The Rescuers Down Under

Thirteen years after the Mouse Rescue Aid Society packed off Bernard and Bianca on their first mission, they're back. A young boy has been kidnapped, deep in the Australian outback: an evil poacher is holding him until he reveals the whereabouts of a rare eagle's nest, so this is a double quest - to save the child and the eagle eggs. It's surprising that The Rescuers should be the first Disney animated feature to merit a sequel. Inoffensive as they are, humble Bernard and the aristocratic Bianca are not the studio's most memorable creations; and for all the quaintly old-fashioned romance and desperately broad comedy, this is nothing if not an adventure film (clearly testifying to the influence of Spielberg). As for the animation, computer technology invests contemporary features with sometimes breathtaking dynamism, but outback flora being what it is, this isn't the most colourful Disney movie.