Review of The Great Mouse Detective (1986) by Ben J — 21 Aug 2011

A reminder of how dark and twisted Dinsey films were permitted to be in the company's lost years, when there was far less corporate control coming down... Co-directors John Musker and Ron Clements went on to oversee several of the key Disney renaissance projects ("The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin"), and you sense them getting all their ducks in a row here: if the animation remains beholden to their employers' output from the 1950s onwards (the felines are right out of "The Aristocats", a dog familiar from "Lady and the Tramp"), then the sidekick or supporting characters (a Latinate bat who prefigures Stitch from "Lilo & Stitch", a juggling octopus told in no uncertain terms to "get off, you eight-legged bum") would have made acceptable Happy Meal toys; likewise, the Henry Mancini score is nicely retro, but lacks the songwriting nous Elton John and Phil Collins would bring to this task.

It has some charm, and an exciting Mouse Trap sequence, and is maybe missing only universality: as it is, you could see it being a half-term treat at the ABC Baker Street, and not meaning a thing to kids in Kansas or Kathmandu.