid Society calls on Bernard and Bianca to go on a mission to save him.
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In late 1988, Eva Gabor, Bob Newhart and Bernard Fox were cast to reprise their roles from eleven years earlier. Respectively as Bianca, Bernard and the Chairman of the Rescue Aid Society. For the anatagonist, McLeach, Katzenberg convinced Oscar winner George C. Scott to play the role. Sadly, Jim Jordan, the voice f the albatross Orville in the firs tfilm, passed away in 1977. So Roy E. Disney suggested the role be written as Orville’s brother Wilbur, in honour of the Wright brothers, and voiced by comedian John Candy.
MY VERDICT
So this film is a visual masterpiece. The realization of my home country on film, whether it’s a fly - over sequence of Sydney Harbour, a sweeping opening shot of a plain of flowers, or the aforementioned breathtaking scenes of Cody flying on eagle back, is a sight to behold. It actually makes you feel like you’re visiting the Top End and you’re not even leaving your house, plus it’s truly great to hear the didgeridoo in the film’s score. However, as an Australian, often irritated by the rrepresentation of Australians in American cinema and TV, the characterisations are inaccurate and infuriating. For a film set in Australia, it’s unfathomable to hear that almost every character has an American accent. We get ONE character with a legitimately Australian accent, but everyone else who tries ultimately sounds English, and the rest sound like they’ve been flown in from southern California. Why not Bryan Brown as McLeach? Deborah Mailman as the kangaroo who allows Cody to ride her to the ridge where Marahute is trapped? And why did that petty tool bag Katzenberg refuse to make Cody indigenous??? There are so many unanswered questions about this film that continue to boggle the mind.
Is the Rescuers Down Under a Disney Classic? Like I said, a visual masterpiece, but it has very little else to offer. It opened the door to future projects, but it’s certainly no Disney Classic.
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