Disney Marathon: 'The Great Mouse Detective
Here's a movie that I was somewhat enamoured with this movie as a child. The whole notion of a classic literary being reimagined as talking animals was rife with possibility (and I'm just connecting this with my love of Robin Hood...). I didn't see it in its entirety until later in life due to the dumb Disney Vault nonsense. Let's see how it holds up!
For those just joining us, this is a movie marathon with a twist. Myself (cranky 30s blogger), my son Josh (stoic 10 year old Nintendo obsessive) and my daughter Amelia (drama llama 7 year old princess) are watching Disney movies in a random order and ranking them. We hope to see interesting differences in how we organise our lists.
Film: The Great Mouse Detective
Released: 1986
Director: Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, Dave Michener, John Musker
Cast: Barrie Ingham, Vincent Price, Val Bettin, Susanne Pollatschek, Candy Candido, Alan Young, Frank Welker
Plot: After the abduction of her father, mouse child Olivia seeks out the help of consulting rodent detective Basil. Along with new assistant Dr. Dawson, Basil must square off against crimelord Professor Ratigan.
Review: This is a movie that was given a short shift. This adaptation of the book series Basil of Baker Street (the dumbed down title famously inspired public mockery) was on the table more than a decade before production, but was considered too similar to The Rescuers to push ahead with. Eventually it was green-lit as an alternative production to The Black Cauldron animators who were unhappy with the direction that oddball film took. It was then hit with massive cuts by Eisner and Katzenberg, leaving it with less than half its projected budget.
With reduced funding, changes to production leaders and the general tone around the Disney animation offices at the time we wound up with a film that looks depressingly cheap by the companies standards. The shortcuts taken to save money are clear as day, with static background, poorly integrated animated elements and many unmoving characters hanging around the scenery glaringly obvious. If this movie had the production values to match the creative ideas at its core, it might've been something special.
But I did say I love this movie, and it is more than a good idea crippled by a muddled production period. What makes the movie delightful is the banter between Basil and Professor Ratigan. The titular great mouse detective is voiced by Royal Shakespeare company actor Barrie Ingham and his rival is voiced by horror legend Vincent Price. They both through themselves into their performances, both of them dripping with smarminess and beguiling charm. Every scene where they interact is brilliantly entertaining.
There's also a number of clever set-pieces, starting with a shadowing struggle against a terrifying creature (later revealed to be a bumbling sidekick). Basil entrance is bombastically fun, Ratigan's Rube Goldberg death trap is one of the classics and there's a bar-room brawl packed with energy.
Unfortunately the movie does lag in places, with Ratigan's evil scheme being poorly integrated into the story. If it had allowed for Basil and Ratigan to spend more time out-witting each other it would be more fun, instead it ends on a fairly predictable action sequence against the standard landmark building. It is pretty cool how feral Ratigan gets as he looses control of the situation though. And the early experiments integrating CGI into the animation is a historical novelty.
Although it's never going to be considered a classic, it certainly is a little gem of a film. If you're a fan of the modern 'Sherlock Holmes' interpretations you might find this is a strong predecessor to them. Along with a weirdly sexual burlesque performance by a mouse.
Best Song: The real banger is 'The World's Greatest Criminal Mind'. Not only is this villain song a celebration of the gentleman thief, but outlines his motives and methods.
Coolest Easter Egg: We have two cameos in this movie. Rather intentional or not, there's a lizard on Ratigan's crew who is identical to Bill the Lizard from Alice in Wonderland. The second is Dumbo, who appears as a toy in the toy shop sequence.
Weirdest Trivia: Recordings of Basil Rathbone, who famously played Sherlock Holmes, are used as the voice for Sherlock Holmes, who lives above Basil on Baker Street.
As mentioned before, there is a weirdly sexual cabaret number partway through the film. The scene was considered so risqué by the classification board they almost cut it entirely, with Disney arguing that it's not questionable since it's performed by a mouse.
Rating: SEVEN out of TEN
As I said, this one scores well with me for nostalgia. Basil is a great interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, who is also a favourite character. It would be challenging the top of the list if it had better production values.
Click those titles if you want to see what we said about the other movies.
AMELIAIt was surprising when Fidget jumped out. A couple of the jump scares this character brought to the table shook Amelia up, but ultimately she enjoyed the energy of the characters.
- Frozen
- Emperor's New Groove
- Zootopia
- Moana
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Home on the Range
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Mulan
- Hercules
- Alice in Wonderland
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Tangled
- Bolt
- Pocahontas
- Dinosaur
- The Aristocats
- The Princess and the Frog
- Robin Hood
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Three Caballeros
- The Fox and the Hound
- The Sword in the Stone
- Saludos Amigos
- Oliver & Company
- Aladdin
- Treasure Planet
- Big Hero 6
- A Goofy Movie
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
- Chicken Little
- Fantasia
JOSHUA (who is now writing his own comments)
I mostly quite liked it. I liked it less when the cat was eating the mouse that called Ratigan a rat (not for Fidget). It might look low on my list, but like I said, I mostly quite liked it.
- Zootopia
- Big Hero 6
- Aladdin
- Emperor's New Groove
- Treasure Planet
- Moana
- Ralph Breaks the Internet
- The Three Caballeros
- Saludos Amigos
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Frozen
- Mulan
- The Princess and the Frog
- Robin Hood
- Bolt
- The Sword in the Stone
- Beauty and the Beast
- Oliver & Company
- Tangled
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Home on the Range
- Pocahontas
- A Goofy Movie
- The Aristocats
- Fantasia
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
- The Fox and the Hound
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Dinosaur
- Hercules
- Alice in Wonderland
- Chicken Little
