The Great Mouse Detective

Synopsis
Beneath the floors and behind the walls of Sherlock Holmes’ London lived an equally skilled detective, a mouse named Basil. Together with Watson-like assistant Dawson, Basil solved mysteries and foiled the world-dominating plans of the evil Professor Ratigan. This was the premise of Eve Titus’ novel Basil of Baker Street, turned into a Disney animated feature under the title The Great Mouse Detective.

Our story begins in the mousehole workshop of Flaversham, a toymaker. The bespectacled mouse is kidnapped by a peg-legged bat named Fidget, lackey to Ratigan. As part of his devilish plan, the snarling mouse Ratigan (don’t call him a rat) forces the kindly toymaker to create a programmable duplicate of Queen Moustoria, monarch of the rodent world.

Basil and Dawson become aware of the predicament when Flaversham’s cute little daughter Olivia runs into Dawson on the street. Riding atop a friendly hound, the detective and his sidekick track down Ratigan’s lair, facing elaborate traps, criminal cronies and a menacing cat before a thrilling climax inside Big Ben’s gearworks.

The Great Mouse Detective made a step toward Disney animation’s future, incorporating newly-developed computer animation techniques to create intricate backdrops. The film’s most famous sequence, the battle inside Big Ben, was crafted almost entirely on computer, a technique that allowed greater freedom to animators while keeping costs down.

It also helped that The Great Mouse Detective was a lot of fun, a rousing adventure in the animal underworld. The film was a much-needed success after the previous year’s The Black Cauldron, setting the stage for a true Disney comeback three years later, courtesy of a certain little mermaid.

Release History 1986 - The Great Mouse Detective

Sub Categories animated
action/adventure
disney

Studio Disney

Cast

Professor Ratigan		Vincent Price
Basil		Barrie Ingham
Bartholomew		Barrie Ingham
Dawson		Val Bettin
Thug Guard		Val Bettin
Olivia		Susanne Pollatschek
Fidget		Candy Candido
Mrs. Judson		Diana Chesney
The Mouse Queen		Eve Brenner
Hiram Flaversham		Alan Young
Dawson		Laurie Main
Lady Mouse		Shani Wallis
Bar Maid		Ellen Fitzhugh
Citizen		Walker Edmiston
Thug Guard		Walker Edmiston
Thug Guard		Wayne Allwine
Thug Guard		Tony Anselmo
Unknown		Melissa Manchester