Common Sense Note
Young environmentalists will love the anti-poaching message and the animated rainforest, and the brilliant scenery and a funny albatross will interest most youngsters, but there are still some scary moments that parents should be aware of: Cody is threatened with death-by-crocodile twice, McLeach is swept over a falls (to his death). McLeach fakes the boy's death and imprisons him in an abandoned mine. Cody, his eagle friend, and her eggs spend most of the film in jeopardy.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Ellen MacKay
It is a rare sequel that improves on the original, but THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER does exactly that. It reprises the dynamic duo of Eva Gabor and Bob Newhart as Miss Bianca and Bernard and places them in a terrific natural landscape, this time without any of those lame songs. Where THE RESCUERS was full of swamp critters, some of them with a rather impolitic fondness for Louisiana moonshine, THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER has engaging outback beasties of all kinds. And in this film Disney makes the brave choice of using a decidedly un-cute bird of prey as the focus of its wildlife preservation story--Marahute is a majestic and wonderfully realistic character. But never fear, there are plenty of anthropomorphic animals in this film, the best of whom is Frank, the wussy frill-necked lizard. Another great character is Diana, McLeach's servile lizard sidekick with a certain fondness for eagle eggs.
While Cody is impossibly cute and brave, it is really the animals' stories that will interest most youngsters, from the budding romance between Miss Bianca and Bernard to Wilbur's silly antics in a hospital run by mice. And not only are these stories entertaining, they also convey a strong environmental message. The only questionable aspect of this film is its failure to give anyone but Jake an Australian accent--what was Disney thinking? That only Americans live down under?
Nonetheless, this is a wonderful looking cartoon that is bound to please. It pairs nicely with THE RESCUERS, to which it refers several times. Another film with a similar anti-poaching message is Mighty Joe Young.
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ViolenceCody is threatened with death-by-crocodile twice, McLeach is swept over a falls (to his death). Cody, his eagle friend, and her eggs spend most of the film in jeopardy. McLeach fakes the boy's death and imprisons him in an abandoned mine. Animals who h |
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