Rediscovering the Magic: A Look at the Underrated Disney Gem, The Rescuers Down Under

In the world of Disney animated movies, you know the ones that we all collected in those clamshell VHS cases growing up that had this logo attached to them, which would you say is the most underrated film? In my opinion, it’s this one. The Rescuers Down under. As a kid, I absolutely adored this film. I watched it over and over, and it came back into my mind the other day. I pressed play on it on Disney Plus, and the memories just started flooding back in. It’s notably a sequel to the rescuers, marking the first animated Disney film to actually be a sequel. And it may not be the first Disney animated film to use CGI animation. That being the Great Mouse Detective. It is the first to use CGI animated characters. Now, the story here is great, and it’s also rather intense. A young boy named Cody, living in the outback, is sequestered by a poacher named Mcleach. And I’ll get to that villain in a moment. So it’s up to miss Bianca and Bernard to go to Australia and help him. And I love how, in the backdrop of this whole story, Bernard is trying to propose to Bianca. He’s really nervous, and every time he tries, he just can’t find that right moment to do it. You have John Candy voicing Wilbur the albatross, and he’s great. Much in the same way that the Genie is the comic relief in Aladdin. That’s what Wilbur Is in this movie. And then there’s that whole love triangle because Bernard now has competition, and it all offers a full circle, charming story that I think is a very stunningly animated Disney film. There are some captivating shots in this movie. Even the opening credit sequence alone is just dazzling. It still has that charming, whimsical nature of typical Disney animation, but in a lot of ways it’s turning things up to 11 here. There’s a lot of dazzling and gripping action sequences. And although I think this film is immensely underrated and deserves a lot more love amid titles like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, I’m actually really glad that this tends to maintain more of a cult following. The studio definitely isn’t rushing to give this a live action remake because it doesn’t need one. The way this film looks and feels is cinematic all its own. And let’s talk about one of the most underrated Disney movie villains of all time, mcleach, voiced by the legendary George C. Scott. I mean, I think part of the reason this isn’t getting a modern live action remake is because there’s a lot of intense moments here, and this villain has a lot to do with it. And it really just goes to show how important an actor’s voice is, because just the way he talks alone gives me chills. There’s an endless selection of stuff you can stream on Disney Plus, but I have that list of Titles that I consider the best things you can stream on there, and this is absolutely one of them. If you’ve never seen this, do yourself a favour and experience it. And if it’s been a while, definitely rekindle that nostalgia you might have had with it. This film is gorgeous, stunning, entertaining, adventurous. And I definitely think it belongs in the canon of animated Disney pantheon titles.