Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at The Great Mouse Detective

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a very special entry in our Disney Retrospective that I have entitled Deep Dive Disney. As I mentioned at the end of our last entry, the subject of today’s article is one of my Big 5 Disney films, the five Disney films that I love unconditionally and more than any others. Even Robin Hood, a film that I had nothing but praise for, failed to earn spot within my Big 5. Today, my dear friends, we are looking at one of my absolute favorite Disney films of all time, The Great Mouse Detective. Both this film and the children’s book series it’s adapted from, Basil of Baker Street, are meant to be an homage to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the classic literary detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I love a good Sherlock Holmes mystery so already this bad boy has my name written all over it. Couple that with the fact that it’s loaded to the brim with charming characters, great action scenes and dark and suggestive imagery that makes me wonder how this film got away with its G-rating and we're looking at what's sure to be one hell of a great flick. So, what’s the movie about. Well, we kick off with a little mouse girl named Olivia Flavisham, whose father, a toy maker of considerable talent, has just been kidnapped. With the help of a kindly old soldier named David Q. Dawson, Olivia tracks down Basil of Baker Street, the titular Great Mouse Detective, in the hopes that he’ll help find her father. While at first, the brilliant yet incredibly eccentric Basil isn’t interested in taking the case, when he deduces that the mastermind behind the kidnapping may be none other than Professor Ratigan, Basil’s nemesis and the self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Criminal Mind,” our hero enthusiastically leaps at the opportunity to finally put his long-time foe behind bars. And indeed, Ratigan is hatching his most dastardly scheme yet and only Basil can stand in his way. It’s a film with near unlimited charm and I have been chomping at the bit to discuss it since we started this retrospective so let us waste no further time. The game is afoot and the time has come for us to discuss, The Great Mouse Detective.

Main Character:

I’ll come right out and say it, Basil of Baker Street might be my favorite protagonist in any Disney film to date. He’s pretty much exactly what you want a Sherlock Holmes type to be. Brilliant, eccentric, maybe even a little bit frustrating and emotionally erratic sometimes but still a determined detective and a good person (or mouse as the case may be) who believes in seeing justice done. It’s worth noting that he actually lives in the home of the actual Sherlock Holmes, voice by archival footage of the greatest Holmes of all time, Basil Rathbone. That’s right, I said it. Suck it Cumberbatch! My point being, while it’s never explicitly stated, one can’t help but wonder if it was Holmes himself that inspired Basil to take up the magnifying glass. If this is the case, it would actually make Basil a tribute to Sherlock Holmes both in and out of the universe of the film. That’s actually pretty cool when you think about it. I absolutely love Basil’s wild manic energy. The idea of a new challenge doesn’t just excite him, it absolutely enraptures him, and his near unlimited enthusiasm is always a lot of fun to watch. There are points in the movie where you genuinely believe that Basil really is out of his mind and seeing the other characters react to his antics is usually good for a laugh. You actually get this sense that Basil is every bit as nuts as Ratigan but unlike his rival, is held back by morality. Still, as crazy as Basil may be, he’s also an exceedingly brilliant detective, able to size people up with a single glance, much like his human counterpart. There’s even this one bit where Ratigan has him in this ridiculously elaborate death trap and Basil is able to calculate the exact motions to make and when exactly to make them in order to avoid getting killed. He even has enough time to change his clothes and pose for a picture. Basil of Baker Street is a credit to the character that inspired him and a great character in his own right and I’m pleased to say that he remains one of my favorite Disney protagonists of all time.

Villain:

As great as Basil is, any Sherlock Holmes worth his salt is nothing without a Professor James Moriarty to challenge him. In The Great Mouse Detective, that role is filled by the wonderfully despicable and deliciously insane Professor Ratigan. As many of you may recall, this whole Disney rabbit hole I find myself descending ever deeper into all started when I posted my countdown of the Top 20 greatest Disney Villains of all time. You may also recall that Ratigan here managed to claw all the way up to the number two spot, and would have made it all the way to the top if not for… well, we’ll talk about Frollo when we get there (believe me, there’s a lot to say). My point is, Ratigan is simply one of the greatest villains that Disney has ever produced. As a criminal mastermind, Ratigan is gleefully proud of every despicable deed he’s committed, including the drowning of innocent widows and orphans. Yikes! A lot of what makes Ratigan work so well is his voice actor, the legendary Vincent Price. If you don’t know who Vincent Price is, shame on you! Vincent Price is one of the greatest horror movie icons who ever lived, known for such iconic films as The Pit and The Pendulum and House of Wax. Remember that evil laugh at the end of Michael Jackson’s thriller? That was also Vincent Price, and he is PERFECT for a psychotic criminal genius like Ratigan. Watching Ratigan absolutely devour the scenery with every deliciously evil word that oozes from Ratigans twisted mouth is just an utter delight. Combine that with the whole widows and orphans thing and Ratigan is one sick sewer rat, or rather, large mouse. Yeah, the R-word is kind of a no-no when it comes to Ratigan. Anyone who calls him a rat gets fed to Ratigan’s vicious pet cat Felicia, a threat that Ratigan uses to keep his minions in line. Much like his Nemesis, Ratigan is just as brilliant as he is crazy. It’s made clear from the start that while Basil may foil his schemes on occasion, Ratigan is still always one step ahead of his rival and manages to avoid capture every time, frustrating Basil to no end. There’s this one great part of the film where Basil finally tracks Ratigan to his hideout. So sure was Ratigan that Basil would find him, he actually sets up a welcome banner for him and chastises when he arrives fifteen minutes later than expected. This actually leads to my favorite exchange in the entire film. Basil says “Ratigan, no one can have a higher opinion or you than I have, and I think you’re a slimy, contemptable sewer rat.” Ratigan doesn’t even respond, he just pauses before closing his pocket watch but does it in a way that’s both hilarious and unsettling. One of my favorite things about Ratigan is how he tries to keep a calm, gentlemanly demeanor but is still barely able to contain the blood hungry monster that’s just beneath the surface trying to get out. He always looks like he’s on the verge of snapping any second. When Basil foils his scheme to replace the queen with a robotic duplicate and have the robot name him king, Ratigan finally cracks, allowing that monster within to take complete control and it’s downright terrifying. So terrifying in fact that I’ve opted to wait until we get to the Dark Disney Factor section to discuss it. In any case, Ratigan is one of the best things about an already incredible movie and he’s easily one of the greatest Disney Villains of all time.

Side Characters:

We may as well start with Dr. David Q. Dawson, the John Watson to Basil’s Sherlock Holmes. Dawson, who serves as the film’s narrator, a role his human counterpart would often fill, is a great character and actually reminds me a lot of Nigel Bruce’s Watson, Bruce having portrayed the character alongside the aforementioned Basil Rathbone. Like the classic Watson, he’s a former soldier, which kind of makes me wonder what kind of wars these mice are even fighting? Was there a Mouse World War II? A Mouse Vietnam? These are the hard-hitting questions people! In any case, right off the bat we see that Dawson is good guy, demonstrated by how he immediately agrees to help Olivia find Basil and sticks around to help with the case even though there’s really nothing in it for him. Along the way, Basil and Dawson really do form a great team. I appreciate how Dawson’s altruism and sense of humanity (for lack of a better term) tends to keep the more manic Basil grounded. I especially like how there’s no big moment where Basil asks Dawson to stay with him at the end. Basil just kind of decides that he and Dawson are partners now and Dawson just kind of rolls with it. It’s actually kind of a nice moment.

I want to give a brief mention of Mr. Flavisham the toy maker, not because he’s a prominently featured character or anything, I just wanted to give a shoutout to the late great Alan Young, better known as Scrooge McDuck. That dude was awesome and I’m glad I finally got a chance to highlight his incredible voice talent.

Finally there’s the adorable Olivia Flavisham. There’s not that much to Olivia, she’s just this cute little kid who gets kidnapped halfway through the film, but I enjoy the character nonetheless. The actress who plays her gives her this really cute voice and the way she plays off Basil and Dawson is a lot of fun. There’s actually this great running gag where Basil can never remember her name and is dismissive when she corrects him. There’s this absolutely wonderful moment at the end where Olivia says goodbye to Basil and you think he’s going to finally get it right and it’s going to be this really sweet moment but he still gets it wrong and it’s hilarious.

Songs:

There aren’t too many songs in in this movie, but the ones we get are a ton of fun. We may as well start with my personal favorite, The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind, Ratigan’s song. This song is a great introduction to Ratigan and what he’s all about. He sings about how proud he is of his evil deeds, he takes a moment to discuss how much he can’t stand Basil, he stops mid-song to murder one of his henchmen and then gets right back to a gleeful celebration of how delightfully wicked he is. The whole thing adds up to one of the most enjoyable and upbeat songs about child murder I’ve ever heard. The other song worth mentioning is called Let Me Be Good To You. The song is fine, but the actual scene is a whole different story because the song is sung by, and I’m not kidding, a stripper mouse. The song is incredibly suggestive and the whole time all the characters watching, including Dawson, are getting shit-faced drunk while this stripper mouse shakes her ass in a flapper dress. I feel compelled to ask, how, in the blue hell, is this movie rated G?

Memorable Scenes:

Probably my favorite scene in the movie, or at least my favorite that isn’t covered under the Dark Disney Factor, is actually the first time we see Basil. It pretty much tells us everything we need to know about him, specifically, that’s he’s completely insane. It starts with Basil barging into the room dressed like such a ridiculously over the top Asian stereotype that I’m astounded that it didn’t warrant the dreaded Disney+ racism warning. By the way, at no point do we ever learn why Basil is wearing this outfit and I’m honestly not sure I want to know. Basil then proceeds to practically bounce around the room like Tigger on a cocaine binge, all while waving around a loaded revolver and conducting some sort of elaborate laboratory experiment that only seems to make sense with him. He then proves his mastery of deduction by telling Watson his entire life story, even managing to slip in his human counterpart’s elementary catchphrase before firing his gun into a stack pillows without warning. This scene is amazing and exact sort of introduction a character like Basil deserves. With all of Basil’s excess of personality, he’s almost like a tornado blowing through the room and those who aren’t prepared for him are just standing there struggling to keep up. I love it.

Story:

The film is meant to be a send-up to the classic Sherlock Holmes mysteries and, surprise surprise, it feels like a Sherlock Holmes mystery and a damn good one at that. Much like The Rescuers, I’m honestly shocked that Disney never tapped this one for a sequel or an animated series. Afterall, Dawson’s narration suggests that he and Basil had many adventures together after the events of this film. How awesome would it have been if we actually got to see those? Hell, we could have adapted some classic Holmes mysteries or introduced more mouse counterparts to classic Holmes characters like Irene Adler or Mycroft Holmes. Hell, they could even have brought Ratigan back. We never saw his body after he fell from Big Ben so it’s plausible that he may have survived. There’s untapped potential here that sadly we may never see fully realized. Oh well, the film still stands on its own just fine, it's one of my Big 5 for a reason after all but I’m always going to wonder what could have been.

The Dark Disney Factor:

Oh boy, here we go! The Dark Disney Factor is all over this bad boy. Creepy imagery, excessive violence, terrifying robots, blatant murder, drug and alcohol references, elaborate death traps and of course, the aforementioned stripper mouse. There’s so much dark stuff, creepy or suggestive in this movie that I couldn’t possibly discuss all of it. I’ll just do my best to hit the highlights.

There’s this one scene early on where Basil tracks Ratigan’s henchman, Fidget the One-Legged Bat, who is himself pretty creepy, into this old toy store and the scenery is all dark and there’s creepy dolls, clowns and puppets everywhere. Credit to the background artists for making this imagery as spooky as humanly possible. There’s this one part where some of the clockwork figures get set off, and at first it seems mostly harmless but then Fidget uses the distraction to strike and suddenly all the toys are going haywire and Basil and Dawson have to fight for their lives. It’s actually pretty creative as well as a little frightening.

Speaking of creepy clockwork figures, the robotic duplicate of the mouse queen always creeped me the hell out. Something about the way it moves around just feels off and the constant sputtering sounds it makes are very unsettling. There were times when I watched this movie as a kid when I couldn’t even look when that thing was on the screen. Even now, it’s pretty unsettling and I keep expecting it to jump out at the screen like a Five Fights at Freddy’s character.

But all of that is small potatoes compared to this movie’s grand finale. I stand by what I said about The Fox & The Hound, but this climax gives that one a run for its money. It all starts when Ratigan, his plan already having been foiled by Basil, grabs Olivia, leading to a pretty fun balloon chase through the skies of London which culminates in Ratigan and Basil crashing through Big Ben. I absolutely love the way this scene starts out. There’s no music and all you can here is the ticking of the clock and the enormous gears make for a great environment for a final battle. There was this one especially tense moment where you think Olivia is going to be crushed but she’s saved at the absolute last minute by Basil. As Ratigan watches Basil flee, he finally snaps completely. The camera shakes as it zooms in on Ratigan’s eyes, filled with immeasurable rage. Up until this point Ratigan had been a very threatening but still pretty comedic villain but after this, that blood hungry monster we’ve seen Ratigan barely hold back throughout the film is now fully unleashed and it’s downright terrifying. As Basil gets Olivia to safety, a now Feral Ratigan tackles his rival and they end up on the hands of Big Ben. It’s here where Ratigan proceeds to beat the hell out of the much smaller Basil and it’s surprisingly violent for a kid’s movie. I think it’s the sounds Basil makes as Ratigan is slowly clawing him to shreds that are the most unsettling. There’s this brief moment when you think Basil is dead and Ratigan squeals with delight over vanquishing his nemesis. Fortunatley Basil is okay and the toll of the bells causes Ratigan to lose his balance and fall, supposedly to his death. It’s an amazing scene with effective tension and a horrifying final boss. It’s everything that this movie and these great characters deserved and I absolutely loved it.

Final Thoughts:

I adore this movie. It’s got great action, great characters, a hero and a villain who rank among the best in Disney’s history, a fun story, an amazing final battle and so much more in between. I love this movie with all my heart and I relish any opportunity to relive it. The film is a credit to the Sherlock Holmes stories that inspired it as well an amazing work in its own right and I had an absolute blast gushing over it in this article. I’m in such a good mood after this one that I’d like to keep the good times rolling. To that end, I have a special treat in store for you guys. Next time we’ll be deviating from the animated Disney canon to cover our first live action film of the retrospective, and much like this film, the subject of our next also happens to be one of my personal favorites. So, join me next time when Deep Dive Disney asks a very important question: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?