The Great Mouse Detective

Disney unleashes a mousey minor masterpiece. [02 July 1986, p.C5]

What it all comes down to is the basic question: Is this just a movie for children? Not really. It's more a movie for the childlike--of any age. [02 July 1986, p.3C]

The genuinely witty and endearing Disney animation that everyone forgets.

The Great Mouse Detective is destined to be a classic -- not just for the old-time quality of the animation, but for its general superiority over such recent Disney efforts as The Black Cauldron. [16 July 1986, p.D4]

The engaging characters play out the action against elegantly designed backgrounds. The story is genuinely exciting, a well-told tale that is entertaining to both children and adults without compromising the expectations of either group. The voices are perfectly cast, particulary Price as the evil Ratigan.

The Great Mouse Detective reflects the energy and enthusiasm of a talented group of young artists stretching their wings for the first time. That group has gone on to produce some truly extraordinary work, win awards and earn sums no one believed could be made from an animated film. And, as has often been the case at Disney, it all began with a mouse.

Mouse Detective, though, just tries to get by with nothing more than the novelty of having rodents play detective, and then pulls the rug out from under it by showing, however briefly, the human Holmes and Watson.

After the disappointment of the forgettable Disney classic The Black Cauldron Disney has some interesting ideas for the next feature film Basil The Great Mouse Detective aka The Great Mouse Detective. It's about the Sherlock Holmes story where Basil and Dawson had to find Olivia's father from the evil villain voiced by the famous Vincent Price. The chase scenes are a lot of fun just like from the other Disney classics. There's even some scary scenes of a bat in it much like in The Black Cauldron, it is one of the darkest feature films ever. The animation and characters are great, my favorite character is Basil and and the animation is good as well but for the clock tower, the animators are computer animation to make it look like you're inside the big ben. If anyone's a huge Vincent Price fan, I guess this is a Disney classic for you.

The Great Mouse Detective is an underrated gem in the Disney canon. Clever writing, excellent characters, and a pitch-perfect villain elevate this beyond its modest reputation. It’s brisk, inventive, and endlessly rewatchable. Sherlock Holmes never looked so good in a waistcoat.

Very Clever Considering how disappointing and forgettable The Black Cauldron was, The Great Mouse Detective was exactly the kind of Disney movie we needed back in 1986.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This movie just passes as your average animated action movie, doesn't pass on its own merits. It's not nearly as good as I remember it from my childhood. The primary problem is that this is supposed to be a Sherlock Holmes style mystery but it is not presented as a mystery. Rather it's presented as an action/adventure movie. There's no suspense or mystery to it because we know all along what happened to Olivia's father, who did it, why they did it, and what they want. It's shown to us very early on. There's no riddle to solve here and everything that comes out of Basil's mouth sounds like a bunch of clairvoyant woowoo nonsense because they stretch the limits of what can conceivably be derived from observation and deduction, breaking the suspension of disbelief. It could be an educational movie that teaches kids how to solve mysteries, riddles, or use deduction, but it doesn't do any of that. And before you go saying "but it IS a kid's movie, aren't you being too harsh?" No. Zootopia is a kid's movie. Harry Potter movies are kid's movies, and they have at least basic mysteries that can be explored and discovered by the viewers as the protagonists understand and learn more, not from an omniscient view where there's no riddle to solve because we already see what's happening on the villain's side. What are the positives of this film? Maybe some nostalgia fodder. Fun characters for the furries and those who like talking animal movies. Maybe one or two jokes that give a giggle. It's a bit overlong for what it is, and I love talking animal movies in general, so... Eh. Even the Rescuers movies are a better mystery than this, and this one's modeled after THE great mystery hero Sherlock Holmes. Doesn't do the genre justice. Most of the points I even give this review are for Ratigan's theme song. That's a rare moment of joy in an otherwise tepid movie. He's an underrated Disney villain and you can tell some of his animations were recycled from the ending fight sequences into the ending fight sequences of Beauty and the Beast. The scene glows when Ratigan is on, but I think it's a problem to have a villain who is much more interesting than the protagonist. Basil comes off as easy to give up, ****, and can't be bothered. Ratigan by contrast has a sort of deranged charisma and humorous silliness.