The Rescuers Down Under is a 1990 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and the sequel to The Rescuers (1977). In the film, Bernard and Bianca travel to the Australian Outback to save a young boy named Cody from a villainous poacher who wants to capture an endangered golden eagle for money. It was directed by Hendel Butoy and Mike Gabriel and written by Jim Cox, Karey Kirkpatrick, Byron Simpson, and Joe Ranft. Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor (in her final film role) reprise their roles as Bernard and Bianca respectively, with John Candy, Tristan Rogers, Adam Ryen, Wayne Robson, and George C. Scott in supporting roles.
By the mid-1980s, The Rescuers had become one of Disney's most successful animated releases. Under the new management of Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, a feature-length sequel was approved, making it the first animated film sequel theatrically released by the studio. Following their duties on Oliver & Company (1988), animators Butoy and Gabriel were recruited to direct the sequel. Research trips to Australia provided inspiration for the background designs. The film would also mark the full use of the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), becoming the first feature film to be completely created digitally. The software allowed for artists to digitally ink-and-paint the animators' drawings, and then composite the digital cels over the scanned background art.
The Rescuers Down Under was released in theaters on November 16, 1990. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but it underperformed at the box office, grossing $47.4 million worldwide.
Plot
In the Outback, a young boy named Cody rescues and befriends Marahute, a rare golden eagle, who shows him her nest and eggs and gives him one of her feathers. Cody later rescues a mouse who is being used as bait in an animal trap set by Percival C. McLeach, a poacher who killed Marahute's mate and is wanted by the Australian Rangers. Catching Cody in the trap and realizing he has Marahute's feather and must know her location, McLeach kidnaps him and throws his backpack to a float of crocodiles; this convinces the Rangers that Cody is dead.
The rescued mouse hurries to an RAS outpost to inform the operator of the kidnapping; a telegram is sent to the Rescue Aid Society headquarters in New York City. Bernard and Miss Bianca, the RAS's elite field agents, are assigned to rescue Cody, interrupting Bernard's attempts to propose marriage to Bianca. They go to find Orville the albatross, who aided them before, but discover that he has retired and his brother Wilbur has taken over for him. Despite the harsh winter conditions, he agrees to fly them to Australia. Upon landing, they meet Jake, a hopping mouse who is the RAS's local regional operative. Jake becomes infatuated with Bianca and flirts with her, to Bernard's dismay. Jake serves as their "tour guide" and protector in search of Cody. Wilbur bends his spinal column out of shape trying to help them, so Jake sends him to the hospital. Wilbur refuses to undergo surgery, but his back is straightened as he fights to escape the medical mice, and he flies away in search of his friends.
At McLeach's hideout, Cody refuses to divulge Marahute's whereabouts. McLeach tricks Cody into thinking someone else killed Marahute and releases him, knowing that he will go to her nest. He does, and McLeach captures Marahute along with Cody, Jake, and Bianca. Bernard hides Marahute's eggs from McLeach's pet goanna, Joanna. Wilbur catches up to Bernard, who orders him to watch the eggs, much to his dismay.
McLeach takes his captives to Crocodile Falls, a huge waterfall at the end of the river he threw Cody's backpack into. He ties Cody up and hangs him over the float of crocodiles, intent on feeding him to them to eliminate him as a witness. Bernard, riding a razorback pig he tamed using a horse whispering technique he learned from Jake, arrives and disables McLeach's vehicle before he can succeed. McLeach then attempts to shoot the rope holding Cody above the water, but Bernard tricks Joanna into crashing into McLeach, sending both of them into the water. The crocodiles turn their attention to McLeach and Joanna; behind them, Cody falls into the water as the damaged rope breaks. As Joanna flees to the bank, McLeach fends off and taunts the crocodiles, forgetting about the waterfall and being washed over it to his death. Bernard dives into the water and holds Cody long enough for Jake and Bianca to free Marahute, allowing her to save Cody and Bernard.
Bernard finally proposes to Bianca; she accepts, and Jake salutes Bernard with new-found respect. Safe at last, the group departs for Cody's home. Meanwhile, Wilbur is still protecting Marahute's eggs; one of the eaglets hatches and bites him, to his dismay.
Voice cast The Rescuers Down Under features three characters from the first film; Bernard, Bianca and the Chairmouse, all of whom feature the same actors reprising their roles from the original 1977 film.
Bob Newhart as Bernard, a male grey mouse; the American representative of the Rescue Aid Society, promoted from his role as janitor to full-fledged agent after proving a success with the previous rescue and later successfully proposed to Miss Bianca after many interruptions. Eva Gabor as Miss Bianca, a female white mouse; the Hungarian representative of the Rescue Aid Society and later Bernard's fiancée. This was Gabor's last film role before her death in 1995. John Candy as Wilbur, a comical albatross; named after Wilbur Wright. He is the brother of Orville, the albatross who appeared in the first film (named after Orville Wright). Tristan Rogers as Jake, a debonair, self-confident and charismatic hopping mouse. Adam Ryen as Cody, a young boy able to converse with most animals, the same as Penny in the first film. George C. Scott as Percival C. McLeach, a sinister and nefarious poacher who wants to capture Marahute for money. Peter Firth as Red, a male red kangaroo imprisoned by McLeach. Wayne Robson as Frank, a fearful and erratic frill-necked lizard imprisoned by McLeach. Douglas Seale as Krebbs, a pessimistic koala imprisoned by McLeach. Carla Meyer as Faloo, a female red kangaroo who summons Cody to save Marahute. Meyer also voices Cody's mother. Bernard Fox as Chairmouse, the chairman of the Rescue Aid Society. Fox also voices Doctor Mouse, the supervisor of the surgical mice who examine Wilbur when he is injured. Russi Taylor as Nurse Mouse, the operator of Doctor Mouse's instructions and a competent second-in-command. Billy Barty as Baitmouse. Ed Gilbert as Francois, a French-accented cricket waiter. Peter Greenwood as The Airplane Captain and The Radio Announcer. Frank Welker as Marahute, a large golden eagle. Welker also voiced Joanna, McLeach's pet goanna, who enjoys intimidating her captives and has a fondness for eggs; and additional special vocal effects.
Production
Development By 1984, The Rescuers had become one of Disney's most successful recent animated films, earning $41 million in worldwide box office rentals. Under the new studio management of then-CEO Michael Eisner and studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, it was decided that a sequel should be produced. Writing began in 1986 and it was determined the film would be set in Australia, due to the success of Crocodile Dundee (1986), which had enhanced the appeal of Australian culture to a mainstream American audience.
When Oliver & Company (1988) was nearly complete, Peter Schneider, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, asked supervising animator Mike Gabriel if he would consider directing. At the time, Gabriel declined the offer, stating, "Well, after watching George [Scribner], it doesn't look like it would be much fun." A few months later, Schneider called Gabriel into his office, and asked him if he would direct The Rescuers Down Under, to which Gabriel accepted. After animating the character Tito on Oliver & Company, which was met with praise from general audiences, Hendel Butoy was added as the film's co-director. Meanwhile, Schneider recruited Thomas Schumacher, who had worked at the Mark Taper Forum, to serve as producer on the film.
As the film's producer, Schumacher selected storyboard artist Joe Ranft to serve as story supervisor, believing he had the "ability to change and transform through excellence of idea". Throughout the storyboarding process, Ranft constantly bolstered the creative morale of his crew, but he rarely drew storyboard sequences himself. Ranft also had creative disagreements with the studio's management and marketing executives, including one where he and the story team advocated for an Aboriginal Australian child actor to voice Cody. According to storyboard artist Brenda Chapman, Katzenberg overrode this idea, casting "a little white blonde kid" and giving Cody a matching design.
Because of the rising popularity of Australian-themed action films, and with Americans becoming more environmentally conscious, the filmmakers decided to abandon the musical format from the original film. They had decided that the placement of songs would slow down the pacing for the new film. Instead, they decided to market it as the studio's first action-adventure film, with Butoy and Gabriel taking inspiration from live-action films by Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, and David Lean. It would also be the studio's first animated film since Bambi (1942) to have an animal rights and environmental message. In December 1988, original cast members Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor were confirmed to be reprising their roles. However, Jim Jordan, who had voiced Orville in the original film, died earlier that same year in April following a fall at his home. In acknowledgment of Jordan's death, Roy E. Disney suggested that the character of Wilbur be written as Orville's brother, to serve as his replacement. Intentionally, the names were in reference to the Wright brothers.
Animation and design Members of the production team, including art director Maurice Hunt and six of his animators, spent several days in Australia to study settings and animals found in the Australian Outback to observe, take photographs, and draw sketches to properly illustrate the Outback on film. They ventured through the Uluru, Katherine Gorge, and the Kakadu National Parks, the inspiration for Hunt's initial designs emphasizing the spectrum of scale between the sweeping vistas and the film's protagonists.
Serving as the supervising animator on the eagle character Marahute, Glen Keane studied six eagles residing at the Peregrine Fund in Boise, Idaho, as well as a stuffed American eagle loaned from the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History and an eagle skeleton. To animate the eagle, Keane and his animation crew enlarged the bird, shrank its head, elongated its neck and wings, and puffed out its chest. Additionally, Keane had to slow the bird's wing movements to about 25–30 percent of an eagle's flight speed. Because of the excessive details on Marahute, who carried 200 feathers, the character appeared for only seven minutes altogether, during the opening and ending sequences.