Originally released in 1977 this is the first time that the original The Rescuers has been released on DVD. Follow the adventures Bernard and Miss Bianca of the mouse based Rescue Aid Society as they try and rescue orphan Penny. Penny has been kidnapped by the evil Madame Medusa and taken to the swamp of Devil’s Bayou to find a long lost pirate diamond.
Video
Disney has done a wonderful job of restoring the film for this disc. There is very little film grit visible and it is free of any ar…ifacts. The only issue is that certain points in the film some of the colors appear slightly over-saturated, especially the reds. Presented in a 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer this film really shows off the amazing work of the animators in this film, the painted matte backgrounds look incredible and are still of better quality then a lot of what you see today and the animation is top notch.
Audio
The audio here is a 5.1 Dolby Digital remix, now considering that this film was originally released in 1977 I was really not expecting much in terms of the audio. While it has been nicely restored and sounds decent it is essentially a two channel audio mix, the surrounds are seldom if ever really used. Dialogue is intelligible though and the staging through the front 3 channels is well done and of very good quality. Also included are French and Spanish 2.0 audio tracks.
Special Features
We start things off with a fun interactive “The Ultimate Case” detective game that the kids will have fun with. Next is a classic Silly Symphony animated short entitled “Three Blind Mouseketeers” and a Disney True-to life adventure film “Water Birds”, these are both classics as well as being entertaining and wonderfully restored. Two featurettes follow with a very short Disney Villains piece and a very nice “The Rescuers Scrapbook” that gives us all kinds of great behind the scenes information and never before seen animation, artwork and music, a must for any Disney fan. Lastly is a sing-along to the Oscar animated “Someone’s Waiting for You”. The menu’s are not of the motion variety but are scored and show off some of the classic scenes from the film, lastly we have some sneak peaks at six up and coming Disney DVD releases. Overall I found the extras to be well thought out and enjoyable.
Final Thoughts
Disney has again done a fantastic job re-releasing a classic film on DVD. The audio could have been better but, again this is a film originally released in 1977 and they have done a great job with it considering what they would have started with. A nice inclusion is a $5 rebate coupon for those collectors who already owned the video cassette of this film. A must have for any collector and a very well restored film, hats off to Disney.
Special Features List
- The Ultimate Case Set-Top Detective Game
- Water Birds Disney True-Life Adventure
- The Rescuers Scrapbook
- Under The Hat Villians
- Three Blind Mouseketeers
- Someone’s Waiting For You Sing Along Song
