The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

¨The great mouse detective¨ also titled ¨The adventure of the great mouse detective ¨ is a Walt Disney cartoon feature based on famous characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle adapted of Eve Titus' book titled ¨Basil of Baker Street¨ . This amusing cartoon movie deals with Basil , the rodent Sherlock Holmes who investigates the kidnapping of a toy-maker and uncovers its link to his archenemy , Professor Ratigan . It begins when Hiram Flaversham ( voice by Alan Young) , a master toymaker , is abducted by a peg-legged bat , on his daughter Olivia's birthday . The nefarious Professor Ratingan (voice by Vincent Price) kidnapped him for forcing his victim Flaversham to make some diabolical device . The young mouse has no one to turn to for help , so she strikes out on her own , looking for the greatest detective in all mousedom , Basil of Baker Street ( performed with gusto by Barrie Ingham) . En route , Olivia encounters Dr. David Dawson (voice by Bettin) , a mouse recently gone back from military duty in Afghanistan . They manage to encounter his rooms at 221 1/2 Baker Street in the cellar of a very notorious address , and the mouse himself soon makes his appearance running around the apartment , ignoring his two hosts , in anticipation of bringing his latest case to a successful final with an experiment in ballistics . Nevertheless , the experiment is a flop , and the detective is thrown into a deep depression, still unwilling to help poor Olivia . But Basil is again galvanized into action . The Sherlockian mouse matches wits with the nasty Professor Rattingan . The crime lord Ratigan is planning in the sewers of London nothing less than the demise of the Queen on the day of her ¨Diamond Jubilee¨ and his own ascension to the throne . Later on , Basil , Dr. Dawson and Olivia are submitted a tempestuous trap by Professor Ratingan and are imprisoned .

This fun animation is set in England's mouse population, who lives not so different from ours, in the mouse holes and basements of the British Empire . The funny characters are the following : Basil who is a bundle of energy , he is played in a clever , broody and impetuous manner similarly to Holmes-Basil Rathbone . Good Doctor Dawson/Watson is drawn or played in kindly way , he's the perfect counterpoint to Basil/Holmes . Ratigan , the arch-nemesis , a Doctor Moriaty-alike is the worst criminal in London, a veritable Napoleon of Crime . Furthermore , a sympathetic thug ,an unfortunate peg-legged bat . This agreeable animation movie contains a lively and enjoyable musical score by the great Henry Mancini . The motion picture is well realized by Ron Clemens and John Musker (among others) who subsequently would have several successes such as ¨The little mermaid¨, ¨Aladdin¨ , ¨Hercules¨, ¨Tresure planet ¨, and ¨The princess and the frog¨ . Rating : Good , worthwhile watching and reissued successfully in 1992 .

Fmovies: Great Mouse Detective is one of the best Disney movies I've seen yet. The animation is that classic Disney style and (thank Goodness) it lacks all of those annoying songs.

As a true Sherlockian, I can only say that this is as good as it gets as far as Holmes goes. No matter what everyone says, It is still great. Kids may not get some parts f it, but every Sherlockian knows what's going on. While Ratigan may be no Moriarty, he's still the perfect example of the classic Disney villain.

Vincent Price is a terrific actor, and Alan Young as Flaversham was the perfect fit. Young Susanne Pollatschek is the perfect Olivia and no one could do a better Basil than Barrie Ingham. Val Bettin makes a lovable Dawson. Fidget is the classic evil crony.

This is absolutely a must see. For all you baby-sitters out there, and I know from personal experience, take this to your next job and the kids won't even blink for over an hour. It's one of the most memorable Disney movies of it's age. Although Beauty and the Beast will always be my favorite, GMD runs an extremely close second!

I give it 11/10! It's that good!

I always say when I write these, I loved this movie, but you may not. So how do you decide if you like it? See it! Form your own opinion! After all, one man's trash and all like that! Hope you find a good one!

"The Great Mouse Detective" is one of Disney's best films, in my opinion, because it doesn't pander to children. In this movie, the characters go to a bar, get into fights, and stripping is alluded to. However, that's not to say it isn't appropriate for children. I watched this movie when I was very young and I was so innocent that I didn't realize what those things meant. Now that I am older, I still enjoy the film. That's what makes it so great- it's enjoyable for both children and adults. Vincent Price is amazing in this film playing one of Disney's best villains. I don't know the other voice actors, but they were also great, especially the person playing Olivia. Her Scottish accent was spot-on and so darn cute. Strong characterization is one of the stronger points in this movie. Although Basil may appear cynical on the outside, he is really a sucker for Olivia. Dawson is charming and kind, Fidget is 10 times more hilarious than your average bumbling sidekick, and as I said already, Ratigan and Olivia are sublime. The Great Mouse Detective also has great music. It features 3 original songs, "World's Greatest Criminal Mind" and "Goodbye So Soon" performed by Vincent Price, and "Let Me Be Good to You" performed by Melissa Manchester as the white dancer mouse. I am proud to say that LMBGTY is one of my favorite songs of all time. Also, an excellent original score is prevalent in this movie- I wish I knew somewhere were I could get my hands on a soundtrack!! The animation is dark and moody- generally not what you'd expect from a Disney movie, and the Big Ben scene is impressive even 20 years later.

I highly recommend this movie for all Disney fans, and even for non-Disney fans. Great Mouse Detective is a diamond in the rough!!

The Great Mouse Detective fmovies. The Walt Disney Company's 26th full-length animated feature film, "The Great Mouse Detective" (1986), was considered one of the better films made in the period between "The Jungle Book" (1967) and "The Little Mermaid" (1989). That may not sound like high enough praise seeing that this period was regarded as one of the company's lowest points with duds such as "The Black Cauldron" (1985). But trust me when I say that the praise is well justified in the case of "The Great Mouse Detective", which gets much of its entertainment value from an awesome hero and villain.

A young Scottish mouse named Olivia is searching for a detective in London who can help search for her kidnapped toymaker father. With the help of Dr. David Dawson, she searches for a world-famous mouse detective by the name of Basil of Baker Street. Basil accepts the case since he is lead to believe that the main suspect of this kidnapping is his archenemy Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price, giving a fun performance in this juicy role). Ratigan plans on using Olivia's father to help build a robot of the Mice Queen, so he can rule all of England. Will Basil, Olivia, and Dawson be able to stop Ratigan before it's too late and rescue Olivia's father?

"The Great Mouse Detective" is basically a kid-friendly version of any film or TV show based on Sherlock Holmes. As a matter of fact, in the world of this movie at least, Basil lives in the house of the one and only Sherlock Holmes. He even uses Sherlock's dog named Toby to help him solve this case and track down possible clues. There are a few scary scenes in this film, but they're not quite as dark as the previous Disney animated feature "The Black Cauldron". One is when we see Ratigan's henchman bat Fidget for the first time in a frightening close-up. Another is when we see one of Ratigan's drunken henchmen get eaten by Ratigan's cat as ordered by Ratigan himself, simply because he calls his boss a rat much to his intense disapproval. These scenes are scary, but in a good way.

And speaking of Ratigan, let's delve further into why I think he's an awesome Disney villain, shall we? Ratigan has a key personality trait that any great Disney villain should have. He enjoys being evil, meaning that he's having the time of his life committing all the unjust crimes that he does. He loves being bad so much that we sort of like his character because he's so content with making his victims suffer. That's one more reason why we like villains in the first place. The central hero Basil is also worth talking about, too. His impressive intelligence and ability to solve crimes with ease is one thing, but to make him charming and fun at the same time is another thing altogether.

"The Great Mouse Detective" makes for a good evening's entertainment for both kids and adults. Even if it isn't a groundbreaking film for Disney, it's at least a film that is confident and very well-told. The narrative is free of distractions, the animation is good as always, and the characters especially the hero and the villain still hold up well. If you're a fan of mysteries and are looking for a way to introduce young kids to them, then "The Great Mouse Detective" easily ranks as one of your best bets.

I enjoy this film for one main thing, besides the attention to detail concerning Victorian England...the performance of Vincent Price as Ratigan in his scenery-chewing glory. Yes, it's another mice-beneath-your-feet story, but it's so well done. Holmesians will enjoy it's inside jokes and references to other works about the famous fictional sleuth.

Fans of "Ducktales" may note that Alan Young, the voice of toymaker Hiram Flaversham, parlayed his near-perfect Scottish accent into being appointed the official voice of Scrooge McDuck.

But it's Vincent Price in what he later called one of his most favorite roles ever (He even had two original songs written for him!) that draws me back to this film again and again. He clearly enjoyed this role, and the exaggerated movements of Ratigan are obviously his.

An oddly gothic cartoon from Disney, and well worth viewing.

Having revisited this film on the anniversary of its first release I was shocked at how good it is. I was also left to wonder why Disney never did anything with it since its release since its a very good film.

The plot is simple, Basil of Baker Street helps a young girl find her kidnapped father who is the clutches of the evil Ratigan. There's more to it than that but thats a place to start.

Vincent Price, probably having the time of his life, is the foul villain and he seems to be having a complete ball. What ever joy he was feeling must have been infectious since the work the animators did carried over and its fun to watch Price's animated alter ego mug for the camera.

This is the last of the un-politically correct films from The Mouse House. Characters smoke, which as we all know is now a no no since Disney is now going back and digitally erasing all trace of that "bad habit" from all of their earlier films. Characters die. Yes the villain still dies these days, and perhaps a Mom to get the plot going, but here we have several characters die, one simply for insulting the villain.

The final sequence of this film, a battle in and on Big Ben was promoted as Disney's first major use of computer animation. The sequence is spectacular and one of the greatest animated pieces I've ever witnessed even today. The whole thing lasts maybe five minutes but it pushes the art of animation as far as Disney has ever gone and shows us what a loss the politically correct, story formula has been in the realm of artistic animation. Disney learned how to make money but not films that pushed the envelope of what was possible. What might have happened if they had expanded on this one sequence?

See this movie. I give it 8 out of 10. Its not perfect but it is funny and exciting in ways that the films that followed rarely were. The film also contains several moments that prove that Pixar are not the only ones who can make movies that reflect the Warner Brothers style.