The Great Mouse Detective
When the diabolical Professor Ratigan kidnaps London's master toymaker, the brilliant master of disguise Basil of Baker Street and his trusted sidekick Dawson try to elude the ultimate trap and foil the perfect crime.
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- Cast：
- Barrie Ingham , Val Bettin , Vincent Price , Candy Candido , Eve Brenner , Alan Young , Basil Rathbone
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Reviews
Fantastic!
Absolutely brilliant
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
The acting in this movie is really good.
First off, give credits to where they are due: Basil and Professor Ratigan (Oh, Ratigan. Oh, Ratigan) are very entertaining characters voiced perfectly by Barrie Ingham and Vincent Price, respectively.Second, I'd like to praise the film's animation. Considering its a 1980s film, the animation is mostly not outdated.Lastly, I'd like to say that "The Great Mouse Detective" is very entertaining. It's fun from start to end, mostly thanks to the characters whom I cared for. I cared for them so much, I found myself cheering for them at a certain scene in the movie. (I never thought I'd cheer for them, but I did!).THIS IS A MUST SEE ENTERTAINING FILM!
A Disney cartoon which retells the exploits of Sherlock Holmes...as a mouse? It's fair to say that it's the type of premise that doesn't really get me very excited - I despise Disney movies on the whole - but nonetheless the starring voice performance of one Vincent Price, who described this as one of his favourite roles, got me watching it anyway.And if I'm honest, I only watched this for Price. He gets plenty of screen time and even sings a little along the way. Plus, he puts on an different voice too, so only occasionally do you hear flashes of the famous voice we all know and love. Price is melodramatic, flamboyant, and a lot of fun. I don't think this production as a whole would have been the same without him.Elsewhere, we get the usual Disney type production: lots of action, derring-do, and professional animation. Barrie Ingham's lead manages to successfully capture some of the qualities of the literary Holmes, so you could do worse.
No doubt one of Disney's lesser works, but still a fun ride... With lots of cute critters engaging in a surprising amount of drinking and gunplay, not to mention Vincent Price as the nefarious Professor Ratigan (just don't call him a rat).Ever-so-slightly inspired by Sherlock Holmes, there's also a great climax on board Big Ben, an inventor voiced by the same dude who does Scrooge McDuck, and even an appearance from Basil's loyal assistant Dawson! (Not a typo).So, despite what the packaging would have you believe, NOT a classic, but is it worth watching?Elementary, my dear reader. 6/10
The animation for this particular Disney outing, in my opinion, is a bit sub-par. In fact I do recall the film getting less than stellar reviews for that very aspect.In fact the animation was so sub-par (for a Disney film at least) that I had a hard time concentrating on the story. As a comparison, Dumbo, the two Rescuers films, and even the Aristcats are visually interesting with very dynamic characters. But this film is fairly difficult to watch because of a lack of artistry on the part of the Disney studios. It quite literally looks like Don Bluth was hired with a skeleton cast to make this production come off the ground.I like the fact that our main character is named after the quintessential actor who played the famous Sleuth of 221 B-Baker street, and the Sherlock Holmes parallels, but the production values for this Disney offering are not up to what we expect from the worlds most famous, well respected, and beloved animation studio.I love Disney films; live action and animation alike. But this particular film falls a little short of my expectations. Even with the then new assistance of computer aided animation to contrive the gears of Big Ben (the Clock Tower), the film still feels dreary and somewhat static.Having made all these criticisms, I can't really say it was a bad film, just not really up to snuff for a Disney production. I think if mister Walter Disney were alive when this film was in production, he might have folded his arms and tapped his foot in impatience with the animation crew working on this film.But that's just my take. If you want Sherlock Holmes on your TV or computer screen, then please rent or buy one of the great British films staring Basil Rathbone as the world's most famous sleuth.I really hate to say this, because I do love Disney films, but I think I would avoid The Great Mouse Detective.
