The Great Mouse Detective

"The Great Mouse Detective" has got to be one of the darkest of Disney`s movies. I didn`t see the entire movie untill recently, and I liked it as a different Disney-movie. The setting is brilliant. London in the 19th century is very atmospheric, and Disney`s animation makes it look good. The villains are great, and I used to think that Ratigan was a quite scary character. He is still good. It is indeed a watchable movie, and you should see this instead of "Pocahontas" and "Tarzan". 8/10

Under-appreciated is the best way to describe "The Great Mouse Detective" because you never hear mention of this movie. "Renaissance" this and "Classic Disney" that, but never this one. And it's a shame really, since this is a fun, well put-together flick. There's life to the animation (for a story told from a mouse's level, it's pretty good-looking), it makes good use of early CGI, and I really like the new spin on the subject matter while paying respect to earlier Sherlock Holmes adaptations. This is a real treat; good characters, dastardly plot and an outsized adventure. 7/10

After the big disapointments of the early Don Bluth movies (Brisby, Fievel), i watched this one on my TV now 34 years later i have seen on screen as a teen and the (Disney) magic is still working. I'm a french however i have a BIG soft spot for Britain. Maybe my family has an English ancestor during the Hundred Years War because our roots are close to the frontier in Périgord! Anyway i don't like the Brigades du Titre but Sherlock Holmes speaks to me. III Republique smells naphtaline while Queen Victoria impresses. So here, i was at once gripped. Unlike todays animation, the art is excellent with foggy London, cobbled streets, ... The characters are totally cool: Basil uses his intellect not his biceps, Ratigan is a baroque vilain and his acolyte looks like a gremlin, and Olivia is a courageous daughter, one of the best toon ever animated. So this a Disney movie that stays true to the basic: feelings made by paper and i recommend it a lot!

Very enjoyable Disney cartoon has Basil of Baker Street (equal to our own Sherlock Holmes) as a mouse on the trail of a missing mouse's toymaker father. Quite scary at times for the little ones, but this is a surprisingly excellent modern-day Disney film with some good animation, good ideas, good execution, catchy songs, a grand finale worthy of applause, and some fine in-jokes for the older audience members who have some knowledge of Holmes's tales. **** 1/2 / *****

I enjoy this film for one main thing, besides the attention to detail concerning Victorian England...the performance of Vincent Price as Ratigan in his scenery-chewing glory. Yes, it's another mice-beneath-your-feet story, but it's so well done. Holmesians will enjoy it's inside jokes and references to other works about the famous fictional sleuth. Fans of "Ducktales" may note that Alan Young, the voice of toymaker Hiram Flaversham, parlayed his near-perfect Scottish accent into being appointed the official voice of Scrooge McDuck. But it's Vincent Price in what he later called one of his most favorite roles ever (He even had two original songs written for him!) that draws me back to this film again and again. He clearly enjoyed this role, and the exaggerated movements of Ratigan are obviously his. An oddly gothic cartoon from Disney, and well worth viewing.