The Great Mouse Detective

1986 "London's crime-fighting ace on his most baffling case!"
7.1| 1h14m| G| en| More Info
Released: 02 July 1986 Released
Producted By: Walt Disney Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://movies.disney.com/the-great-mouse-detective
Synopsis

When the diabolical Professor Ratigan kidnaps London's master toymaker, the brilliant master of disguise Basil of Baker Street and his trusted sidekick Dawson try to elude the ultimate trap and foil the perfect crime.

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Reviews

Hitchcoc In this movie, that most people have not seen, we are shown the great sophistication and creativity of the Disney studios. First of all, we are taken to a wonderful subculture, the world of rodents in the city of London. A young female mouse loses her father, a toy maker, and is left alone. She goes to the Sherlock Holmes of mice to get help. In the process, she is introduced to the dark underbelly of this culture, populated with the worst of the worst, including a Moriarty figure, Ratigan. As is the case with most Disney animated villains, his hiring practices leave something to be desired as he surrounds himself with useless ding dongs. This has an intricate plot and is quite captivating. A real plus is Ratigan, who is voiced by the inimitable Vincent Price.
Blueghost The animation for this particular Disney outing, in my opinion, is a bit sub-par. In fact I do recall the film getting less than stellar reviews for that very aspect.In fact the animation was so sub-par (for a Disney film at least) that I had a hard time concentrating on the story. As a comparison, Dumbo, the two Rescuers films, and even the Aristcats are visually interesting with very dynamic characters. But this film is fairly difficult to watch because of a lack of artistry on the part of the Disney studios. It quite literally looks like Don Bluth was hired with a skeleton cast to make this production come off the ground.I like the fact that our main character is named after the quintessential actor who played the famous Sleuth of 221 B-Baker street, and the Sherlock Holmes parallels, but the production values for this Disney offering are not up to what we expect from the worlds most famous, well respected, and beloved animation studio.I love Disney films; live action and animation alike. But this particular film falls a little short of my expectations. Even with the then new assistance of computer aided animation to contrive the gears of Big Ben (the Clock Tower), the film still feels dreary and somewhat static.Having made all these criticisms, I can't really say it was a bad film, just not really up to snuff for a Disney production. I think if mister Walter Disney were alive when this film was in production, he might have folded his arms and tapped his foot in impatience with the animation crew working on this film.But that's just my take. If you want Sherlock Holmes on your TV or computer screen, then please rent or buy one of the great British films staring Basil Rathbone as the world's most famous sleuth.I really hate to say this, because I do love Disney films, but I think I would avoid The Great Mouse Detective.
brchthethird It might not be as well known as some of Disney's other animated movies, but this ranks up there with the best of them. Rather than functioning as a movie musical, this is a straightforward story with a few musical interludes and it suits the story just fine. It's based off a series of children's books, which were themselves inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels. The inspiration is made quite clear, and it was very fun to recognize all of the little homages/in-jokes/references to those classic stories. The main character is Basil of Baker Street (complete name Basil Rathbone, which is a reference to one of the many actors who portrayed Holmes on screen), but the story is narrated by Dr. Dawson (equivalent to Watson). It concerns a toymaker who is kidnapped by the villainous Professor Ratigan (equivalent of Professor Moriarty), and his daughter enlists the help of Basil to help find him and stop whatever nefarious plan Ratigan is up to. Along the way, Basil and Dawson come to become great friends and kick off the partnership which their live action counterparts are so famous for. Overall, I thought this was very well written and animated. There are some great set-pieces and two really good show tunes. The first one is a song about the villain, Ratigan, and regales the audience with exploits that show just how bad of a character he really is. The second takes place in a seedy riverfront bar, and actually shocked me by how suggestive it was for being in a G-rated kids movie. It sounded like something that could have come out of a Kander/Ebb musical. And one of the action highlights is a balloon chase across London's skyline with a climactic showdown in/on Big Ben. So, for a good time with a Disney movie you probably haven't seen yet, you can't go wrong with this one.
ikrani 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.