Joe Talks About Stuff: 26. The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

If there was ever a truly underrated Disney classic, it’s got to be this – The Great Mouse Detective is a fun and exciting movie that seems to be sadly forgotten these days. This was my absolute favourite as a kid and, while that’s not the case anymore and I can certainly acknowledge its flaws, there remains a special place in my heart for Basil of Baker Street.

The animation is good, if not much else; the xerographic process is gone for good now and it’s nice to see a real return to Disney’s traditional style. Unfortunately, the animation is not quite as expressive and enjoyable as in The Fox and the Hound, but things still look good, some of the action sequences in particular are really great, especially the final battle at the clock tower, which features an early use of computer animation for Disney and some really great work on the primal and animalistic movements of Rattigan – I could never watch this bit as a kid I was so scared and by all means, he still looks pretty frightening, now. The character designs are good, if mostly a bit generic, Disney seem to have a tendency to use anthropomorphic cartoon mice quite a lot, but thankfully the ones here have a lot more personality and capacity for facial expressions than the very basic designs of the mice in Cinderella and The Rescuers. Ratigan stands out amongst the other characters as having a really great design, with a lot of nice little details that help reflect his character, you can tell just by looking at him that he’s a man (or a rat, whatever) who wants to be seen as civilised and upper-class, but clearly doesn’t fit the part, with his awkwardly parted hair and ill-fitting suit, which can barely contain his enormous, bestial frame. The backgrounds are good too, if a little too similar to ones from One Hundred and One Dalmatians and Lady and the Tramp, but that is a necessity of the setting and The Great Mouse Detective does inject a sense of originality by having the film be set entirely at night, dimly lit by lampposts and obscured by the infamous London fog, giving the film a mysterious, almost film noir look. Most of this animation isn’t exactly fantastic, but the film always looks good and the clock tower scene is certainly close to some of their best work.

A rat for all seasons

The central premise of the film is, of course, the question “What if Sherlock Holmes were a mouse?” Which has been interpreted and translated by Disney into “What if Sherlock Holmes were a mouse who got into some wacky, family friendly hijinks?” This means that, though the film is obviously based heavily on the mythology of Sherlock Holmes, it does things in its own way; most notably, the film isn’t really much of a mystery, as we are told quite early on who the culprit is and what his evil plan is and, though there are scenes of Basil looking for clues and making deductions, it is often rather simplistic. The film is more of a standard adventure story, as Basil and his associates chase after Ratigan, with some action packed sequences along the way; though I could see this being a disappointment to Sherlock Holmes fans, who would be more interested in a traditional mystery, you have to remember that this is a children’s movie, so I think the change in style and approach is appropriate and works well enough. Though the story is rather basic, it is at least clear and consistent and doesn’t waste time on pointless tangents or padding, it relies on a lot of set-pieces, rather than a clever mystery, but the set-pieces are all good, so there’s no real harm.

This simplistic story is thankfully kept afloat by the more interesting and enjoyable characters, particularly the two major ones. The side characters are just alright, Dawson is a very stereotypical Watson, he’s nervous and bumbling, but not stupid and can be astute when he needs to be, as well as always kind and polite. Olivia is an equally stereotypical cutesy Disney kid and this can get a little annoying, though she’s not nearly as obnoxious as other examples, such as Penny from The Rescuers or Michael from Peter Pan. Fidget the bat is really well animated, but his physical comedy gets a little tiresome; he kind of reminds me of one of the Gremlins, but not nearly as fun to watch. Olivia’s father doesn’t have much to do, but he’s voiced by Scrooge McDuck so that’s cool I guess; that’s about it really, there’s a dog and a cat but they don’t really do much or have a personality so whatever. Where the film really shines is with its hero and villain, as Basil and Ratigan are both really well defined and fun to watch characters, with a decent degree of depth for Disney characters at this point in the canon; don’t get me wrong, they’re by no means Shakespearean and they don’t get that much development, but they at least have layers to their personalities and different facets to their characters that aren’t all on the surface and most importantly, they’re just fun to watch.

One big happy family

Basil is thankfully quite a different Disney protagonist, while a good guy at heart, he is not perfectly kind and patient, he has a bit of an ego and can be selfish, after all, he is effectively, Sherlock Holmes; that said, Disney puts an interesting spin on this traditional character type and emphasises some Holmesian traits in Basil that we don’t see too frequently. Holmes is often portrayed as rather stern and arrogant and, in some more modern adaptations, troubled and emotionally unstable in his dependency on solving crimes and his inability or outright refusal to conform to social norms, at times seemingly taking a rather callous joy in his ability to deduce people’s secrets and embarrass them intellectually. Basil however, is focused around an aspect of Holmes that is often sadly ignored, namely, that he finds being a detective FUN. Basil is always moving around and talking, always active and energised, he just loves being a detective; though he is certainly a little too confident in himself and has little patience for Olivia, he is not rude or sadistic about things – this is best demonstrated in his first scene, when he bursts into his house, completely unperturbed by the fact that two strangers are in his living room and proceeds to rush around, preparing tests and examinations, all the while performing his famous first deduction of Watson (or, Dawson here) as a military surgeon who just returned from Afghanistan. This tells you everything you need to know about Basil right away: he is a genius, but a little absent minded, he isn’t interested in conforming to social conventions, but not because he doesn’t care to be polite to people, he’s just so in love with what he does that he can get absorbed in it and not notice others.

Basil isn’t rude or dismissive or negative, he’s just always positive and having a good time and I love it, his enthusiasm is so infectious and it makes him really fun to watch. Basil also isn’t a perfect detective, making a few mistakes through the film and though he does show moments of brilliance, many of his “astounding” deductions are just common sense e.g. “The person who left this peg leg footprint must be a person with a peg leg!” He can also lose faith in his abilities and get rather melancholy, as well as losing his temper; this perhaps all suggests that Basil is not so much Sherlock Holmes if he were a mouse as he is a mouse who really, really WANTS to be Sherlock Holmes, an idea supported by the fact that Holmes does exist in this film and Basil lives in a mouse hole in his home of 221B Baker Street. Regardless, I find Basil to be a fun and refreshing interpretation of Holmes that brings a joy and passion to the character which is so often lost in the sea of snarky, spiteful, self-indulgent witticisms that sadly tend to populate modern interpretations of the character SHERLOCK IS NOT A GOOD SHOW okay I’m done, sorry. Basil’s great.

For our enjoyable hero we also have an enjoyable villain, the wonderfully hammy and somewhat flamboyant Ratigan, played very fittingly by the infinitely hammy and flamboyant Vincent Price. Like Basil, Ratigan seems to take so much joy in what he’s doing, he loves being a criminal and relishes his victories – just as Basil seems more interested in solving an interesting crime and defeating Ratigan than rescuing Olivia’s father, Ratigan seems more interested in besting Basil and proving his superiority than taking over the country. He also has some interesting, if unsubtle aspects to his character, such as his refusal to accept that he is a rat and his constant attempts to appear refined and civilised; he has a raging temper, but fights hard to hide it, so that others do not think of him as uncouth or thuggish. This is quite an interesting idea for a villain and it means that when Ratigan does finally lose control and give into his primal urges in the climax, fully succumbing to the side of him he has so desperately tried to hide, it is all the more powerful; in a more serious film, it might almost be tragic, though here of course it is mostly played for laughs. Though Ratigan is definitely cheesy and extreme, he goes so over the top that it’s hard not to enjoy how ridiculous he is, he and Basil have a really great dynamic; unfortunately, as said before, the film relies a little too much on action packed set-pieces, meaning these two great characters don’t get nearly as much time as they should, but the time they do get is very well spent indeed.

‘Alright Dawson, I’ll be the twink and you be the bear.’

The film has only a few songs, feeling a little like another Disney film that was forced to be a musical when it didn’t really need to be, but thankfully the songs aren’t bad and mostly work for what they are. Two of them are just standard songs that play in the background of scenes, so they don’t become intrusive or irritating; the film only has one standard musical number: “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind”. While it isn’t great, it’s still a fun song with a nice tune and some good, if not especially clever lyrics. Following a trend in the last few Disney films, the musical score is a lot better than the songs, with the main theme in particular being a great, jaunty, sweeping piece that effectively captures the classic spirit of adventure and intrigue of Sherlock Holmes, while injecting a level of animated joy and fun, much like the film itself, it really sums the movie up perfectly.

While The Great Mouse Detective doesn’t have many especially notable flaws, it doesn’t have much depth or creativity to it either, it’s a very fun movie, but admittedly not much else. Still, I don’t believe it was trying to be much else, or that it needed to be, it is an adventure movie that manages to have a basic, but solid and focused story, with some good action scenes, a great climax and a highly entertaining hero and villain, what more can you really ask for? I know the film isn’t perfect and I think I might be a little biased towards it, but I can’t help it, I just find Basil so fun and likeable; The Great Mouse Detective might not be a great film, but I find it really fun to watch and if you’ve never seen it or maybe just forgotten about it, I implore you to give it a try.

Other Thoughts:

Some of the facial expressions and reactions of the characters are really funny in a subdued way. After Olivia shows Basil up by being better with his dog than he is, he gives her this great little look.