The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

A Brilliant Conflict

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

In 1986, Disney released this film with much success. The movie was based on the children's book series, 'Basil of Baker Street' by Eve Titus, which in return, draws heavily on the character of Sherlock Holmes by author, Arthur Conan Doyle and the 1930s/1940s film series, that star Basil Rathbone as the iconic character and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. Directed by four directors, Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, David Michener, & John Musker, the film set in 19th century, Victorian London, tells the story of a anthropomorphic mouse detective, Basil (Voiced by Barrie Ingham) & his associate, Major Dr. David Q. Dawson (Voiced by Val Bettin) on their quest to find a missing girl's parents, while uncovering a master plan by their arch-enemy, Professor Ratigan (Voiced by Vincent Price) to overthrow the British monarchy. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, the idea of a toymaker, being apparently capable of building a life-size mechanical figure in the space of a few days is a bit, unrealistic, but it's something that you have suspense your disbelief about. Another thing is, how there are a few differences between Basil in the book series and in the film version, such as mood swings, the musical instrument in which he plays, and the type of animal that Basil's enemy is. One of the biggest changes, during production was the character of Olivia Flaversham (Voiced by Susanne Pollatschek), who was originally intended to be older and a love-interest, before it was decided that she should be a child to appeal to kids. I think, the decision to turn her into a child, gave the movie, so much, more weight, as it allow, Basil to become a well-rounded person, than a selfish-driven moody jerk, like Holmes was. I also like, how while, Basil and Dawson were visually based on actor, Rathbone and Bruce's version of the Holmes & Watson; their voices and personalities were not. Basil's voice was based on Leslie Howard's portrayal of Henry Higgins in the 1938 film, 'Pygmalion' while Dawson's voice was based on Disney animation legend, Eric Larson. Ingham was a great choice for Basil, as he was able to show the incredibly expressive, hyperactive unless quite visibly depressed, always overdramatic side of Basil. The actor was also known to give dramatic hand gesturing when speaking, allowing the animators to have a lots of raw film material to work with! In fact, even Vincent Price was the same. Price's every word as the dastardly Ratigan is delightful deliciously and his singing voice wasn't half-bad. By far, the music in this film are some of the best, Disney has ever produce. Songs like 'The World's Greatest Criminal Mind', 'Let me be good to you' and 'Goodbye, So Soon' are wonderful. Even the background music by composter Henry Mancini was amazing to hear. It has that epic adventurous tone to it. Another thing that I love, about this film is the humor, both in slapstick and its clever use of language and film/novel references. All the scenes between Basil, Dawson and Olivia, together, had this charm with them. I love the running gag of Basil's mispronouncing Olivia's last name. It was very funny. I also love, the fact, for a G-rated movie, this movie has gotten away with a lot of PG and even a bit of PG-13 material, with its sex appeal. Ask anybody, what was the most appealing part about this film, and some of them, would mention, the stripping mouse named Miss Kitty (Voiced by Melissa Manchester). It's surely left an impact on me. Talk about having a boner for a furry character. Another thing, good about this film is the intense action. The toy store and the clock-tower sequences, are some of the best action scenes, I have ever seen in a Disney movie. I also like how the city of London plays as a big a role in the plot as any of the characters. Because of things like that, I found the film to be, well done, despite the film, having a troublesome production. After the box office failure of the 1985's 'The Black Cauldron', the future of Disney animation department was in financial trouble. In the interest of saving what he believed to be the studio's core business, co-owner Roy E. Disney persuaded then CEO Michael Eisner to let him supervise the animation department in the hopes of improving its affluences. With the help of Eisner and film studio executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg, they somewhat did, with some very controversial choices. One of their roles, was to removed, the two animators that create the last bomb, Ron Clement & John Musker from this film and had them on other works. Second off, they had to cut the film's budget in half in order to save the film from being shelfed. They did this, by allowing the much-cheaper computer animation into the climax of the film, to cut the cost of hand-drawn animation & shorten the production schedule and multiple story rewrites. Most of their ideas kinda work. Others, maybe not too much, like the studio's decision to name the film, 'The Great Mouse Detective' and not 'Basil of Baker Street', because he felt that Basil sounded too English. The name change earned a good deal of scorn and infamy, even from inside the studio. The results of it, set off a chain of events that left the company's odd decisions, to be immortalized in a famous January 1987 episode of game-show, 'Jeopardy!' where it was highly mock. It didn't help that the movie was overshadowed at the box office at the time, by Don Bluth's 1986's 'An American Tail'. It would take years for Disney to recover from that. Overall: While, this movie was made during the company's dark period. I have to say, this 26th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, is an underrated classic that needs to be watch, a lot more than it's been getting. So go see it.

No doubt one of Disney's lesser works, but still a fun ride... With lots of cute critters engaging in a surprising amount of drinking and gunplay, not to mention Vincent Price as the nefarious Professor Ratigan (just don't call him a rat).Ever-so-slightly inspired by Sherlock Holmes, there's also a great climax on board Big Ben, an inventor voiced by the same dude who does Scrooge McDuck, and even an appearance from Basil's loyal assistant Dawson! (Not a typo).So, despite what the packaging would have you believe, NOT a classic, but is it worth watching?Elementary, my dear reader. 6/10

The movie begins in London, England in 1897, where a little (mouse) girl and her single, toymaker father are celebrating her birthday, when suddenly, the father is captured by a grotesque, peg-legged creature, leaving the girl crying in the streets. Luckily, she is noticed by Dawson, a mouse who happens to have contacts with Basil of Baker Street, a brilliant (mouse) detective who is at first not interested in the toymaker's capture, until it is linked to his arch-enemy, Ratigan!There are a few aspects of this film that REALLY stand out: Vincent Price as Ratigan, and Henry Mancini's score. To start the score is simply fantastic. Up there with freaking Star Wars fantastic. Next up, Good ol' Vincent Price, the original VP. His performance as the villain in this film is absolutely brilliant. It is unfortunately rare that a celebrity voice actor really becomes a character in the film, rather than just projecting his personality onto the character. And that is exactly what Vincent Price does here. But despite this, my favorite character is Basil. Why? Because he's a littoral psychopath! He displays all the symptoms. This doesn't make him unlikable, but it leaves lots of room for a satisfactory character arch. Overall, it is a shame this film isn't better known.

Forget The Lion King, forget Frozen, forget Wreck-It Ralph (well, maybe not FORGET it), THIS is the greatest movie Disney's ever animated.The story is a pretty fun ride from start to finish, the movie taking full advantage of its animated medium to give us scenes in a toy shop with the mice riding on and making use of the toys to chase the villain, and a long ongoing shot in a clocktower that perfectly blends 3D computer animation with 2D hand-drawn animation.At first glance, one might mistakenly assume this is nothing more than a Sherlock Holmes story told with mice. Except it's not. The two main leads may be based on their human counterparts, but they do have their own characters.Basil is this egotistical but still very likable jerk-hero on a quest to match wits once again with his arch-nemesis, Professor Padriac Ratigan II. Basil has the same style as Sherlock Holmes, but the animation medium allows him to be a lot more cooky and funny than Holmes ever could be. He's really the best Disney hero. There have been a fair amount of handsome action heroes or Disney Princesses waiting to find true love. There is only ONE Basil of Baker Street, and his reputation remains untarnished by a lack of forced direct-to-video sequels.But by far the best thing this movie has going for it is Vincent Price as Professor Ratigan. Holy sh*t, this is the best villain that Disney has had. He's this egotistical, conniving, mustache-twirling villain that completely blows James Moriarty out of the water as far as enjoyability goes. He loves how much of a sick, twisted fiend he is so much that it's impossible not to enjoy it along with him.And, to date, he is the only Disney villain who actually gave our competent, highly intelligent hero a run for his money without leading to his own downfall. Yeah, really think about that. Maleficent played opposite to a guy with a sword and was taken down because she was too evil to just finish him off. Ursula's plan was to manipulate her way to the Trident but forgot to account for Prince Eric entering the equation and got stabbed for her efforts. Ratigan lost because even though he calculated every move Basil would make down to the time the Great Mouse Detective would arrive at his secret lair, coupled with the fact that he'd been beating Basil to the punch for years, Basil was able to match him and eventually best him. THAT is what a good villain does: he/she challenges and compliments the hero without compromising themselves as characters.With all that said, this movie isn't flawless. There is one scene that drags a bit where they have a tacked-on music number at a bar, but it doesn't last very long and it's pretty funny to watch after the shock of it wears off. But, despite that, I still call this the best Disney movie to date. It's message of intelligence and wit still holds up, its characters timeless and still very entertaining, its hero great, its villain great, and its villain song one of Disney's best. And THAT is why it's my favorite Disney animated movie.