Review of The Great Mouse Detective (1986) by Robert H — 14 Feb 2014

It might not be as well known as some of Disney's other animated movies, but this ranks up there with the best of them. Rather than functioning as a movie musical, this is a straightforward story with a few musical interludes and it suits the story just fine.

It's based off a series of children's books, which were themselves inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels. The inspiration is made quite clear, and it was very fun to recognize all of the little homages/in-jokes/references to those classic stories.

The main character is Basil of Baker Street (complete name Basil Rathbone, which is a reference to one of the many actors who portrayed Holmes onscreen), but the story is narrated by Dr. Dawson (equivalent to Watson).

It concerns a toymaker who is kidnapped by the villainous Professor Ratigan (equivalent of Professor Moriarty), and his daughter enlists the help of Basil to help find him and stop whatever nefarious plan Ratigan is up to.

Along the way, Basil and Dawson come to become great friends and kick off the partnership which their live action counterparts are so famous for. Overall, I thought this was very well written and animated.

There are some great set-pieces and two really good show tunes. The first one is a song about the villain, Ratigan, and regales the audience with exploits that show just how bad of a character he really is.

The second takes place in a seedy riverfront bar, and actually shocked me by how suggestive it was for being in a G-rated kids movie. It sounded like something that could have come out of a Kander/Ebb musical.

And one of the action highlights is a balloon chase across London's skyline with a climactic showdown in/on Big Ben. So, for a good time with a Disney movie you probably haven't seen yet, you can't go wrong with this one.