"Bravo, Basil! A marvelous performance. Though frankly, I expected you 15 minutes earlier. Trouble with the chemistry set, old boy?" -Professor Ratigan
Initial thoughts before viewing: The Great Mouse Detective was a part of my childhood VHS collection growing up, so I was pretty familiar with this one. I was interested to see whether the film held up after all these years. From what I remembered, it was a fairly enjoyable but ultimately forgettable romp.
If you have never seen The Great Mouse Detective or need a refresher, here is a link to the movie's Disney Wiki page where you can read the plot summary.
Highlights:
-As always, the villain steals the show. Professor Ratigan is the main antagonist and Basil of Baker's street archenemy. He's known as the "world's greatest criminal mind" and is very charismatic and calculating, but is shown to easily lose his cool and fly into violent rages. He's a good combination of a fun villain that means business. The Great Mouse Detective is not a musical per say, but Ratigan does get his own fabulous villain song "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind," which is so ridiculously catchy I find myself singing it to this day. The song is a great explainer for Ratigan's personality and history as a crime lord. And to top it all off, he's voiced by the great Vincent Price, an actor known for his distinctively sinister voice. Ratigan is easily the best and most memorable character in the movie (just don't call him a rat).
-Well, that got dark real fast. You find out really quickly during "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind" sequence what happens if you call Ratigan a rat (which for the record, he is). Ratigan flings a henchman who has drunkenly called him a rat out of his lair and has him eaten alive by Felicia, his cat. This moment is as unexpected as it is sobering: Ratigan doesn't play around. He's a flamboyant villain with an equally brash desire to control all Mousedom.
Disliked:
-Why does this female mouse have to be sexy? There's a weird moment where Basil of Baker Street (the titular Great Mouse Detective) and his partner Dr. Dawson (see what they did there?) go undercover in a seedy tavern where there is live music. It's here that a female mouse named Miss Kitty sings and does a burlesque-type act. The song is called "Let Me Be Good To You" and it was in fact almost cut because the lyrics and some animation was considered "too adult" for a Disney animated family film. Aside from young Olivia and and older Mouse Queen, there are few female characters in this movie, let alone any that are Basil's contemporary. Why does the one female we see that is roughly Basil's age have to be so overtly sexy? I mean, that's a whole lotta thigh for a G-rated movie.
Random Thoughts I Had While Watching:
-Basil of Baker Street is not really likable. But then again, neither is his inspiration, Sherlock Holmes. Basil is often moody and self-centered, and I found him hard to root for. At the end, I don't think I would have minded if Ratigan won.
Closing Thoughts:
-There's a lot of good lessons and takeaways here. I'm not ashamed to admit that before Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch, the only Sherlock figure I was familiar with was a mouse known as Basil of Baker Street. And that's my favorite takeaway from The Great Mouse Detective: it's an introduction for children to the world of Sherlock Holmes. I also enjoyed Basil's slow growth from someone with no friends (hey, he probably preferred it that way) to someone who finally sees the value in allowing people into your life. Conversely, Ratigan's quick and damning decent into brutality (not to mention his very physical transformation into a violent sewer rat) at the film's climax shows that you can't hide your true colors, no matter how hard you may try.
-Where The Great Mouse Detective falls short. I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who says they didn't enjoy or like this movie. And although I admit it's a fun and solid adventure, all the characters (minus Ratigan) are almost immediately forgettable. This, in turn, makes the movie forgettable. The Great Mouse Detective (like all the films in this Bronze Age/Dark Age era) simply does not stand out amongst the formidable Disney animated library of feature films. I hadn't thought of Basil and his pals in many, many years, and would probably never have sought out this movie had it not been readily available to watch on Disney+. Don't get me wrong --The Great Mouse Detective is a good, decent entry into the Disney collection. It's just not as great as its title suggests.
My Rating: 5.5/10
My Rating Scale/System:
10 - Masterpiece / Award Worthy đ€©
9 - Almost perfect / Exceptional đ„°
8 - Great / Well-crafted đ
7 - Good / Noteworthy đ
6 - Above average / Memorable đ
5 - Solidly average đ
4 - Mixed feelings / Mediocre đ
3 - Uninteresting / Struggle bus đ„±
2 - Barely watchable đĄ
1 - Failure / Why is this a thing? đ©
Comments