Today we are talking about a firm favorite of mine as a child, The Rescuers. Released in 1977, The Rescuers is a fun action movie that is still a fun watch for kids these days. A few years back I got my son to watch this (before he was too cool for Disney) and he loved it, I think it has aged really well.
How to Download The Rescuers
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. Check out also the sequel – The Rescuers Down Uner.
The Movie Review
Before we get into the movie, we have to talk about a bit of “infamous” Disney trivia that comes with The Rescuers. When the movie was re-released on VHS in the 90s, eagle-eye viewers were able to freeze-frame the movie and see that there is a couple of frames of a topless woman! It was a shocking find and it resulted in Disney having to recall millions of copies of the recently released VHS which is now something of a collector’s item!
Ok, so back to the movie. As a kid what I loved about this movie is the same thing I love about it now and that is, it is kind of a spy action movie. We have a young orphaned girl called Penny who is abducted by an evil woman called Madame Medusa who along with her doofus partner, Mr. Snoops are up to no good.
It turns out that the reason Medusa wants Penny is that she and Mr. Snoops are treasure hunters. Medusa learns of a precious diamond called The Devil’s Eye and she needs someone small like Penny to get into the cave where it is held. They do a great job of making you scared of Medusa and fearful of what will happen to Penny.
Penny manages to put a message in a bottle asking for help! This message for help is found by The Rescue Aid Society in New York, a special unit of animals that helps find people who have been kidnapped. I love how this place is set inside the walls of the UN and as an adult, I think it is so much fun what they did here.
A brave little mouse called Miss Bianca takes on the case of getting Penny back. Miss Bianca decides that she wants the janitor, Bernard to come with her on this mission to try and save Penny. I love the pairing here and Bernard being so highly strung and Bianca being more cool and collected is a lot of fun.
From here, we have the two mice teaming up with an albatross pilot called Orville and a funky little dragonfly called Evinrude (who is actually one of my favorite side characters in a Disney movie) help save Penny. This is a movie that just zooms by, there is no filler here, it is straight to the point and on with the action and it is such a fun watch.
I feel that if you have a child that sometimes struggles to pay attention to the classic Disney movies, The Rescuers would be one that would grab their attention right away and keep it all the way to the end. It is so much fun and one of the more “serious” Disney movies where it feels like the stakes are actually high.
Even as a huge Disney fan, there are some classics that I feel do lean towards being more dated than they are classic, but that is not the case with The Rescuers. This is a movie that I feel holds up incredibly well and it is a movie that is great if you are looking for something fun to watch with your kids. I also want to say that I feel the sequel, The Rescuers: Down Under is just as much fun as this one, perhaps just a tad more!
