The Walt Disney Animation studios had hit rock bottom. To quote former studio president Peter Schneider:"I could do no worse than The Black Cauldron. You can't fall off the first floor"
So the animation studio still had a lot to answer for and not enough time to perfectly answer their questions. They needed to build a foundation, like Walt had done. Only this time, animation was the only department of the Walt Disney Company in danger of being shut down. They needed a charming story and a witty but loveable lead character to guide their story. Enter Basil of Baker Street, otherwise known as The Great Mouse Detective. The film is just what Disney needed and kept their run of animated films going into the renaissance just three years down the line.
Plot: Mouse toymaker Hiram Flaversham is kidnapped from his home, leaving his daughter Olivia parentless in grim toned London, 1876. Olivia goes out in search of the famed "Basil of Baker Street", a Sherlock Holmes-esque detective who has solved many baffling disappearances. Basil, along with Dr. Dawson, discovers that Flaversham had been kidnapped by Basil's arch nemesis, Professor Ratigan. Ratigan seeks to use Flaversham's toy-making abilities to create an exact replica of the Queen of England and use it to take over the country. The mystery will take all of Basil's whit, all of his cunning, and a bit of Disney Magic to solve, and stop the evil rat before it's too late.
What's Bad?: After The Black Cauldron lost over $22 million dollars at the box office, Studio Chief Jeffery Katzenberg severely tightened the purse strings on poor Basil's story. It, along with successors Oliver and Company and The Rescuers Down Under, were held to budgets well under the cost to produce a quality Disney film, and it really shows in this one. The animation is still pretty to look at, and the film does takes advantage of it's low budget to create a dark and dreary London for the film, but it wasn't as fun to look at as The Black Cauldron was.
What's Good?: Despite it's technical shortcomings, The Great Mouse Detective plays host to one of Disney's greatest Hero-Villain conflicts in the studios history. Barrie Ingham's performance as the egotistical yet kindhearted Basil is just perfect. Basil is a highly intelligent mouse with an aptitude for outfoxing his foes with his superior wit. Though initially annoyed and frustrated with both Dawson and Olivia, he grows to care for both of them, even showing legitimate sympathy when Dawson is distraught after losing Olivia.
In one of his greatest performances, Vincent Price plays the wickedly delightful Professor Ratigan, a role which he described as one of his all time favorites. Ratigan is one of the best Disney Villains of all time and the studios best effort since Shere Khan. Ratigan despises Basil with such a passionate hatred, that sometimes, you do feel for him. Both he and Basil have such flawless on screen chemistry, that it makes me wonder if the Flavershams were just thrown in because they needed them for the plot.
The film is also a pioneer for computer animation, being the first animated film to use computers to create an environment, in this case, the gears in Big Ben.
Overall: The film laid down the concrete foundation of the Disney Renaissance and is a definite deserving recipient of it's "A Walt Disney Classic" title. While the film does have a few technical issues, the characters more than make up for it. Go out and see this film, guys. It is a winner.
Report Card
Hero: A
Heroine: B
Villain: A+
Side Characters: B+
Songs: B-
Musical Score: A-
Animation: B
Special Effects: A-
Themes: B
Story: A
Final Grade: A-
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