Review: The Rescuers (DMC #63)
“R-E-S-C-U-E, Rescue Aid Society! Heads held high, touch the sky, you mean everything to me!” Last night we watched The Rescuers, which marks the 63rd film in our Disnerd Movie Challenge! If you’ve never seen these adorable mice before, we recap the film in our synopsis below. If you watched with us, feel free to skip ahead to our review!
Synopsis
In a decrepit and abandoned riverboat in Devil’s Bayou, Louisiana, a young orphan girl named Penny drops a message in a bottle with a plea for help into the water. The bottle is carried along the river to the ocean, where tides and severe storms carry it all the way to the harbors of New York City. A few street mice discover the bottle. At the United Nations building, mice from all over the world attend a meeting with the Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization. The Society’s janitor, Bernard, greets the delegates. During the meeting, the chairman explains that the Society believes someone needs rescuing. A latecomer, Miss Bianca from Hungary, arrives at the meeting during the singing of the Society’s pledge. The chairman has the bottle with the message brought in, and Bernard brings over a broken comb to use as a ladder to retrieve the message. Bernard, a superstitious mouse, points out that the ladder has thirteen steps, but the chairman dismisses him. Bernard removes the message. The chairman has a difficult time reading it because of misspellings and because water has washed away some of the writing. Bianca looks over it and slowly deciphers the message. Penny’s message was to be delivered to Morningside Orphanage letting them know she’s been kidnapped, but the chairman doesn’t believe there’s enough to go on. Bianca immediately volunteers and asks for this assignment. At first, both the chairman and Bernard voice concerns, and Bianca looks to be smitten with Bernard’s caution. Ultimately, the chairman asks for a volunteer from all of the male mice delegates in the room to accompany Bianca as a co-agent. The male mice, every one of them infatuated with Bianca, eagerly volunteer, but Bianca requests Bernard’s help, much to his and the chairman’s shock. Bernard and Bianca begin their investigation by heading to the orphanage. There, they find a box of Penny’s belongings, but conclude that if she were adopted she wouldn’t have left all of her things behind. They meet an old cat named Rufus who shares information about the last time he saw Penny. Penny, distraught over not being chosen during a recent adoption, believed that she was not pretty enough to be adopted. Rufus tried to comfort her. Although Rufus states she seemed happy, the next thing he knew Penny was gone. He shares with the mice that the police gave up searching for Penny weeks prior. As Bernard presses further, Rufus tells them about a woman named Madame Medusa who tried to lure Penny into a car. Rufus voices concerns that she may have succeeded in abducting Penny this time.
Bianca and Bernard travel to Medusa’s pawn shop. They learn that she and her partner, Mr. Snoops, are on a quest to find the world’s largest diamond, the Devil’s Eye. The phone rings and Medusa arrives in the room to answer. On the other line, Snoops requests more time to find the diamond and shares that he caught Penny sneaking messages in bottles into the river. Furious at Snoops’s ineptitude, Medusa says she is flying down to Devil’s Bayou immediately. Bianca and Bernard try to sneak into her car to follow her, but her erratic driving causes them to fall out and be left behind. The mice go to the airport to take a bird flight to Devil’s Bayou. They enlist the help of Orville, an albatross. Bernard becomes uneasy about flying after seeing Orville’s not-so-smooth landing and because of his own superstitious nature, but Bianca reassures Bernard they will be fine. Their takeoff is likewise rocky, but eventually Orville gets his wind and flies the mice to Louisiana. Meanwhile, Penny makes another attempt to escape the riverboat. Medusa sends her pet alligators, Brutus and Nero, to bring her back, while Medusa searches on a swamp-mobile. Snoops sends up flares to light up the swamp, disrupting Orville’s flight and causing Bianca and Bernard to fall into the river. Nearby, two muskrats named Ellie Mae and Luke discover the trouble. Ellie Mae tends to Bianca while Luke gives Bernard some of his strong, homemade liquor to revitalize him. Orville tries to return to the air, but is sucked through the engine of Medusa’s swamp-mobile. He’s fine, but angrily yells at Medusa to watch where she is going. Having had enough, Orville flies away. Bianca, Bernard, Ellie Mae, and Luke watch Medusa from afar, and the muskrats share how much they loathe Medusa being in the swamp. They spot Penny being captured by Brutus and Nero, and Ellie Mae helps the mice use a leaf-boat driven by the dragonfly Evinrude to reach Penny. They are nearly overtaken by the alligators swimming by, and Evinrude eventually loses steam from flying so fast, but they manage to sneak into the riverboat. Penny is returned to the riverboat, where Snoops tries to reprimand her, but Penny talks back to him. She goes to her room, and when Medusa returns she scolds Snoops for his failure to control Penny. She reminds him they need Penny to retrieve the Devil’s Eye because she is small enough to fit into the cave where it is located. As Medusa retires, the alligators smell Bianca’s perfume and they chase the mice into a pipe organ. Medusa smacks the heads of the alligators for making too much noise, but loses her composure when she spots the mice. Bianca and Bernard barely manage to escape outside. Momentarily downtrodden, Bernard believes the mission is impossible, but Bianca invokes the pledge of the Rescue Aid Society, and the two are determined more than ever to help Penny.
Medusa calls Penny to her room, where she pretends to play the part of a loving aunt. Penny pleads with Medusa that she’s already tried her hardest to find the diamond, but Medusa says she must try harder. After Penny asks if Medusa will live up to her promise of taking her back to the orphanage after the job is done so she can be adopted, Medusa laughs and asks why anyone would want to adopt a “homely” girl like Penny. Penny returns to her room with her teddy bear and cries. Bianca and Bernard sneak into Penny’s room. They finally meet her face to face and introduce themselves. Although ecstatic that her bottle worked, Penny is at first skeptical that two mice can help her. Together the three come up with a plan to entrap Brutus and Nero and escape on the swamp-mobile. Bernard instructs Evinrude to alert the local animals, but he is delayed when he is chased by a flock of bats and forced to take shelter. The next morning, Medusa and Snoops take Penny to the cave and force her to go inside. Penny tries to refuse until Medusa takes her teddy bear and threatens that she will never see it again if she does not get the diamond. Penny reluctantly agrees and is lowered into the cave with Bianca and Bernard hiding in her pocket. They find the diamond stuck underneath a skull, but the tide begins to rise inside the cave. Bianca and Bernard attempt to squeeze the diamond through the skull but are unsuccessful. Bianca tells Penny to use a nearby pirate’s sword to prop open the skull’s jaw. At last, they get the diamond out of the skull just as the tide begins to overtake them. They narrowly escape and are pulled up by Medusa before they drown. Medusa breaks her promise to give Snoops half of the diamond in exchange for his help, and she hides the diamond inside Penny’s teddy bear while holding Penny and Snoops hostage at gunpoint. Evinrude finally escapes the bats and alerts the swamp animals who immediately rush to help. Meanwhile, the booby traps Penny, Bianca, and Bernard set up the night before are triggered and Brutus and Nero are trapped, with Penny managing to steal her teddy bear back along with the Devil’s Eye. She hops on the swamp-mobile and tries to start it, but it won’t budge. The critters foil Medusa’s near attempt to shoot Penny. Ellie Mae uses Luke’s liquor to kick-start the swamp-mobile, and Penny, the mice, and the rest of the critters drive off. However, Medusa manages to hang on to a rope connected to the vehicle. During the commotion, some flares go off and part of the riverboat explodes, freeing Brutus and Nero. The swamp-mobile drives near them and Medusa, still holding onto the rope, rides on the alligators like water-skis as she attempts to stop Penny. Medusa loses her grip and slams into the ruined riverboat while Penny and the animals drive away. Medusa laments over the loss of the diamond. Snoops escapes, laughing at her, while Brutus and Nero snap at Medusa. Back at the Rescue Aid Society, Bianca and Bernard watch the news as Penny’s story is shared; the diamond has been sent to the Smithsonian and Penny has been adopted! Evinrude arrives with another message pleading for help, and Bianca immediately volunteers her and Bernard to take on this next mission. The final scene shows the two of them and Evinrude boarding Orville, who’s trying his best to fly during a snow storm.
Thoughts Before Watching
Kevin: Of the two Rescuers movies, I far prefer the sequel, The Rescuers Down Under over the original. As I’m putting together my before thoughts, I realized that there isn’t a whole lot I can remember about The Rescuers. I know the basic plot and recall a couple of gags, but I’m truthfully drawing a blank on this more than I expected to. I’m rather excited though, because in a way it feels like I’m discovering parts of this movie for the first time!
Megan: It’s been ages since I last saw this movie! I definitely haven’t seen it since our VCR player broke, because the only version of this I owned prior to Disney Plus was a VHS copy. I remember liking this movie as a kid, but also not wanting to watch it very often because it was a bit sad and melancholy compared to the more adventurous and humorous sequel, The Rescuers Down Under. I feel like I still remember the plot fairly well, along with some of the quotable lines (I can distinctly hear one of the characters yelling “Evinrude!” in my head). I guess we’ll see how this holds up!
Thoughts After Watching
Melancholy Mood…
Megan: While I do enjoy this movie, I’d forgotten just how melancholy the overall tone of the movie is. Yes, it’s still a hopeful story, being made for children and all, and it has its moments of humor, but the music really sets this sad and somber tone. It starts right at the opening sequence, with these canvas paintings of a message in a bottle traveling across the sea. The accompanying music (“The Journey” sung by Shelby Flint) is mournful, emotional, and dramatic, with repeated lyrics like “rescue me.” We get a brief jovial moment with the “Rescue Aid Society” anthem (which, I’ll admit, has been stuck in my head ever since watching the film), but the remaining songs sung by Shelby Flint (“Tomorrow is Another Day” and “Someone’s Waiting For You”) echo a similar emotional tone to the opening song. The songs are beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but the emotionality of the songs really tugs at your heartstrings in a way that strikes quite a different tone than we’re used to with Disney animated films. I think that’s why it’s not one of the films I often returned to again and again as a kid. I’m happy to rewatch it again as an adult, but it’s not quite at the top of my rewatch list.
…But It Has Heart
Kevin: This movie definitely has a bit of a sad overtone, but interestingly it’s this melancholy tone that makes this movie have something that the last few animated films arguably lacked: heart. Now, I enjoyed The Aristocats and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Robin Hood is my overall favorite film from Disney’s Bronze/Dark Age of animation. However, I don’t think those three films quite have the magical Disney touch seen in earlier films. By the time we get to The Rescuers, we are four films into the Bronze Age. As mentioned before, and likely as many Disney fans know, this is the era of animation following Walt’s death. To this day, the films of this era are not held in as high regard as the eras that came before and after (though the Wartime Era still ranks as the worst era in my book). Up until this point, many of the previous animated films of the era seemed to rely more on gags for their entertainment value. With The Rescuers, we get substance more on par with older films. The movie was hailed as heart-warming, with critics calling it the best Disney animated feature since either The Jungle Book or One Hundred and One Dalmatians, depending on who you ask. That means folks were considering this to be the best film since Walt passed away—a rather high compliment! I won’t personally say it’s the best since then, but I can see why others think so. For one thing, the movie was clearly successful enough to spawn its own sequel, the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to do so. Additionally, the film is full of moments that tug more at your emotional heartstrings than tickle your sides (although there are a few of those moments, too). There’s the opening song that embodies the feeling of loneliness and desperation for rescue, Penny’s sadness at not being adopted, Bianca’s immediate rise to the challenge of helping Penny, and Bianca and Bernard nearly risking their lives to help Penny retrieve the Devil’s Eye. We’re treated to so many great examples of emotional moments. After we finished the film, I remarked to Megan that one of the interesting things about this challenge is seeing how each movie (the animated ones anyway) seems to build upon what came before it. This isn’t entirely surprising since many animators work on multiple films over a period of years, but this is still fascinating. In a way, I think The Rescuers foreshadows the kind of magic that slowly leads us to the Disney Renaissance. With the exception of The Black Cauldron, I can remember most of the animated films that follow this one, and all of them have this same kind of “heart” to them. As the next decade passes, each film follows its predecessor by keeping the focus once more on characters and emotional engagement. Eventually, the emotional connections are expressed once more through songs the characters sing themselves, ultimately peaking with the Disney Renaissance. If nothing else, the success of The Rescuers is that it began a return to the classic Disney formula.
Strong Female Characters, But Sexism Lingers
Megan: I was very glad to see this film rather swiftly and solidly pass the Bechdel test with several conversations between named female characters that aren’t always about the male characters in the story. Penny speaks to Madame Medusa about several topics that aren’t men: the diamond and Penny’s own wants and desires chief among those topics. Then of course there’s Miss Bianca who talks to both Ellie Mae and Penny about the rescue plan. Miss Bianca even comforts Penny. If you’ve been following along with us on our blog, you might have noticed (as I have) that whenever a Disney film is adapted from a book written by a woman, we get a stronger Bechdel test pass than when the films are adapted from books written by men. This definitely holds true for The Rescuers. While the film is only “suggested by” the books written by Margery Sharp (The Rescuers and Miss Bianca), it would seem the story structure she created inspired the all-male writing team to create a film that ultimately includes far more interesting female characters.
Megan: That said, there’s still quite a bit of sexism that leeched into this film—no doubt a symptom of the era in which the film was made, and the lack of female contributors in decision-making roles behind the scenes. One of the most obvious examples is the scene at the Rescue Aid Society. Though we are shown a room with a mix of male and female mice in attendance, all the male heads turn when Miss Bianca enters. By the way some of the male mice’s eyes nearly pop out of their heads, we know their attention isn’t drawn to Bianca because she’s late or held in high esteem for her work. They’re ogling her because she’s attractive, and nothing more. Though Bianca is quick to help decipher Penny’s message, and the first to volunteer to rescue Penny, the Chairman and Bernard are less quick to allow her on the mission.
MISS BIANCA: Oh, Mr. Chairman, please, please may I have this assignment?
THE CHAIRMAN: You? Miss Bianca? [laughs] Dear lady, it’s absolutely without precedent. I mean, it’s not like the old days, when it was a man’s world. However, I suppose, there has to be a first time.
BERNARD: Mr. Chairman, sir. I don’t think Miss Bianca should go. It could be dangerous. I mean, anything could happen to her.
THE CHAIRMAN: You see, dear lady, before our janitor interrupted, (clears throat) I was about to suggest that you should have a co-agent go with you. Gentlemen, who will volunteer?
If the mission is indeed dangerous, then shouldn’t any mouse, male or female, be assigned a co-agent? And why must Bianca’s co-agent be male? Why does the Chairman have to limit the request to only the “gentlemen” among them? Surely two female mice would be just as capable as any other pair of mice. While I do appreciate that Miss Bianca, seemingly a mouse of high class, asserts herself by choosing the janitor, Bernard, as her co-agent instead of any other members of the Rescue Aid Society, it’s not a great setup for the love story that’s to develop between Bianca and Bernard. As the story continues, the romance is unfortunately built by relying on the damsel in distress trope, where Bianca, though far braver than Bernard, frequently finds herself in need of a rescue from Bernard. Thankfully Bianca comes to Bernard’s aid a few times to counter this trope, but in a final tally it’s Bianca who needs rescuing more times than Bernard.
Megan: Penny, too, falls into the damsel in distress trope. Of course, that’s the center of this story’s plotline—trying to rescue Penny from Madame Medusa and Snoops. However, Penny, thankfully, is not content to be a damsel in distress. She’s a strong-willed character who repeatedly tries to escape. In fact, one might say that Penny is her own rescuer in a way—if she hadn’t thought of putting notes in bottles in hopes that someone might find her, the mice never would have come to her aid. I also like that Penny has a combination of sass and courage, like when she openly tells Snoops that she’s not afraid of the gators like he is. However, despite this, Penny has internalized the idea that a girl’s value comes from her looks. She confides to Rufus the cat that she didn’t get adopted because she’s not pretty enough:
PENNY: A man and lady came and looked at me, but they choosed the little redheaded girl. She was prettier than me.
RUFUS: Oh! She couldn’t be! You listen to me, darlin’. You’re something extra special.
PENNY: No, I’m not.
RUFUS: Why, someday a mama and a papa will come to the orphanage lookin’ for a pretty little girl just like you.
Then, later in the film, Madame Medusa knows precisely how to hurt Penny—by telling her she’s not pretty.
MADAME MEDUSA: Adopted? What makes you think anyone would want a homely little girl like you?
Think about that for a second—the worst thing Medusa can call Penny isn’t disobedient, sassy, opinionated, or disagreeable—it’s “homely.” Combine this with the way the male mice ogle Miss Bianca, and the villain Medusa’s failed attempts at beautifying herself, and you’ve unfortunately got a film that continues to reinforce the sexist idea that a woman’s (or girl’s) value can and should be measured by her physical appearance—not what she can achieve. As I’ve said before, if it were a one-off film that had these stereotypes, there wouldn’t be much harm in it. The trouble comes when several films (and other media) repeat this message, making girls in the real world incorrectly believe, like Penny, that they don’t have any value because they don’t meet a certain standard of unattainable beauty.
A Mix of Old and New Talent
Kevin: I already touched upon how this film’s heart foreshadows films to follow, but the film also follows a bit in its predecessors footsteps, particularly in its art. At the same time, behind the scenes research shows that this film brought in some fresh new faces that helped push the art style further. Like the last few films before it, the movie continues using the Xerox method of animation. The animators made a slight change to the process. Earlier, the Xerox method used very dark, black lines which easily showed up on the screen. Beginning in this movie, the process had since been improved and allowed the artists to use a grey tone to soften the look of the lines. While by no means as polished as films from either the Golden or Silver Eras, the effect allowed this movie’s animation to at least look a bit closer to the older style. This style would continue into the movies that followed, even up until The Little Mermaid, until CGI advanced well enough that the studio could incorporate more of it into future films. The film also boasted a mix of several of Disney’s most well-known animators both old and new. Of the veteran talent working on this film, there were six of the original Nine Old Men: Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Frank Thomas. Of particular note is the design of Madame Medusa, which was Kahl’s doing. Apparently, the filmmakers considered bringing back Cruella de Vil as the film’s villain, but ultimately decided to make a new character instead. Medusa was definitely inspired by Cruella: their body motions are similar, not to mention their driving skills are just as crazy! The inspiration for Madame Medusa came from Kahl’s then-wife Phyllis Bounds (niece of Lilian Disney, Walt’s wife), whom Kahl reportedly did not like. This was to be Kahl’s final film, and he was said to have wanted Madame Medusa to be the best character he ever created, so he personally animated most the character. Ultimately, the film was the last one that several of the Nine Old Men worked on before passing away. But their legacy would live on through the studio, as up and coming talent such Don Bluth, Ron Clements, Andy Gaskill, and Glen Keane were also instrumental in the success of The Rescuers. Don Bluth would eventually leave Disney to begin his own studio, producing films such as An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, and Anastasia. Clements, Gaskill, and Keane would go on to be key figures in many of the films of the Disney Renaissance, from artists to writers to producers. The above info is what I could gather based on surface research. It’s not hard to miss the fact that all of the folks listed above are men. While I am not downplaying the role all of these people had in making the film successful, there’s a distinct lack of women who worked on the project and are also not being noted for their work. I’m glad that we’re moving closer to the Renaissance and the films I loved so much growing up, but as we do I will be very curious to see if Disney’s transition from old to new also brings in more female animators, writers, and directors.
Unflattering Male Characters
Megan: Something that happens all too often in stories with strong female characters is to make them appear strong by contrasting them with weak male characters. First of all, that doesn’t have to be the case—there are plenty of stories nowadays where the men and women have their own strengths and weaknesses and can be seen as equals. However, in the case of The Rescuers, the cast of male characters aren’t all that impressive. The best among the bunch is Bernard. He’s the most well-rounded of the male characters, as we might expect from one of our protagonists. However, while Bernard appears to have a detective’s instinct, he’s also presented as a superstitious coward. He fears the number thirteen no matter where it crops up, he’s afraid of flying, and at every turn he’s the one voicing concern over how dangerous something might be. I don’t think this is a bad thing at all—I like seeing a male lead who actually shows his fear (unlike some of the male protagonists from previous films who were so full of male bravado as a way to hide their fear, since being a coward was the worst insult to their masculinity). However, the cast of male characters in The Rescuers only seems to devolve from there. Snoops may be Madame Medusa’s husband, but the relationship between the two is less that of husband and wife, and more that of villain and sidekick, with Snoops being the bumbling fool who can’t seem to do anything right. He, too, is a coward—though far more so than Bernard, and also less capable than Bernard. Then there’s Orville, who seems to take pride in his work as a flight captain, but is incredibly inept at takeoffs and landings. Finally, there’s Luke—a lazy drunk who stands in contrast to the take-charge Ellie Mae. It’s not that I don’t want male characters to have flaws—certainly, they should have flaws! But the female characters should also have flaws. Madame Medusa, of course, is full of her flaws, being the villain, but what of Penny, Miss Bianca, and Ellie Mae? Penny’s core flaw seems to be that she doesn’t believe in herself because she doesn’t think she’s pretty. (Sexist much?) Miss Bianca’s core flaw might be that she’s inexperienced with field work, but it’s not as well developed on screen as Bernard’s superstition or fear. Ellie Mae’s flaw? That’s harder to pin down since she’s more of a side character (one could take the sexist view that her flaw is being bossy, though I personally see her as a capable leader of a ragtag group of volunteers). All in all, I think the cast of characters could have been better developed, but I do appreciate the strides that were made to break away from the stereotypes of previous films.
