Film #137 - The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
The Great Mouse Detective is a highlight of the “dark days” of Disney Animation - those years between the death of Walt Disney and the renaissance brought about by the production of The Little Mermaid.
It is an adaptation of the Paul Galdone novel Basil of Baker Street and tells the story of Basil, a mouse who is basically a rodent version of Sherlock Holmes (he lives under Holmes’ apartment building). Basil (Barrie Ingham) is enlisted by a young mouse named Olivia (Susanne Pollatschek) whose father, Hiram (Alan Young) has been taken by the evil Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price) and his henchman Fidget (Candy Candido). Along for the ride is befuddled Dr. David Q. Dawson (Val Bettin) as Basil uncovers a plan that puts the Mouse Queen (Eve Brenner) at risk.
The Great Mouse Detective was one of the earliest Disney animated films to use CGI and the sequences that utilized it (including a chase through Big Ben’s gears) are quite impressive. The animation moves away from the “sketchy” look that had dominated Disney animation in the 70s and has a nice clean look that compliments the relatively taught storyline.
There’s plenty of humor and even a few songs (though it’s not a full-on musical, per se) to keep things lively. But for the most part, it is essentially a Holmesian adventure story, simplified for a younger audience. The differences in the personalities from the classic characters is not a problem, since they are not presented as being Sherlock Holmes and company, just similar people. (Holmes himself is actually represented, voiced by archive audio from Basil Rathbone.)
While the cast is great, the only real standout is (not surprisingly) Vincent Price, in what would be his only Disney animated appearance. He obviously had a lot of fun with Ratigan, relishing the opportunity to go all-out as the larger-than-life villain. He even sells his song with gusto.
The Great Mouse Detective has unfortunately sort of fallen between the cracks and many people are not even aware of this pivotal film from a time when, even though Disney was still finding its feet, it could still produce a piece of high quality entertainment.