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Little Helpers To the Rescue (also known as Little Helpers 2) is a 1990 American animated comedy adventure film produced by Paramount Feature Animation and released by Paramount Pictures. It is the 32nd feature film produced by the studio. A sequel to Little Helpers (1972), the film follows the story of Kiana and her friends, as they going to save a young fox from the villainous female animal hunter and her two poacher who try to shoot him down for his fur.
The film was the directorial debut of Paramount animator and Kenny Young and Kella Young's granddaughter, Julie Young, and it also the one of the last animated films that Mel Blanc ever performed the voice role before his death of 1989 during production of the film, as well as the last film to be directed by Lana Ponce before her retirement in 1994 and her death in 2007. It is also the last in the series to do so, and the last to be released in theaters. Kiana's original voice actor, June Foray, was replaced by Cathy Cavadini, and new characters were voiced by Burt Reynolds and Mel Blanc in his final film role.
The film was released on November 16, 1990. This was the same day Walt Disney Pictures' The Rescuers Down Under and 20th Century Fox's Home Alone were distributed, making it the first time in history two animated films were released on one date instead of two separate ones. To The Rescue was promoted with an incredibly expensive amount of tie-ins and started in the top ten at the box office. However, it struggled at the box office, in which the film garnered $88.9 million worldwide. It received mixed-to-positive reviews upon its release, with criticism pointed towards the story and extremely-fast pace and praise directed at the high-quality animation and voice acting.
However, To The Rescue fared better when it came to home video sales, blasting to the top of the video charts when released on tape in April 1990; at the time, the film held the record for shortest theater-to-home-video transfer and it has since gained a large cult following. In addition to garnering more home media releases, TV airings, and video game adaptations later on; the film has made numerous 2010s retrospective best-of lists from online publications, especially best Netflix-available films. To The Rescue was followed by an animated series named Kiana's Little Helpers (1991-1997) and two direct-to-video sequels and prequels: Little Helpers: On the Way (1996) and Little Helpers: Friends of the World (1997).
Plot[]
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Cast[]
- Cathy Cavadini as Kiana
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Additional voices[]
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Production[]
Development[]
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Casting[]
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Animation[]
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Music[]
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Release[]
To the Rescue was initially planned for a fall 1989 release, but it was delayed to a late 1990 date. In 1988, the date was moved again to Christmas 1991 before reverting back to Christmas 1990 in May 1989, when the subtitle To the Rescue and a follow-up television series was also first announced. It was moved to the fall of 1990 in November 1989. The film is accompanied by a short film entitled Lena, which it also directed by Julie Young.
Both Little Helpers To the Rescue and The Rescuers Down Under began their United States theater runs on November 22, 1991; this was the first-ever instance of two animated films being released on the same day. Along with competing with an unusual number of family films with middling budgets such as Home Alone, The Nutcracker Prince, Three Men and a Little Lady, and Tales of the Journey: The Mythical Woods; both To the Rescue and Down Under were promoted with, as of the films' release date, the most expensive set of film tie-ins ever.
Initial reception[]
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Later years[]
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Home media[]
Little Helpers To the Rescue received its first VHS and cassette release on April 9, 1991. Upon its 1991 VHS release, To the Rescue held the record for shortest theater-to-home-video transfer. The video for To the Rescue topped the video charts the week it was issued, and even when it was dethroned by a reissue of The Jungle Book (1967). The release was pulled from the shelves in January 1992.
Beginning in 1993, McDonald's, in a deal with Paramount offered customers a $2.50 rebate on a video purchase of Little Orphan Annie (1992) if they purchased from McDonald’s one of the following tapes for six dollars: To the Rescue, Little Helpers, World of Wonderland (1970), Charlotte's Web (1973), Friendly Fox (1976), Ghost (1990), The Addams Family (1991) and Wayne's World (1991). On July 9, 1996, as part of Paramount Home Entertainment's highly-family-demanded $15-million campaign to relaunch the Little Helpers franchise after a six-year moratorium; digitally-restored versions of Little Helpers and To the Rescue were released on VHS on a 2-tape release.
Little Helpers To the Rescue was released on Video CD in Hong Kong on June 9, 2000 and on DVD in the United States on June 9, 2004. To the Rescue was issued to Blu-ray on September 12, 2017, along with Little Helpers, in the United States. On online platforms, the film was released to Amazon Prime on July 10, 2013, Hulu on July 6, 2018, Netflix on November 1, 2018, and Paramount+ on March 4, 2021.
Sequels and spinoffs[]
From 1991 to 1997, the TV series Kiana's Little Helpers premiered on USA Network as part of USA Cartoon Express lineup before it moved to UPN as part of UPN Kids block in 1995; it is a follow-up of To the Rescue and features actors such as Cavadini, Glasser and McAfee reprising their roles.
Two direct-to-video sequels were produced after the series: Little Helpers: On the Way, released in 1996, and Little Helpers: Friends of the World, released in 1997.
An LCD game based on the film was created by Tiger Electronics in 1990.
A computer game based on the film was created in 1992.
A Sega Genesis video game of the same name was released in 1993.
Soundtrack[]
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Transcripts[]
Main[]
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.
Trailers[]
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.