Studio: Walt Disney Feature Animation
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Produced by: Thomas Schumacher
Short Synopsis
In the Australian Outback, a boy named Cody frees Marahute, a giant golden eagle, from a poacher's trap, and she shows him her nest and gives him a feather. Later Cody is caught in a trap himself, set by the ruthless poacher Percival McLeach, who killed Marahute's mate and wants to capture her too. Recognising the feather, McLeach kidnaps Cody to force him to reveal the nest, and throws his backpack to the crocodiles so that the rangers believe the boy is dead. A mouse Cody had helped sends word to the Rescue Aid Society in New York, and its two agents, the nervous Bernard, who is trying to propose to his partner, and the elegant Miss Bianca, fly to Australia on Wilbur the albatross. Guided by Jake, a kangaroo rat, they track McLeach. He tricks Cody into leading him to the nest, captures Marahute and dangles Cody over a waterfall filled with crocodiles. Bernard tricks McLeach's goanna Joanna, stops the poacher, who goes over the falls, and saves Cody and the eagle. At last he proposes to Bianca, and she accepts.
Why It Matters
- The flying sequences are the reason to watch: Cody riding on Marahute's back over the Outback, with sweeping camera moves and vast landscapes, are among the most breathtaking images in Disney animation, made possible by research trips to Australia and the studio's new digital tools.
- It was the first feature film made entirely with digital ink-and-paint and compositing, using the CAPS system Disney developed with Pixar, and Disney's first theatrical animated sequel. It underperformed at the box office, but its technology made possible Beauty and the Beast and the films that followed.
Notes and Trivia
- It was Eva Gabor's last film role.
- George C. Scott voices McLeach; John Candy voices Wilbur the albatross.
- See also: The Prince and the Pauper (1990), Aladdin (1992).