The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

First off, give credits to where they are due: Basil and Professor Ratigan (Oh, Ratigan. Oh, Ratigan) are very entertaining characters voiced perfectly by Barrie Ingham and Vincent Price, respectively.Second, I'd like to praise the film's animation. Considering its a 1980s film, the animation is mostly not outdated.Lastly, I'd like to say that "The Great Mouse Detective" is very entertaining. It's fun from start to end, mostly thanks to the characters whom I cared for. I cared for them so much, I found myself cheering for them at a certain scene in the movie. (I never thought I'd cheer for them, but I did!).THIS IS A MUST SEE ENTERTAINING FILM!

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.

I'd heard many great things about "Basil, The Great Mouse Detective." Having never seen it, I looked for it on YouTube and sure enough, I found it. What I got was an entertaining, charming little movie, so quintessentially British, on that fine bridge between the Dark Era of Disney and the Renaissance."Great Mouse Detective" is based on a series of children's books by Eve Titus and Paul Galdone, which are heavily inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes". Basil, the titular character, lives in Sherlock's house, for Basil is a mouse. The story starts out with a little mouse named Olivia (Susanne Pollatschek), whose father, renowned toymaker Mr Flaversham (Alan Young), is kidnapped by the evil henchman of Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price). Ratigan is planning to force Mr Flaversham into building a robot replica of the Mouse Queen (the Queen of England in mouse form), so he can fool the people into thinking he is the new ruler of the land. The real Mouse Queen, it is assumed, will be dealt with accordingly. Olivia, desperate to find her father, goes to the great Basil of Baker Street (Barrie Ingham), a charming, cocky little detective who is Ratigan's arch nemesis. Along with his accidental assistant, Dr Dawson (Val Bettin), Basil risks his whiskers in trying to save both Mr Flaversham, and the rodent population of London.The animation is flowing, the characters very expressive and likable. The protagonist is clever, vindictive and scatterbrained, but with a soft spot. One of the film's best scenes is where Basil believes he has been bested by Ratigan, and you can see how torn he is. It's a very relatable moment, and rather poignant. There is a Bassett Hound named Toby who acts like a regular dog, and is very funny and cute. The real treat however, is Ratigan. It was one of Price's dreams to be in a Disney film, and he is relishing every minute; Ratigan is easily the best character. He is so funny, so twisted, so smarmy. He loves being evil and knows his evilness has no bounds. His expressions are priceless, and it's no surprise he was animated by Glen Keane, who went on to animate the Beast and Marahute, the Golden Eagle from "Rescuers Down Under". The interactions between Ratigan and Basil are very good, and Basil is a very enjoyable character, but it's Ratigan who really steals the show.The best scene is the riveting climax inside Big Ben, where traditional animation and CGI are married perfectly to create an electrifying finale. "GMD" may not be as Great as Mousedom's greatest detective, but it's charming, good looking, and a lot of fun.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986) is one of the greatest Disney movies of all time and definitely their most underrated film in my opinion. The movie features the wonderful voice talents of Vincent Price as a great Disney villain, Professor Rattigan, basically the Moriarty character opposing the movie's "Sherlock" hero character, the titular The Great Mouse Detective, Basil of Baker Street (living under the floor of Sherlock Holmes).I don't want to give away the plot but the reason I love this movie so much is that there is a lot of great comedy in it, the hero and villain are both fantastic (and both have very entertaining cohorts), and the story is great.I love that this film is a little bit "darker" than most Disney films. Again, I don't want to give anything away, but the stakes in this movie are much higher and more "real" than most Disney films.The songs are even great and I still find myself humming a couple of them. The Rattigan song is amazing, and Vincent Price himself sings a wonderful "goodbye" song that plays on a record while he has Basil trapped.A truly great Disney movie that deserves much more praise!