BACKGROUND
The 1980s were a difficult time for Disney Animation. New management from “outside studios” had come in and didn’t understand the concept of making an animated movie, nor did they particularly understand the animators. This caused a few years of conflict and misunderstandings between the two opposing sides.
On top of that, 1985 brought the Walt Disney Company one of their worst ever financial flops with the release of The Black Cauldron, a movie quite unlike anything that Disney Animation had ever produced before; it took years, and cost a fortune, to make. By pushing the boundaries with this film, they pushed many of their core audience anyway, who were not expecting this mish-mash of fantasy, adventure, and even light horror.
The pressure was on. Disney’s next movie had to change all that, and bring those families back to the theatres to experience a charming movie, reminiscent of those made during Walt Disney’s time in charge of the Disney Studios. It also had to be convincing enough for new management to believe animation was still worth it.
Luckily, The Great Mouse Detective, released in 1986, just a year after The Black Cauldron, did make positive steps towards a renewed animation department. It is yet another adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories to sit alongside those movies and television series of earlier decades, like Basil Rathbone’s series of films, released between 1939 and 1946, and those of more contemporary times, like the BBC series Sherlock (2010-17), starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the man himself, and the 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes and its 2011 sequel, with Robert Downey Jr. portraying the famous detective.
The Great Mouse Detective wasn’t a huge hit, nor was it a particularly smooth process getting the movie made, but overall, it was certainly a move in the right direction, getting back to Disney’s basics of good story-telling, likeable characters, and being progressive with their use of technology.
Sadly, The Great Mouse Detective has not been referenced at the Disney Parks for many years, and it isn’t generally remembered even amongst Disney fans, unless they had a love for the film as a child. It’s been surpassed by the amazing movies of the “Disney Renaissance”, as well as some of the more contemporary blockbuster hits like Frozen (2013) and Encanto (2021), which seem to have more “star quality” than poor Basil.
I personally really like The Great Mouse Detective. My family never owned it on VHS for some reason, but I remember always watching it at friends’ houses, or borrowing their VHS tape, so this was a film that I did not grow up with, like many of the “Disney Renaissance” films, but one that I gradually came to enjoy. It has an easy-to-follow plot, unlike some adaptations of Sherlock Holmes that can be difficult to keep up with. The Great Mouse Detective also benefits from strong characters and good music, in my opinion.
PLOT
The story of The Great Mouse Detective follows Basil, a mouse detective – funny about that – who is basically the Sherlock Holmes of the mouse world, living underneath that famous apartment, 221B Baker Street in London in 1897. He is asked to investigate a case brought to him by a young mouse, Olivia, whose father has been captured. Olivia was brought to Basil by Dr David Q. Dawson, a surgeon who has returned to England after being in Afghanistan for military service. Basil cleverly deduces this purely from the clothes Dawson is wearing – how very “Sherlock” of him. Basil is initially reluctant to help Olivia, not caring much that she has lost her father. But when she mentions that he was taken by a bat with a pegleg, Basil is immediately intrigued, as this bat is the henchman of Basil’s most troublesome nemesis, the evil Professor Ratigan.
Ratigan has ordered the capture of Olivia’s father, Hiram, as he is an accomplished toy maker. Ratigan wants a model robot of the current Queen, Queen Moustoria – like Queen Victoria, get it? – and he expects Hiram to do it. Ratigan plans to use this robot so that it looks like Queen Moustoria herself is giving the order for Ratigan to be the “Supreme Ruler of all Mousedom”, because naturally, a Disney villain’s ultimate goal is always for world domination. Under the threat of his daughter being kidnapped, Hiram gets to work.
Meanwhile, Basil, Dawson, and Olivia set out to find her father, with the help of Basil’s dog Toby, who can get them to places much quicker than a little mouse can, after seeing Fidget, the bat with the pegleg appear at his window. Basil orders Toby to follow his scent and they find themselves at a toy store. Here, Fidget has been told by Ratigan to collect gears, uniforms, and Olivia, so that the plan can be carried out correctly. He takes gears and uniforms from the toys in the shop, and then proceeds to take Olivia whilst Basil and Dawson are distracted by all the toys coming alive.
Basil is annoyed at himself for letting this happen. But Dawson finds a clue – Fidget’s checklist. Back at his apartment, Basil uses his lab equipment and discovers that this piece of paper came from the “Rat Trap”, a tavern by the sewers. Disguised as sailors, Basil and Dawson head over there to try and get some information on the whereabouts of Ratigan. On mentioning Ratigan’s name, the bar maid and locals become suspicious of the two, and Dawson accidentally drinks the drugged beer that was served to them. After he starts a bar fight, during the performance of a bar singer, Basil ushers Dawson out of the tavern, as he has seen Fidget heading to supposedly Ratigan’s headquarters; they follow the bat.
But when they reach the headquarters, they discover it was all a trap and they have been captured too. They also see Olivia is there, trapped inside a bottle. Ratigan believes he’s won, and ties Basil and Dawson to a mouse trap. And, much like the board game Mouse Trap, he has rigged the mouse trap to be squashed after a series of contraptions have been set off, which will all begin once Ratigan’s song, saying farewell to Basil, finishes on the record player. Basil seems to have lost all hope, but Dawson inspires him to work out how to escape this trap. He manages to do so with some quick-thinking, simultaneously freeing Olivia from her bottle prison. The three quickly head to Buckingham Palace.
At Buckingham Palace, Ratigan and his henchmen have successfully supplanted the Queen with their robotic figure, and the real Queen is set to be fed to Ratigan’s Persian cat, Felicia. However, Basil and the others arrive just in time to save her. Toby chases Felicia away, and Basil ties up Fidget and the henchmen. Meanwhile, Ratigan has been named the Supreme Ruler and is detailing his list of rules to those in the palace. Basil manages to take control of the robot and announces that this was all a ruse by Ratigan.
Angry at Basil for ruining yet another of his great plans, Ratigan and Fidget escape on his dirigible, and take Olivia hostage. With Olivia’s father, Basil and Dawson create a rudimentary airship, using a matchbox, balloons, and a flag, and set off after Ratigan. Basil jumps onto Ratigan’s ship, and the ship crashes into Big Ben. Ratigan, Basil, and Olivia are thrown into the clock. Inside, Basil tries to rescue Olivia from being squished by one of the mechanisms, whilst also dodging Ratigan’s pursuit of him. Basil manages to hand over Olivia to her father on the makeshift airship, but Basil is attacked by Ratigan on the hands of Big Ben. Soon, the clock strikes 10, with the noise causing Ratigan to fall seemingly to his death – but not before he grabs Basil to take him down with him. Dawson, Hiram, and Olivia look on helplessly, believing their friend to be gone for good.
However, this is Basil we’re talking about, and we soon see that in the process of him falling, he grabbed some of Ratigan’s broken airship and managed to create some contraption that brings him back up to Big Ben. He boards the airship and they head home.
Olivia and her father leave for their home, thanking Basil and Dawson for all their help. Despite Basil’s initial dislike for Olivia, and children in general, it is quite a tearful goodbye for him. Dawson is about to leave Basil as well, when a new client arrives needing Basil’s help. Basil introduces Dawson as his investigative partner, so Dawson decides not to leave, and the two continue to work together solving further cases for the mice of London.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Though The Great Mouse Detective may appear to just be a loose adaptation of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, in actual fact, the movie is inspired by a children’s book series, a five-part series titled Basil of Baker Street, written by Eve Titus. The books were published between 1971 and 1982. This series was clearly based on the Sherlock Holmes stories, with the characters of Basil and Dawson being based on Sherlock and Dr. Watson, and Ratigan being inspired by Moriarity. The Disney film bears little resemblance to Titus’ books though, except for the location and time setting of Victorian England, and the three main characters of Basil, Dawson, and Ratigan, with some differences. Dawson, for one thing, is actually an intelligent resource in the books, whereas in The Great Mouse Detective, Dawson is a bit of a bumbler. Ratigan in the books is meant to be a big mouse who is frequently mistaken for a rat, whereas in the film, Ratigan is actually a rat, who insists on being referred to as a mouse. Only, one of his henchmen forgets this rule when he gets drunk and ends up being eaten by Ratigan’s cat, Felicia… “Oh, my dear Bartholomew. I’m afraid that you have gone and upset me.”
But Basil of Baker Street still remains as the key figure of the story, the professional detective who never gets anything wrong. Most of the time. Originally, Basil was going to be like the Sherlock Holmes of the novel world; a cold, detached man, albeit one of unmatched intelligence, who reacts abnormally to social situations. In the BBC series, Sherlock (2010-17), Holmes even refers to himself as “a high-functioning sociopath”, rightly or wrongly. When Disney tried this approach with the character of Basil, it didn’t work, nor did their attempts to make him more like Bing Crosby. In the end, the basis for Basil’s character actually came from actor Leslie Howard’s portrayal of the strict, arrogant Professor Henry Higgins in the film Pygmalion (1938), along with the voice performance of Barrie Ingham[1]. Basil of Baker Street is quite egocentric and unfeeling at the start of the movie, ignoring Olivia’s pleas for help, being too busy with his deductions and experiments to notice that this young girl is completely lost without her father. As the story progresses though, Basil becomes more caring. He saves Olivia’s life in the clockwork of Big Ben; is visibly pleased to see her returned to her father and heading home, even though he still doesn’t know or can’t pronounce her surname, a recurring joke in the movie; and he clearly values the friendship of Dawson because he quickly gives him a job as his assistant to stop him from leaving. Basil goes through a lot of character development and personal growth in the film.
As I’ve just mentioned, Basil was voiced by English actor Barrie Ingham. Before The Great Mouse Detective, Ingham had performed on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, as well as performing in musicals, such as in the 1973 London production of Gypsy alongside Angela Lansbury, and in the 1981 revival of Camelot with Richard Harris as King Arthur; Ingham played King Pellinore. After The Great Mouse Detective, Ingham starred in the Josh Kirby… Time Warrior! Series of films from 1995 to 1996, and in Jekyll & Hyde – The Musical (2001) as Sir Danvers Carew, after appearing in the Broadway musical of the show from 1997 to the 2001 closing. Ingham was also in the final cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Aspects of Love on Broadway, from 1990 to 1991, as Sir George Dillingham, alongside Sarah Brightman. Ingham passed away in January 2015, with his final screen role being in the sci-fi miniseries The Triangle (2005).
Despite Basil not being quite like Sherlock Holmes, you will hear Sherlock Holmes in this movie. He is seen in his apartment, 221B, and the lines are from an actual recording of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes in a 1966 telling of “The Red-Headed League”. Rathbone was most known for playing the character of Sherlock Holmes in film. There were originally financial disagreements over using the recording in the movie but a last-minute deal was made to keep it in. Basil of Baker Street is named after Basil Rathbone[2].
You can’t have Sherlock Holmes without Dr. Watson, so in this case, you can’t have Basil without Dr. Dawson. Major Dr. David Q. Dawson has returned to England after serving in the Queen’s 66th Regiment in Afghanistan, something that Basil deduces immediately on seeing Dawson for the first time. Although Dawson can be a bit of a fool, getting him and Basil into more scrapes than necessary by being clumsy and overly trusting, he is very warm and caring, being very protective of young Olivia when Basil gets too caught up in the thrill of the chase. Dawson is very different to Dr. Watson, who generally doesn’t cause Sherlock problems by tripping over things, or drinking drugged beer! He is a good opposite to Basil though, and the two complement each other more so than they disrupt each other. The appearance of Dawson was modelled, in both appearance and behaviour, after animator Eric Larson, one of Disney’s “Nine Old Men”, who worked at the studios from 1933 until his retirement in 1986. Larson had trained many of the animators working on The Great Mouse Detective, and was the animation consultant on this film, his final role with the company before his retirement. Larson died two years later in 1988[3].
Val Bettin provided the voice for Dawson. After appearing in a few movies in the 1980s and voicing Dawson for The Great Mouse Detective, Bettin became a voice actor, taking over the voice role of the Sultan from Douglas Seale for the direct-to-video sequels Aladdin: The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996), as well as the television series Aladdin (1994-95). Bettin also voiced characters in the television series’ Mighty Ducks (1996-97) and Hercules (1998-99), as well as voicing Professor Porter in the 1999 Tarzan video game. Despite being American, Bettin was adept at British accents.
We also have the two Flavershams: Olivia and Hiram; the ones whose case the whole plot revolves around. Hiram is an only parent after the death of Olivia’s mother and he clearly adores his daughter, and working as a toymaker, he makes her numerous special gifts, like a dancing ballerina mouse. The opening of The Great Mouse Detective is similar to Pinocchio (1940) in that he has a workshop just like Geppetto, filled with puppets, which I don’t like much… There’s also that scene in the toy store, which I do not like either – though there is a short Dumbo cameo, which is nice. Hiram is kidnapped in quite a violent fashion from his shop by Ratigan’s bat henchman, Fidget, as Olivia hides in a cupboard. She is found wandering the streets by Dawson as she tries to find Basil of Baker Street to help her. Olivia is quite sweet as a character, and it is very sad seeing her so distraught at losing her father. It’s great that she is reunited with him and all that, but I can’t ignore just how annoying she can be at times, not doing as she’s told and then getting kidnapped herself as a result. Why can’t anyone just do as they’re told in the movies? I would. Basil is not overly kind or sympathetic to Olivia at times, but she either isn’t bothered or doesn’t seem to notice, as she has Dawson, as well as Basil’s faithful sidekick Toby, the lovable, energetic Basset Hound.
There were hundreds of applicants for the role of Olivia, but in the end, Susanne Pollatschek, was chosen; a girl from Glasgow who had no formal training. Olivia’s father Hiram is voiced by the same actor who voiced Scrooge McDuck for over 40 years, Alan Young. He was chosen for the specific Scottish accent that he could replicate. Young began voicing Scrooge in the 1974 Disneyland Records album An Adaptation of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, and voiced the character again for the short film Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983), which was nominated for Best Short Film at the Academy Awards, reprising the role for Disney until his death in 2016. Before this, Young had his own sketch show The Alan Young Show during the 1940s and 50s, and appeared in movies like The Time Machine (1960).
Moving on to easily the best character in the whole movie, the villain Professor Ratigan. Although he is not referenced often within the Disney Villain franchise, I think Ratigan is one of Disney’s best villains. He’s a completely over-the-top, charismatic showman, yet he’s also evil and ruthless at the same time, not caring one bit about feeding someone to his big white Persian cat, Felicia – reminiscent of Bond villain Blofeld’s cat – or about taking someone hostage. He has a group of loyal henchmen, which includes Felicia, and a crew of mice – and one lizard, which is a bit odd. It also includes Fidget, the bat with a peg leg, voiced by Candy Candido in his final role, and supposedly his favourite one. Candido had also voiced the Indian Chief in Peter Pan (1953), one of Maleficent’s goons in Sleeping Beauty (1959), and the Captain of the Guard in Robin Hood (1973) for Disney Animation. He was known for his deep bass voice.
Animator Glen Keane, who would go on to animate characters like Ariel and Beast, designed Ratigan. Originally, Ratigan was going to be a very skinny, weaselly-looking rat, but that made him look too similar to Basil, so they had to make him bigger. The character just wasn’t working, until Keane heard the actor Vincent Price in the 1950 film Champagne for Caeser, where Price played corporate chieftain Burnbridge Waters. Keane loved the sharp speed of his lines. Suddenly, Ratigan became a huge rat instead. Supposedly, the stature of Ratigan was based on that of then-Disney president Ron Miller, Walt’s son-in-law, who was 6ft 6in, an ex-football player, and physically intimidating. Luckily, Ron Miller did not recognise anything of himself in the character when the designs were shown to him and he allowed them to go ahead! Vincent Price was 75 years old when he was cast for the film and he generally enjoyed recording for the character, saying in interviews that he “adored” Ratigan. Price made sure to be larger-than-life in his sessions and wanted to put some fun into the evil. He also noticed that his expressive eyebrow movements were put into the character[4]. Ratigan is just an overall great character; devious but also funny.
Vincent Price was an incredible character actor, with numerous credits to his name. Just some of these include appearing in adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe works, such as The House of Usher (1960) and The Haunted Palace (1963). Price also appeared in The Three Musketeers (1948) as Richelieu, and as Baka in the religious epic The Ten Commandments (1956). In popular culture, Price is the voice speaking at the end of the Michael Jackson song “Thriller” and is The Inventor in Tim Burton’s movie Edward Scissorhands (1990). It just so happened that Tim Burton’s lifelong idol was Vincent Price; therefore, Price also narrated the short film Vincent (1982) by Burton. Price died in October 1993, with one of his final film credits being the voice of Zigzag the Grand Vizier in the unfinished animated film The Thief and the Cobbler; a version of which was released in September 1993. Price has received many lifetime achievement awards for his contributions to cinema from organisations such as the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films; the Bram Stoker Awards; and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Comedic actor Bill Hader used to impersonate Vincent Price during his tenure on Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2013, as did actors Dan Aykroyd and Michael McKean during their stints on the show. Well, they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
MUSIC
In what was surely not what he was most known for, Vincent Price actually sings two of the three original songs that were written for The Great Mouse Detective. Yes, the villain got two songs in this Disney movie! And they are both great, in my opinion. The first is “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” and this is Ratigan’s big showpiece that reveals his devious plan to supplant the Queen and make himself “The Supreme Ruler of All Mousedom”. It’s incredibly flashy, full of champagne and jewels, that I can only assume were stolen. Ratigan even has a top hat, cane, and huge cape to fully ensure he is the centre of attention. He even plays the harp at one point as he goes through his sad backstory of being hounded by Basil. The song is briefly halted by Felicia the cat being called, but the rest of the mice soon get back in line and sing about how wonderful Ratigan is again. It’s a very funny, camp song.
His other song is called “Goodbye, So Soon”. It’s such an upbeat song, considering it is telling Basil that he and his friends are about to be eliminated for good. It shows Ratigan’s extreme over-confidence, as it is playing on a record to Basil and Dawson as they are tied to a mouse trap, awaiting their death, because once the record stops playing, there is a very elaborate trigger of mechanisms to eventually release an iron to squish them. Getting this carried away with the overall performance proves to be Ratigan’s undoing, as the song’s length gives Basil enough time to calculate a plan to free all of them, but it’s hilarious. “Goodbye, So Soon” also reappears during the End Credits, as a goodbye to the audience, but don’t worry; this version sounds a lot less threatening than Ratigan’s. You wouldn’t want to traumatise the kids at this stage.
Both songs were written by Henry Mancini, Larry Grossman and Ellen Fitzhugh. Grossman and Fitzhugh had written the 1985 musical Grind together, with their score being nominated for Best Original Score at the Tony Awards that years. Grossman later composed the scores for Disney’s movies such as Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998) and The Princess Diaries 2 (2004) for Disney. Fitzhugh wrote the lyrics for the songs in The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue (1997).
Henry Mancini won numerous accolades during his career as a composer, winning four Academy Awards, two of which were for his work on Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) and another for his score for Victor/Victoria (1982). Mancini is also known for composing “The Pink Panther Theme”; “Theme from Love Story”, the 1970 film; and the theme for the Peter Gunn television series (1958-61), just to name a few. Mancini died in June 1994; he received a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. As well as writing the music for the two songs, Mancini composed the score for The Great Mouse Detective, with this being his first time working on an animated feature. I particularly like the “Main Title” of the film, especially its opening section, which sets you up for a high-paced adventure. “Big Ben Chase” is also a good piece of music, especially as the Big Ben fight scene has barely any dialogue, so the music has to tell the story, and increase the sense of peril, which it does.
The other song in the movie is “Let Me Be Good to You”, which is performed by a mouse bar dancer, which Basil and Dawson hear when they are trying to find their way to Ratigan’s lair. After a quiet introduction, the song changes tone quite quickly, moving into a full-on showgirl number, even down to the point where the mouse pulls off her skirt and starts dancing in a leotard with a feathery tail…And the mice men sure are loving it… I mean, it’s not really risqué, but it is a bit surprising to see in a Disney film.
There was always going to be a song at this point in the film, but it wasn’t that easy for the team to settle on what the song should sound like. Very early on in production, then-CEO of the Walt Disney Company Michael Eisner suggested that perhaps Michael Jackson or Madonna could perform the song here. Henry Mancini had written a song for the scene, called “Are You the One Who Loves Me?”, which was a parody of a Victorian Music Hall tune. It was even recorded by Shani Wallis, who played Nancy in the movie Oliver! (1968). Jeffrey Katzenberg, then-Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios said the tune wasn’t contemporary enough and wanted to bring in Melissa Manchester. She was a Grammy award winner in 1982 for her recording of the song “You Should Hear How She Talks About You”, and two movie themes that she had performed were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1980; “Through the Eyes of Love” from Ice Castles (1978) and “I’ll Never Say Goodbye” from The Promise (1979)[5]. Manchester was a big name at the time, so you can see why Katzenberg hired her. She wrote and performed “Let Me Be Good To You” for the film. Manchester would return to Disney to write the songs for Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure (2001).
PRODUCTION
The Great Mouse Detective gets the honour of being the first Disney animated film to be officially approved by the new Disney management of Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner, President and Chief Operating Officer Frank Wells, and Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg, who came into the company in 1984. However, the first time that an animal version of Sherlock Holmes had been considered at Disney Animation was actually during production on The Rescuers (1977). Eve Titus’ books Basil of Baker Street were mentioned as a possible basis for this Sherlock Holmes-inspired movie. Since this animal detective movie would end up being quite similar to The Rescuers, it was decided the project would have to wait a while.
It’s a good thing too, because Disney’s story for Basil of Baker Street took years to figure out, as it was discussed in the early 1980s with former CEO Ron Miller. Originally, Olivia was going to be older and a potential love interest for Basil, however, Miller suggested making her a little girl instead to gain audience sympathy. Other ideas such as a seedy informant of Basil’s were removed, and a whole instrumental scene around lamplighters, written by Henry Mancini, was also cut. Burny Mattinson and John Musker were named as the directors of the film, but when Ron Miller was ousted from the Walt Disney Company in 1984, Roy E. Disney wanted Mattinson to be both producer and director. Eventually, it was decided this was too much work, and another director, Ron Clements, was brought in; Clements had always been a fan of Sherlock Holmes. Over three years of work had been done on the movie by the time the new management came in, yet in order to proceed, the entire film had to be re-pitched.
So, the storyboards were laid out and the team went through the whole movie. The pitch took around three hours, and by the end of it, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg were very confused and couldn’t even remember most of what they’d been told. It was decided that as the animators were being paid whether they made this particular movie or not, the movie was indeed approved – but with two caveats. The first was that the movie’s release date was being brought forward to July 1986, instead of the original date of Christmas 1987, giving the animators only a year and a half to animate the full movie. The second caveat was that the budget was going to be less than half of the budget of The Black Cauldron (1985), which ended up at around $44 million when it was released in July 1985.
The Black Cauldron was a huge failure at the box-office, something that would not be forgotten quickly by the new management, who did not have sufficient time to “fix” the movie before its release date. To make matters worse, in Christmas 1985, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) was re-released in theatres and made $33 million, making it the most successful re-release in Disney history. Disney Animation were already concerned for their jobs, as they had been moved out of the original animation building in Burbank, over to a building in Glendale, which was an uninspiring place to say the least. The whole department were just waiting to be fired, as rumours had also been circulating that management planned to simply re-issue all the previous Disney animated films as there were plenty “in the vault”, and didn’t want to make any more. To celebrate what they believed to be “the end of Disney Animation”, the animators acted out a full-scale re-enactment of Apocalypse Now (1979) in their dingy office space. Finally, the two warring sides of Jeffrey Katzenberg and the animators had to settle their differences; Katzenberg told them he wanted to learn about animation, as he had never worked on animated movies before, having come from Paramount with Michael Eisner, but that they had to make good movies that were financially viable. It was decided by the animators that it was best to get on board and see where this wild ride took them, so work on Basil of Baker Street continued[6].
The animators were inexperienced and unproven, although some of these did become very big names in the Disney world: Glen Keane, Andreas Deja, Rob Minkoff, Mark Dindal, and Ruben Aquino. The directing team of Musker and Clements were also inexperienced, and they were not given much time to animate the movie. The runtime was cut from 90 minutes to around 75 minutes to save money, using a smaller cast of characters and a tight, fast-paced story. However, a lower budget didn’t mean that the team wanted to forget about technological innovation.
Although The Black Cauldron contains the first ever use of computer-assisted animation in a Disney film, it was never marketed that way, whereas the two-minute computer-assisted scene in what became known as The Great Mouse Detective was; this was the first time hand-drawn characters had been added to a computer-generated background and it can all be seen in the final battle between Ratigan and Basil. The finale was first going to be a fight scene on the hands of Big Ben’s clock, but layout artist Mike Pereza asked if it could be restaged inside the clock, because he had been inspired by a similar scene in Hayao Miyazaki’s animated movie Castle of Cagliostro (1979)[7]. Peraza was even allowed inside Big Ben for research purposes, even though public tours were not allowed. He noticed how the entire tower would vibrate every time the bells chimed, which I think is recreated well in the movie. Peraza also made sure to capture any photographs from ground height so they were at “mouse level” to replicate how the mice characters would see and interact with everything. Whilst in London, other popular sites were photographed in this way, such as Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge[8]. Having the mice navigate the perilous clockwork and gears made for an exciting finale, and the scene recreates 54 moving gears, winches, ratchets, beams and pulleys. I particularly like the part where Olivia is trapped within a cog about to be squashed by its counterpart, when Basil grabs a rope which takes him up to pull her out of there just in time. The computer allowed Disney to play about with camera angles to suit the action of the scene, instead of being limited to panning into artwork. This paved the way for further use of computer animated sequences within animated films, for example, the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast (1991)[9].
Although the movie was originally titled Basil of Baker Street, as per the book series, the marketing department changed the movie to The Great Mouse Detective, which angered some of those who’d worked on the film. Disney said that test audiences did not like how “British” the title sounded, but to others, it felt that they were “dumbing down” the title for no good reason. One artist even sent out a fake memo, in the name of Peter Schneider, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, saying that all previous titles of Disney animated movies were to be renamed. Some examples of these included “Seven Little Men Help a Girl” for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and “The Girl with the See-Through Shoes” for Cinderella (1950). This was another case of animators clashing with the new management team, and the joke soon spiralled out of control to the point where Peter Schneider called all of the animators to a meeting. But instead of telling everyone who wasn’t happy to get out, Schneider said he wanted to make great movies here and that settled the animators down to some extent. The memo was so infamous that it even ended up as a category on Jeopardy! in January 1987[10]. It is worth noting though that in some countries, including the UK, the film was released under the name Basil the Great Mouse Detective, so this title is kind of the best of both names.
RECEPTION
The Great Mouse Detective was released on 2nd July 1986, and brought in a total of $24 million against a budget of $12 million. The film was accompanied by the short Clock Cleaners (1937) which starred Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. The Great Mouse Detective received fairly positive reviews from critics and audiences. Some said that this was Disney Animation being as creative and free as they had been in the earliest days of Disney Animation. The use of computer animation was praised, as well as the interesting backgrounds. Many enjoyed the villain of Ratigan and the quick pacing. It was seen as a fun, enjoyable Disney movie, though some do not feel it ranked highly against others in the Disney catalogue. This was all very positive and a good step forward for Disney Animation.
However, the shine of their success faded four months later in November 1986, when the movie An American Tail (1986), another “mouse movie”, which was a collaboration between Universal Studios, Steven Spielberg, and Don Bluth – the animator who had worked at the Disney Studios up until 1979 when he left the Studios taking half the animators with him – would do even better at the box-office, beating out The Great Mouse Detective by $22 million. At the time, An American Tail became the highest-grossing non-Disney animated movie in history. This was a bit of a blow to the Disney Studios, but it is worth noting that many critics felt An American Tail was depressing, and compared it less favourably to The Great Mouse Detective. The Great Mouse Detective was later re-released in theatres in 1992 under the name The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective, before being brought out on VHS and Laserdisc.
LEGACY
Even with this legacy of setting Disney Animation back on the path to greatness, The Great Mouse Detective is not generally remembered by a large proportion of Disney fans, nor is it referenced at the Disney Parks. After that fake memo by an unnamed Disney animator, as retaliation, marketing funds were apparently pulled from the movie prior to its release. Roy E. Disney personally funded the creation of “meet-and-greet” characters for the parks, which is why costumes for only Basil and Ratigan existed[11]. These two were seen at the Disney Parks, at least the two US parks – it is unclear if they were ever at Tokyo Disneyland, the only other Disney Park to be open in 1986 – around the time of the film’s release but gradually became rarer and rarer to see, before apparently being officially retired in 2004. I have not been able to find evidence of Basil or Ratigan being seen since then, even at Special Events, but perhaps their time to return will come. But with all Disney animated movies, including the forgotten ones, you can see a tiny clip of The Great Mouse Detective within the finale of the Wonderful World of Disney Animation nighttime show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
Around the movie’s milestone anniversaries, you are most likely to find merchandise, though you might be lucky and be able to find a pin or two of the characters. In 2021, for the film’s 35th anniversary, a MagicBand and Christmas ornament were released. As part of the Disney100, different decade collections were released. Disappointingly, The Great Mouse Detective was not included in the 80s Decade Collection line, which instead chose to focus on Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers (1989-90), Oliver & Company (1988), and Roger Rabbit. Even The Black Cauldron (1985) got a new MagicBand+ here!
The animated characters did make appearances in some episodes of House of Mouse (2001-03) and in the short film Once Upon a Studio (2023) alongside pretty much every character in Disney Animation history. In recent years, there have also been Funko Pop’s in the form of Ratigan and Basil, and Ratigan was included in the Disney Villainous board game, alongside Scar from The Lion King (1994) and Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) in the Evil Comes Prepared expansion pack.
Another thing to mention is that in 2002, there was going to be a Mickey Mouse short in honour of his 75th anniversary that would have featured Basil of Baker Street helping Minnie Mouse find Mickey who has been “mousenapped”. It was to be called The Search for Mickey Mouse and would’ve featured multiple cameos from Disney characters, but was cancelled due to struggles writing an interesting story idea. A live-action remake of The Great Mouse Detective was also rumoured in 2019, however, it was never announced by Disney as being in development, and no progress has been made on it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If it weren’t for The Great Mouse Detective, it’s possible the Disney Animation department would have ceased to exist. After all, it’s not like Disney weren’t aware that they had a huge list of titles that could simply be re-released over and over again, especially as the VHS tape was becoming popular in the 1980s. The directors had a huge part to play in saving Disney animation as Ron Clements and John Musker would be the two to pitch the story and then direct The Little Mermaid (1989), the film that began Disney’s “Renaissance”.
I really like The Great Mouse Detective. It’s one of those Disney films that I watch over and over again, and never tire of. It shows a big turning point in Disney animation after several years of trouble, and it’s a good watch. It’s definitely one of those underrated classics that deserves more attention than it gets. It will always be one of my favourites regardless.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 3 (2014), ‘The Great Mouse Detective: Basil of Baker Street’, pp. 55-65.
[2] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Films (2015), ‘The Great Mouse Detective (1986)’, pp. 76-78.
[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 3 (2014), ‘The Great Mouse Detective: Basil of Baker Street’, pp. 55-65.
[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘In Their Own Words: Glen Keane and Vincent Price on Ratigan’, CartoonResearch.com, 22nd October 2021.
[5] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 3 (2014), ‘The Great Mouse Detective: Basil of Baker Street’, pp. 55-65.
[6] Credit: Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009).
[7] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Films (2015), ‘The Great Mouse Detective (1986)’, pp. 76-78.
[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 3 (2014), ‘The Great Mouse Detective: Basil of Baker Street’, pp. 55-65.
[9] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? Unravel 8 Sneaky Facts from The Great Mouse Detective’, D23 (online), 30th June 2016.
[10] Credit: Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009).
[11] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 3 (2014), ‘The Great Mouse Detective: Basil of Baker Street’, pp. 55-65.
The Disney Purist 