Review of The Great Mouse Detective (1986) by Jared R — 15 Jun 2012

Among the selections of movies in the excellent Sherlock Holmes reference book `Sherlock Holmes on Screen: The Complete Film and TV History' by Alan Barnes is this 1986 Disney concoction that is equal part musical, comedy, thriller, suspense and children's movie. In fact, as Barnes points out, this feature has many more Holmesian elements than many live action movies that happen to have the character Sherlock Holmes among its cast list.

Indeed this clever animated movie owes a great deal to its literary roots and is based on Eve Titus' book `Basil of Baker Street.'.

Living underneath the apartment of the famous Sherlock Holmes at 221 Baker Street is a mouse named Basil. Shaped primarily on the Rathbone interpretation of the character, Basil is the most famous detective in all of mousedom and is determined to track down his evil nemesis Prof. Ratigan (wonderfully played with obvious relish by Vincent Price).

Basil's chance comes when he is approached by the daughter of a kidnapped toymaker named Flaversham. Initially uninspired and uninterested in the girls search for her abducted father Basil becomes decidedly more interested when she reveals that one of those responsible is a bat with a peg leg.

The bat is a known as a henchman for Ratigan and soon Basil races off into another adventure to chase down the evil genius.

The animation in the movie is top notch, the songs lively and the humor - well funny, but where this movie falters a little is in pace. I would say it is just a little too long and slower paced than I expected. It's a very satisfying movie certainly, and a `must-own' for Sherlock Holmes fans (Basil Rathbone's voice is even heard in one scene), but there are moments where it seems to drag and other moments where you wish the characters would stop singing and just get on with developing the plot.

Great fun for the kids and people who are still a kid at heart.