With its exhilarating action sequences, Walt Disney Pictures' The Rescuers Down Under challenges the adventure films of Spielberg and Lucas and confirms the special power of animation to present extravagant fantasies on screen.

The storyline for the 29th full-length animated feature from Walt Disney Pictures is nothing spectacular, but its depiction of the Australian outback is a visual treat.

It's a far better piece of animation than the dismal Oliver and Company of 1988 and last year's smartly conceived but indifferently executed Little Mermaid. Butoy and Gabriel obviously love their medium, the first Disney directors to do so in years.

Pack up your children, grandchildren, neighbor children. For heaven's sake, go alone. But definitely go to the newest Walt Disney Pictures animated feature, The Rescuers Down Under.