The Great Mouse Detective

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The Great Mouse Detective
Directed by Ron Clements
Burny Mattinson
Dave Michener
John Musker
Produced by Burny Mattinson
Starring Vincent Price
Barrie Ingham
Val Bettin
Susanne Pollatschek
Candy Candido
Alan Young
Music by Henry Mancini
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Release date(s) July 2, 1986 (original release)
February 14, 1992 (re-release)
Running time 73 minutes
Language English
Budget N/A
IMDb profile

The Great Mouse Detective is a 1986 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and originally released to movie theaters on July 2, 1986 by Walt Disney Pictures. The twenty-sixth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film was directed by Burny Mattinson, David Michener, and the team of John Musker and Ron Clements, who later directed Disney's hit films The Little Mermaid and Aladdin.

The film was also known as The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective for its 1992 theatrical re-release and Basil the Great Mouse Detective in some countries.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Based on the children's story Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus, it draws heavily on the tradition of Sherlock Holmes with a heroic mouse who consciously emulates the detective; Titus named the main character after actor Basil Rathbone, who is best remembered for playing Holmes in film (and whose voice, sampled from the Red-Headed League[1], was the voice of Holmes in this film, 19 years after his death). The main characters are all mice and rats living in London.

A scene from The Great Mouse Detective showcasing the use of 3D computer generated imagery to create the gears.
A scene from The Great Mouse Detective showcasing the use of 3D computer generated imagery to create the gears.

The layouts were done on computers, and the use of video cameras made a digital version of pencil testing possible. The movie is also notable for its early use of computer generated imagery (CGI) for a chase scene that takes place in the interior of Big Ben. The movements of the clock's gears were produced as wire-frame graphics on a computer, printed out and traced onto animation cells where colors and the characters were added. The Great Mouse Detective is sometimes cited as the first animated film from Disney to use CGI; in reality, 1985's The Black Cauldron has this distinction. This film did fairly well in the box office and got warm reviews from critics (especially a "two thumbs up" from popular critics Siskel and Ebert), a welcome change after the previous Disney flop The Black Cauldron. Its moderate success after its predecessor's failure gave the new management of Disney confidence in the viability of their animation department. This led to creation of The Little Mermaid, released three years later, which signaled a renaissance for Walt Disney Productions. However, this film is usually "underrated" and "underappreciated" by Walt Disney, which focuses more on its original and newer films. Despite all this, The Great Mouse Detective has a large fanbase.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The year is 1897, and taking place in London, a young mouse named Olivia Flaversham is celebrating her birthday with her toymaker father, Hiram, who is from Scotland. Suddenly, a bat with a broken wing and pegged leg bursts into the Flaversham's workshop, kidnapping Hiram. Olivia searches to find the famed Great Mouse Detective named Basil of Baker Street, but gets lost. A surgeon named Dr. David Q. Dawson, who is returning from a lengthy service of the Mouse Queen's 66th Regiment in Afghanistan, stumbles upon Olivia, and helps her find Basil's residence. Upon their arrival at his residence, Basil dismisses Olivia at first, saying he has more important matters to worry about. However, once Olivia mentions the crippled bat that kidnapped her father, Basil's attitude quickly changes. He explains that Olivia saw Fidget the bat, a henchman of Professor Padraic Ratigan, a villain Basil had been trying to arrest for years. Basil agrees to take the case when Fidget appears attempting to kidnap Olivia. He is chased away by Basil and Dawson who then use a dog named Toby to track his scent to a nearby toy store.

Ratigan himself, an egocentric, power-hungry renegade scholar, has brought Hiram to his Center of Operation for a purpose: the creation of a robot which mimics the Mouse Queen in the Diamond Jubilee of the Mice of England. With the real Queen dead in secret, Ratigan could rule as the King of the Mice of England, while the robot verbally supported everything he did. Hiram refuses, whereupon Ratigan orders Fidget to capture Olivia. If Hiram refuses to complete the dupe, Ratigan will have Olivia fed to Felicia, Ratigan's spoiled tame cat, just like he did to Barthomelew, one of his henchmen for calling Ratigan a rat (in which he hates) while being drunk.

Fidget is surprised by Basil, Dawson, and Olivia in the toyshop where he is stealing clockwork mechanisms, toy soldiers' uniforms, and tinker's tools for Ratigan's plan. He hides and later traps Olivia by ambushing her from inside a toy cradle. Basil and Dawson pursue Fidget, but unfortunately, they become entangled in some toys and fall behind, giving Fidget enough time to escape with all the materials he need, along with Olivia.

While searching the shop, Dawson discovers Fidget's forgotten checklist, which details everything Fidget has taken with him. Basil and Dawson return to Baker Street, where Basil discovers by means of close examination and some chemical tests that the list was written in a small tavern near the Thames waterfront.

Meanwhile, Ratigan receives from Fidget the supplies needed to create his robot Queen. Olivia and Hiram are briefly and tearfully re-united, only to be taken apart again when Ratigan orders Olivia held hostage inside a bottle closed with a cork. Ratigan thanks Fidget for bringing all the tools he need, but he discovers that Fidget has lost only the list, and knowing that any detective of Basil's calibre might track its writer, he sentences Fidget to death by Felicia. Ratigan then realizes how to defeat Basil, and pardons Fidget by telling Felicia to release him.

Basil and Dawson are in the tavern near the Thames, disguised as ne'er-do-well sailors inquiring for Ratigan to the staff. As they wait, they are served two pints of beer. Basil suspects (rightly) that the drinks were drugged (due to the fact that the staff hates Ratigan); but Dawson has already drunk his. (He stays drunk/drugged for the rest of this scene). When Fidget stumbles through the pub, Basil decides to follow him, but is momentarily distracted by a fight that has broken out between the staff of the tavern and its customers.

The two follow Fidget through some pipes to Ratigan's headquarters, only to discover that Ratigan and his henchmen has prepared for their coming. The sadistic rat ties them to a spring-loaded mousetrap, which when activated will break both of their necks. Around them are arranged a pistol, a crossbow, an axe, and an anvil. Nearby is a gramophone. When the record set on it finishes playing, a metal ball will slide down a chute and activate the mousetrap spring. This will set off the gun and the crossbow, which will themselves set off the axe and anvil. A camera will then take a picture of the ending scene.

Ratigan, hinting that he has an engagement at Buckingham Palace, sets off in a dirigible, along with Fidget and other henchmen. Basil is altogether crushed by his own failure to see through the trap; he lies bound, feeling sorry for himself, while Ratigan's teasing song plays about his ears.

Dawson is most shocked and annoyed at his friend's indifference to their plight and that of the Queen. He indignantly exclaims to the effect that if Basil has given up, why not set the killing machine off before the music is over, rather than wait?

This gives Basil an idea; because the trap is set on a delicate balance, setting it off seconds early will cause it to malfunction. To that end, the two mice release the bone-breaking spring at the moment when the metal ball is between their heads. The ball stops the spring in mid-fall, which causes the hinges to break. The hinge tips the gun off balance, whereupon its shot sends the crossbow awry. The crossbow fires its arrow into the axe, cutting off the head, which falls between the prisoners, cutting them free. They evade the anvil, free Olivia, and pose for the camera.

Ratigan is putting his plan into action. Hidden behind a curtain, Hiram operates the toy Queen, while the real Queen is being taken by Fidget to be fed to Felicia. At the appropriate moment, Ratigan advances into plain sight, clad in the robes of a King. He at once thanks his Queen-figure, then proceeds to recite a long list of proposed insanely tyrannical legal reforms.

Not far away, Basil's friend the dog Toby (based on a tracker from the novel "The Sign of Four") angrily chases Felicia (who got scared) to a wall. She climbs it easily, but Toby can't follow her since he can't climb. She taunts him by making a face on him and jumps over the wall, but gets attacked and killed by the angry Royal Guard Dogs on the other side. Basil, Dawson, and Olivia, who made it to the Buckingham Palace, tied up Fidget and Ratigan's henchmen, saved Hiram and the real Queen, and seized control of the mechanical mouse, forcing it to denounce Ratigan as an impostor and tyrant and also to shake itself to pieces before the assembled crowd's very eyes. Seeing this, the crowd promptly attacks Ratigan, who manages to snatch Olivia (because of Fidget, who frees himself) and flee from the Palace with Basil, Dawson, and Flaversham in pursuit.

Without a doubt, Basil, Dawson, and Hiram created their sized balloon with a matchbox and some small helium-filled balloons, held under the British flag, in which Basil steals. They followed Ratigan throughout the skies of London. On the way, Fidget, who is driving Ratigan's dirigible, becomes tired and suggests that they throw Olivia overboard in order to lighten the load to speed up. However, Ratigan agrees to lighten the load, but he doesn't want to throw away his hostage, so he throws Fidget overboard instead. Due to the fact that he isn't able to fly, Fidget falls into the Thames River and is never seen again. Ratigan takes the wheel, but without a helmsman he cannot steer, and winds up crashing into Big Ben. Basil, who has managed to board his foe's craft, is sent in with them.

Inside the clock, the two adversaries vie for possession of Olivia, although Ratigan still holds her in hostage. Ratigan was about to knock Basil down to the clockworks until Olivia bit his hand, giving Basil enough time to trap Ratigan by tossing his cape between two gears, and Basil rescues Olivia. The two flee to the top of the tower to the balloon and Olivia is delivered to Hiram, who is still on the balloon with Dawson. Ratigan, having lost all pretence or semblance of civilization, tears his cape free and scurries through the clockworks as fast as he can. He becomes ragged and savaged as he attacks Basil, finally transforming from a pompous pseudo-gentleman into a huge, terrifying monster. With his tattered cape and clothes, startling agility, and overwhelming girth, he now resembles a maddened demon from a story-teller's nightmare.

Ratigan's only interest for now is killing Basil; he ragged up Basil's clothes and gives him many blow-outs, physically. Once Ratigan slaps Basil out of the hour hand of the clock, he pronounces his victory, until Basil, who is holding Ratigan's broken dirigible that is stuck to the clock, rings a little bell, to let Ratigan know what time it is. Once he founds out, the minute hand reaches at 12 while the hour hand points at 10, knowing that the clock has striked 10:00. The bells inside Big Ben started to ring very loud, having its echoes to shake Ratigan from his perch on the clock's hour hand, and as he falls, he catches hold of Basil and dragged him down (reminiscent of "The Final Problem", a story in which Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty fight to their deaths on Reichenbach Falls). Basil keeps hold of the dirigible's severed propeller, however, and uses it to escape, while Ratigan still falls down to his death.

Later, back at Baker Street, Hiram and Olivia depart as a family together again, promising to remember their friends. Dawson is also willing to leave, but Basil (who already received treatment from the attacks given by Ratigan) tricks him into remaining by introducing him to a distraught newcomer (a lady mouse) as "my trusty associate, Doctor Dawson, with whom I do all my cases".

According to Dawson himself, this is true, by all means. They remain partners thereafter.

[edit] Main characters

  • Basil of Baker Street - The great detective himself, based on the beloved imaginary sleuth Sherlock Holmes. His main goal is to get Professor Ratigan behind bars and rescue Olivia Flaversham's father while simultaneously preventing a royal assassination. There are a few differences between Basil in the book series and in the film version, such as mercurial moods in the latter. He also plays the violin rather well in the movie, whereas the book series stated Basil's violin playing was atrocious-- instead, Basil played the flute. In the film, a running gag was used in which Basil either could not remember or could not pronounce Olivia's last name, even though he said it correctly to her father, Hiram.
  • Professor Ratigan - Basil's archenemy. Based on Professor James Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories, this character plots to seize control of the British monarchy. He and Basil have a long-established adversarial relationship. In the book series, it is revealed his given name is Padraic and that Ratigan is in fact, a mouse. This could be the reason why Ratigan in the movie (who is a rat; hence he has five fingers while the other mice have four fingers) takes offense from being referred to as a rat.
  • Dr. David Q. Dawson - Previously of the Queen's 66th Regiment in Afghanistan. His character is based upon Dr. John H. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories. The interaction between him and Basil mimics that of Watson and Holmes, as Dawson is constantly amazed by Basil's deductions. He eventually becomes Basil's associate, friend, and personal biographer. In the film, the animators modeled the character after Nigel Bruce in both appearance and character. As a result, Dawson is essentially a fat bumbler who is redeemed by his good heart.
  • Olivia Flaversham - A small girl mouse of Scottish descent who seeks Basil's help in finding her toymaker father. Basil carelessly mangles her surname several times when speaking to her, and gets the surname correct only once when speaking to Olivia's father, Hiram. Her surname is most likely based on Flora and Fauna Faversham from the Basil of Baker Street book series.
  • Fidget the Bat - Ratigan's bumbling henchman. He tends to do the dirty work for his boss. He has a crippled wing and a peg leg, and as a result he cannot fly properly. Ratigan throws him off the side of his flying machine near the end of the film, and he lands in the Thames.
  • Hiram Flaversham - Olivia's loving Scottish father. He works as a toymaker and is kidnapped by Ratigan to make the Queen Mousetoria robot.

[edit] The Great Mouse Detective theatrical release history

[edit] International release dates

[edit] English cast

[edit] Supervising Animators

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[edit] Memorable Quotes

Basil

  • "(Through the robotic Queen Moustoria.) You insidious fiend! You're not my royal consort. You're a cheap fraud and impostor. A corrupt, vicious, demented, low-life scoundrel. There's no evil scheme you wouldn't concoct! No depravity you wouldn't commit! You, Professor, are none other than a foul stenchous rodentius, commonly known as a---- SEWER RAT!!!"
  • "Ratigan! So help me, I'll see you behind bars YET!"

Ratigan

  • "For years, that insufferable pipsqueak has interfered with my plans. I haven't had a moment's peace of mind. But, all that's in the past! This time, nothing, not even Basil, can stand in my way! All will bow before me! "
  • "You don't know what a delightful dilemma it was trying to decide for the most appropriate method for your demise."
  • "Let me show you how it works, picture this! First, a spritely tune I've recorded especially for you. As the song plays, the cord tightens; and when the song ends, the metal ball is released, rolling along its merry way until... Snap. Boom. Twang. Thunk. Splat!"
  • " It was my fond hope to stay and witness and your final scene, but you were fifteen minutes late, and I do have an important engagement at Buckingham Palace."

[edit] Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
  • This film was re-released theatrically on February 14, 1992. It was then released under the Walt Disney Black Diamond Classics video series in the summer of 1992. This video edition is very popular with Great Mouse Detective collectors. It was then re-released to video again in the summer of 1999. Finally in 2002, it was released to DVD.
  • Vincent Price declared that Professor Ratigan was his favorite role. According to several animators who worked on the film, the exaggerated poses that Professor Ratigan uses were based on those that Vincent Price unintenionally made in the soundtrack recording sessions.
  • There's a reference to the Sherlock Holmes book "The Final Problem" when Professor Ratigan and Basil fall from the top of Big Ben when it strikes 10 o'clock, and only Basil is able to get back up to the balloon; this is similar to what happened to Holmes and Moriarty when they went over Reichenbach Falls . . . only Holmes survived.
  • The film's tagline was "All new! All FUN!" It is thought that Disney was careful to emphasize the "fun" aspect of the film in order to distance it from the distastrous Black Cauldron, which is thought to have failed due to its dark atmosphere. Most of the advertising used bright colors and depicted light scenes. This is ironic as the majority of the film takes place at night.
  • The Great Mouse Detective is the first Disney animated film to have its villain die without uncertainty (as in obviously dead, but not in a dark manner), a custom which would eventually become somewhat routine in later Disney years (of the next 10 Disney animated movies made after this movie, only two (Jafar and Gov. Ratcliffe) featured a villain who lived through the movie (arguably three, as Hades was a god)).
  • One of Ratigan's thugs took of a very similar design of Bill the Lizard from Alice in Wonderland.
  • In the scene where Dawson discovers Olivia crying in the shoe, Olivia hands Dawson a clipping of a newspaper article about one of Basil's cases. The article included the date "Wednesday the 18th". The last Wednesday the 18th before June 1897, when the film takes place, is in November 1896.
  • There's a computer game: "Basil: The Great Mouse Detective." It was made in 1987 by Gremlin Graphics on Amstrad, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64/128, and Atari XL/XE.
  • Ratigan's transformation in the clock tower may be a reference to the story of Jekyll and Hyde, with the composed gentleman turning into a horrid monster by night.
  • This was the last Disney film from WDFA to make heavy use of the old Disney sound effects.

[edit] External links

Disney theatrical animated features
Official canon (Walt Disney Animated Classics)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) • Pinocchio (1940) • Fantasia (1940) • Dumbo (1941) • Bambi (1942) • Saludos Amigos (1942) • The Three Caballeros (1944) • Make Mine Music (1946) • Fun and Fancy Free (1947) • Melody Time (1948) • The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) • Cinderella (1950) • Alice in Wonderland (1951) • Peter Pan (1953) • Lady and the Tramp (1955) • Sleeping Beauty (1959) • One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) • The Sword in the Stone (1963) • The Jungle Book (1967) • The Aristocats (1970) • Robin Hood (1973) • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) • The Rescuers (1977) • The Fox and the Hound (1981) • The Black Cauldron (1985) • The Great Mouse Detective (1986) • Oliver & Company (1988) • The Little Mermaid (1989) • The Rescuers Down Under (1990) • Beauty and the Beast (1991) • Aladdin (1992) • The Lion King (1994) • Pocahontas (1995) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) • Hercules (1997) • Mulan (1998) • Tarzan (1999) • Fantasia 2000 (1999) • The Emperor's New Groove (2000) • Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) • Lilo & Stitch (2002) • Treasure Planet (2002) • Brother Bear (2003) • Home on the Range (2004) • Chicken Little (2005) • Meet the Robinsons (2007) 
Upcoming:  American Dog (2008) • Rapunzel (2009) • The Frog Princess (2009)
Live-action films with animation

The Reluctant Dragon (1941) • Victory Through Air Power (1943) • Song of the South (1946) • So Dear to My Heart (1949) • Mary Poppins (1964) • Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) • Pete's Dragon (1977) • Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) • The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003) 
Upcoming:  Enchanted (2007)
DisneyToons Studio animated features

DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990) • A Goofy Movie (1995) • Doug's 1st Movie (1999) • The Tigger Movie (2000) • Recess: School's Out (2001) • Return to Never Land (2002) • The Jungle Book 2 (2003) • Piglet's Big Movie (2003) • Teacher's Pet (2004) • Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005)
Other theatrical animated features

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) • James and the Giant Peach (1996) • Dinosaur (2000) 
See also: Pixar
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