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Why has this beautiful Disney classic never been elevated to the status of a super-classic over the years? That is, why has it been shelved and forgotten, at least in part, for so long, and even to some extent today? At first glance, there can be at least three answers: 1) It was released during an unfortunate period, the so-called "Bronze Age," the darkest and least brilliant years of Disney (among the less successful works, we can count movies like "The Fox and the Hound" or "The Black Cauldron"); 2) It experienced very limited success at its release, not so much in the U.S., where it did very well, becoming the most successful Disney classic up to that time, but in Europe (in Italy, it did so poorly that the next Disney film, "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh," wasn’t even released in theaters there); 3) the public simply didn't like it enough.
However, I want to defend it because, in my opinion, it's one of Disney's best films ever (I can’t bring myself to reevaluate the sequel, "The Rescuers Down Under" (1990), which is quite insignificant), and it also had quite a troubled development.
In 1962, Disney acquired the rights to the books by Margery Sharp, "Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines" (1959) and "The Rescuers" (1962), and even Disney himself wanted a film adaptation. But the initial draft was a shock: the story shifted from cute mice to a Norwegian poet held prisoner in Siberia on the orders of a totalitarian government. Frightened by a political approach that was unheard of in Disney's works, Walt abandoned the project and decided to focus on other things, including the laborious production of "Mary Poppins" and the activities related to the imminent opening of the first Disneyland. The idea was picked up again in the early 1970s by a group of hopeful animators including a very young Don Bluth (yes, him, the one who left Disney in the late 1970s to pursue personal projects such as "The Land Before Time" and the Fievel saga), eliminating any political implications. Among the characters newly created by Bluth's revolution was a polar bear, who was supposed to have the voice of Louis Prima, but he fell ill, died, and the project stalled once again.
In 1975, Disney was at a crossroads: either create a daring work titled "Scruffy" (which was never realized) concerning some Gibraltar monkeys fighting Nazis during World War II or revisit the eternal Rescuers. The latter option was chosen.
The film saw the light in 1977 after two years of production. The story is about two mice who, upon receiving a message in a bottle, have to rescue a little girl from the clutches of the sadistic Madame Medusa, who is determined to get her hands on a legendary diamond at any cost. The genius move is to represent these two mice as members of a sort of animal UN, thereby turning them into secret agents. Besides a remarkable speed of action (the entire second half is practically at breakneck speed), there are some not-so-obvious ideas, particularly visual ones: the opening which presents this organization of nations is truer than true, stereotypes included (which are the salt of comedy), the nocturnal arrival in a ghostly, foggy London is among the most beautifully drawn moments by Disney, and the two protagonists are as cohesive as needed. Moreover, there's a commendable attention to the secondary characters: the albatross-plane Orville is unforgettable; little Penny is one of Disney's most classic child figures (a dreamer but with her feet on the ground, frightened but not entirely scared), but, above all, Madame Medusa stands out as one of the most sadistic and unsettling antagonists seen in a Disney cartoon. Assisted by two crocodiles, she's a kind of Cruella De Vil, if possible, even more evil, drawn as a sort of tall and scrawny figure, always armed with a rifle, made up like a madame, and incapable of any emotional outburst. Perhaps, alongside the aforementioned Cruella and a few others, the true villain of the entire Disney production.
The great American critic Leonard Maltin recognized it as a classic from the start, and he was one of the few who did:
"[...] a breath of fresh air for everyone worried about the future of Walt Disney animation [...] the most satisfying animated film to come from the studio since One Hundred and One Dalmatians"
Wikipedia helps us remember a curious late 1990s episode.
«A Disney spokeswoman said that images present in The Rescuers were inserted in the film during post-production but refused to say what they were or who inserted them... The company stated that the purpose of the recall is to maintain the promise made to families to trust that the Disney brand offers them the best entertainment" (The Independent)
Let’s explain: The 1999 VHS release was marred by a sensational episode that soon involved many Disney classics, "The Lion King" being among the most notable. In the background of the film, specifically talking about The Rescuers, the figure of a semi-nude woman was clearly visible in the scene where Orville transports the two protagonists. The VHS tapes, of course, were recalled, but from there, a boom of reports emerged involving different Disney home video editions (naked women, erect penises, even writings with evident swearing). The scandal was tremendous (and who knows what could have exploded in today's social media era), but then everything passed, the DVD editions, which were just emerging at that time, were adjusted, but the scandal had significant repercussions. And even today, whether we want it or not, it’s still talked about.
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