| The Great Mouse Detective | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ron Clements Burny Mattinson Dave Michener John Musker |
| Produced by | Burny Mattinson |
| Starring | Barrie Ingham Vincent Price Val Bettin Susanne Pollatschek Candy Candido Alan Young |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 2, 1986 |
| Running time | 74 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $14,000,000 (estimated) |
| Gross revenue | $38,625,550 (including 1992 re-issue) |
The Great Mouse Detective was 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-issue and Basil the Great Mouse Detective in some countries.
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Based on the children's book series 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). Interestingly, Sherlock Holmes also mentions "Basil" as one of his aliases in the Conan Doyle story "The Adventure of Black Peter".
The main characters are all mice and rats living in Victorian London. 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 Walt Disney Pictures to use CGI; in reality, 1985's The Black Cauldron has this distinction. This film did fairly well at the box office garnering around $25 million dollars over a budget of $14 milion (although it would later be overshadowed by Don Bluth's An American Tail, which grossed $47 million and was released during the holiday season of the same year) and got warm reviews from critics (including a "two thumbs up" rating from 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. Despite this, The Great Mouse Detective is usually "underrated" and "underappreciated" by Walt Disney, which focuses more on its original and newer films, despite the fact that this film has a large fanbase.
The setting is London, 1897, and a young Scottish mouse named Olivia Flaversham is celebrating her birthday with her toymaker father, Hiram. Suddenly, a bat with a crippled wing and pegged leg bursts into the Flaversham's workshop, kidnapping Hiram. It is later revealed that Professor Padraic Ratigan kidnapped Hiram to create a clockwork robot which mimics the Queen of the Mice. Ratigan's plan is to do away with the real queen and use the robot as a decoy. With the real Queen dead in secret, Ratigan could rule as the King of the Mice of England. Hiram refuses to take part in Ratigan's scheme, whereupon Ratigan orders Fidget (the bat) to capture Olivia. If Hiram continues to refuse to cooperate, Ratigan will have Olivia fed to Felicia, Ratigan's cat.
Olivia searches to find the famed Great Mouse Detective named Basil of Baker Street. A surgeon named Dr. David Q. Dawson stumbles upon Olivia, and helps her find Basil's residence, which is a mousehole in the cellar of the home of Sherlock Holmes. At first Basil is reluctant, but when Olivia mentions the peg-legged bat that kidnapped her father, Basil realizes that Olivia saw Fidget, a henchman of Ratigan, whom Basil has been trying to arrest for years; he suddenly gets very into-it and enthusiastic.
Basil and Dawson then use Sherlock Holmes' pet, a Basset Hound named Toby, to track Fidget's scent to a nearby toy store. Fidget is surprised by Basil, Dawson, and Olivia in the toyshop where he is stealing clockwork mechanisms and toy soldiers' uniforms for Ratigan's plan. He hides and later traps Olivia by ambushing her from inside a toy cradle. Basil and Dawson pursue Fidget but become entangled in some toys and fall behind, giving Fidget enough time to escape with all the materials he needs, 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 came from the riverfront, and they look for a small tavern near the Thames waterfront.
Meanwhile, Ratigan receives from Fidget the supplies needed to create his robot Queen, but he discovers that Fidget has lost the list, and knowing that any detective of Basil's calibre might track its writer, he sentences Fidget to death by Felicia. However, Ratigan suddenly 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, Fidget stumbles through the pub. Basil keeps a close eye on the waitress who informs the bartender of Basil's intentions and he slips some drugs into their drinks. Basil inspects his drink confirming that the drinks have been drugged, Dawson on the other hand has gulped it down and during the stage performance he jumps on stage and starts dancing with the girls and falls onto the piano and then a bar fight breaks out. Basil revives Dawson and escapes the tavern to go after Fidget. The two follow Fidget through some pipes to Ratigan's headquarters, only to discover that Ratigan and his henchmen had prepared for their arrival. Realizing that he had been outwitted by his nemesis, Basil falls into a paralyzing depression. Triumph, Ratigan ties them to a spring-loaded mousetrap, connected with a Rube Goldberg machine of death. (A song plays on a phonograph, gradually tightening a rope, which pulls a cork away at the end of the song, releasing a ball bearing down a chute, eventually setting off the mouse trap, in the process firing a gun and a crossbow, and releasing an axe and an anvil, and then activating a camera. Each of the tools used [with the exception of the camera) would kill the pair on its own merits, however, Ratigan states that he has decided to use all of them, since he could not decide on just one.) Ratigan sets out for Buckingham Palace, leaving behind Dawson and Basil. Fidget and his accomplices kidnap the queen.
Meanwhile, Basil and Dawson are left for dead along with Olivia who is trapped in a bottle near by. Dawson tries to encourage Basil, but the detective refuses to forgive himself for his mistake. Dawson's temper snaps and he demands that Basil put it behind him, claiming that he knows Basil can save them, but they may as well die now if he is going to give up. He inadvertently raises Basil's spirit by inspiring him on a means of escape. After seconds of mental calculations Basil instructs Dawson to set the mousetrap off when he gives the signal. At the precise moment after the record player finishes and before a large ball sets off the trap, Basil gives the signal, and Dawson slams his hand down on the trigger. The metal bar snaps over and traps the ball. The pressure causes a part of the mousetrap to snap like a projectile. The part hits the gun and the gun jumps and fires, missing the duo, instead hitting a crossbow which fires a bolt. The bolt hits an axe, and breaks the head from the handle. The axe head comes down on the trap, narrowly missing Basil and Dawson, and chopping the trap in two. The trap separates and flies out in opposite directions; going far enough to evade the falling anvil which also crushes the axe blade. The impact of the anvil causes Olivia's bottle to pop open, and Olivia comes flying out. Basil gets up, changes into his regular coat and catches Olivia, pulls over a confused Dawson, and smiles at the camera, just before it clicks.
Back at the palace 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, including heavy taxes on the aged. Meanwhile, Fidget carried the real queen out to the waiting Felicia. Just in time to save the Queen, the dog Toby chases Felicia to a wall. She climbs it easily, but Toby can't follow her. She taunts him by showing her rear and jumps over the wall, right into the midst of the Royal Guard Dogs on the other side where she is mercilessly mauled, presumably to death. Basil, Dawson, and Olivia, who made it to the Buckingham Palace, saves Hiram and the real Queen, and tie up Fidget along with Ratigan's other henchmen. Basil then seizes control of the mechanical mouse-queen, forcing it to denounce Ratigan as an impostor and tyrant, all the while breaking into pieces. The crowd, outraged by Ratigan's treason start climbing onto him. Ratigan manages to free himself, and he escapes with Fidget, and holding Olivia hostage. He leaves on his dirigible with Basil, Dawson, and Flaversham in pursuit.
Basil, Dawson, and Hiram create their own craft with a matchbox and some small helium-filled balloons, held under the Union Jack. A high-speed chase above the city ensues. Ratigan throws Fidget (who can't fly) overboard and into the river below to "lighten the load", and then attempts to drive the dirigible himself. Basil jumps on to the dirigible to confront his nemesis; however, with no helmsman, Ratigan is unable to steer his craft, and it ends up crashing straight into Big Ben.
Inside the clock, Ratigan and Basil face off in a final showdown. The two adversaries vie for possession of Olivia, although Ratigan still holds her in hostage. Basil traps Ratigan by tossing his cape between two gears. Basil rescues Olivia and the two flee to the top of the tower to the balloon. As Ratigan struggles, he notices Basil leading Olivia out of the clock and, due to his insane hate for the mouse detective, succumbs to rage, giving him the strength to tear his cape free. As he scurries through the clockworks as fast as he can, Olivia is safely delivered to Hiram, who is still on the balloon with Dawson. But Ratigan catches up and viciously attacks Basil, causing them to fall down onto one of the clock's hour hands. Ragged and enraged, he has transformed from a pompous pseudo-gentleman into the terrifying rat he really is. Using his apparently retractile claws (as they were not seen at any other point in the movie) he slashes Basils clothes and strikes him several times. Ratigan then knocks Basil off the clock hand, sending him falling as the clock begins to chime the Westminster Quarters. Ratigan laughs and shouts his victory, until he hears "On the contrary..." and looks down to see that Basil has managed to grasp onto the dirigible propeller. "...The games not over yet" finishes Basil, and he rings Ratigan's bell (which nobody, including Ratigan, knows when or how he managed to pickpocket), a brief warning for the Great Bell striking 10:00. The vibrations shake Ratigan from his perch on the clock's hour hand. As he falls to his death, Ratigan catches hold of Basil, and they both fall into the clouds. After a few tense moments, Basil emerges alive using the severed dirigible propeller.
Later, back at Baker Street, Basil and Dawson recounts their adventures as well as the queen's gratitude to their saving her life. The scene is interrupted by a distraught new client. Basil then persuades Dawson to remain as "my trusty associate, Doctor Dawson, with whom I do all my cases".
| Actor | Character | Info |
|---|---|---|
| Barrie Ingham | Basil | The great detective himself, based on the beloved fictional 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. Though intelligent, the makers of the movie insisted upon Basil to be a "social misfit". |
| Vincent Price | Ratigan | Basil's archenemy and the main antagonist. 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 rat. 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. At the end of the film, he is knocked off Big Ben and disappears into the deep chasm below, following a fierce battle with Basil. He is killed after he falls off the Big Ben. |
| Val Bettin | 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. |
| Susanne Pollatschek | 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. |
| Candy Candido | Fidget | Ratigan's bumbling bat 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 falls into the Thames River, supposedly drowning. |
| Frank Welker | Toby | Basil's trustful pet dog. However, he is technically the dog of Sherlock Holmes, who lives above Basil. He can sometimes be a little rude to Dawson. |
| Alan Young | Hiram Flaversham | Olivia's loving Scottish father. He works as a toymaker and is kidnapped by Fidget to make the Queen Mousetoria robot for the evil Ratigan. |
| Frank Welker | Felicia | Ratigan's massive and pompous pet cat. Ratigan calls upon her by ringing a special bell. She is attacked by Royal Guard Dogs in the final part of the movie, apparently dying or possibly she lived. |
| Diana Chesney | Mrs. Judson | A plump mouse who is Basil's housekeeper. She gets very annoyed whenever Basil uses her good pillows as "guinea pigs" for bullet comparison. Based on Mrs. Hudson. |
| Eve Brenner | Queen Mousetoria | Ratigan attempts to usurp her throne and become king. She is a parody of Queen Victoria and the setting for this film coincides with the real Victoria's 60th year jubilee (as can be seen with humans entering Buckingham Palace at the same time the mice are). |
| Basil Rathbone | Sherlock Holmes | He is the human detective who lives above Basil. He doesn't appear in the movie much. |
| Barrie Ingham | Bartholomew | One of Ratigan's henchmen. He gets eaten by Felicia after calling Ratigan "The World's Greatest Rat". He seems to have a fondness for alcohol. |
| Charles Fleischer | Bill the Lizard | One of Ratigan's henchmen and one of fellow thug Bartholomew's closest friends. He is a character taken from Disney's Alice in Wonderland. |
After a rerelease in February, the film was released on to VHS and laserdisc in July 1992 with a trailer of Aladdin as part of the Walt Disney Classics series. It was released again on VHS in August 1999 and on DVD in 2002 with a short "Makings Of" segment of how the film was made.
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