Furry Fun

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER

Directed by Hendel Butoy and Mike Gabriel; Screenplay by Jim Cox, Karey Kirkpatrick, Byron Simpson and Joe Ranft

Boy saves golden eagle from poacher's trap. Eagle saves boy from nasty fall off towering cliff. Evil poacher kidnaps boy, tries to force him to tell where eagle aerie is. Rescue team flies in and saves everybody, including a zoo's worth of exotic creatures the villain has also captured.

Sounds like your standard kidventure picture, doesn't it? But that judgment reckons without the transforming power of animation, which in this case offers a fascinating study in contrasts. The setting is the Australian outback -- vast, empty, rendered in subtle pastels and often seen from radically high or low angles -- where only grownup man, the poacher, is vile. The film's designers speak of Gustave Dore as an inspiration, but their use of geologic mass may also remind viewers of the Creation sequence in Fantasia. And their vision of the eagle recalls Fantasia's prehistoric creatures.

The look of this movie is not idly chosen. It functions to reinforce the comic resourcefulness and astonishing gumption of its cast. The world is so large, and they are so tiny -- notably the title characters, Bernard and Miss Bianca, top operatives of the International Rescue Aid Society, but mice all the same. They are straight arrows, but their supporting menagerie includes a full range of furry, feathery and scaly scamperers, caperers, klutzes, all delightfully addled, all in constantly inventive motion.

This sequel to The Rescuers appears with a 23-min. version of The Prince and the Pauper. It stars Mickey Mouse in his first dual role, includes his entire stock company (right down to Horace Horsecollar) and is done in the classic Disney style of 50 years ago. Tradition and innovation, all on the same bill. Plus fun (and a few shivers) for the kids. What more can you ask? R.S.