My Review of The Great Mouse Detective · 10:49pm Oct 15th, 2021
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, everyone. This is Mr. J back with another movie review for today’s Disney Friday. We will now take a look at yet another one of Disney’s classic animated films from the 1900s specifically from 1986: The Great Mouse Detective. Honestly, I actually didn’t grow up watching this film like I had with multiple other Disney films (mostly from the Disney Renaissance). The first time I watched this film was somewhere around two or three years ago when I was first introduced to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. After my first viewing of the film, I thought it was entertaining which made me want to watch it again some other time. So far, I’ve watched this movie about two or three times.
Yeah, I know, it’s not as highly rewatchable as other movies which I love a lot more, but this movie was still very fun to watch. Actually, I enjoyed this slightly less than how I enjoyed watching Oliver and Company.
First off, the animation was well-made although it doesn’t hold up as much in today’s world. Nonetheless, I liked this animation style and every character design. The soundtrack was sort of decent too.
The story was very interesting to say the least. Here we have the mouse detective named Basil who is searching for clues in regards to the kidnapping of the little girl’s father. The mystery leads up to the revelation that Professor Ratigan, Basil’s archenemy, has an evil plan to take over Mousedom and rule as its king. It is up to Basil and his allies to stop him and rescue the girl’s father.
Basil was... an okay character. I didn’t really like his egotistical, self-absorbed attitude, and the character chemistry between him and Dawson was somewhat dull and average at best. I mean, both of them were kinda funny in some ways, but they weren’t really that interesting to me.
However, I really enjoyed what the film had done with Ratigan. He is by far the best character in this whole movie!
Vincent Price (RIP) sounded like he had so much fun and joy in voicing this wonderfully-made antagonist. His character was not just entertaining but he had the charisma, hamminess, and that unpredictable personality which made him so fun as a villain. One moment, he has that normal smile that gives you a false sense of security; the next moment, he has a short temper and a glare dagger that says he’s going to kill you in the worst way possible. They wrote him very well.
Fidget was a very fun character too. Every time he was on screen and makes those weird noises or every time he messes up, I would chuckle at his misfortune. I dunno why but it’s kinda hard to take him seriously. Not in a bad way though.
The voice acting was very good, the writing was solid for the most part, but most of the other characters were more forgettable than memorable. The only characters I enjoyed the most were Ratigan, Fidget, Felicia (because I love cats and she was adorable), and that lizard guy from Alice in Wonderland who for some reason is one of Ratigan’s henchmen. You can’t tell me he isn’t the same guy. I see what you did there, Disney.
Overall, The Great Mouse Detective was definitely an entertaining Disney film, but I probably won’t watch it again in a few years. So I will only give this a 7/10.
Peace.
Personally, I thought this movie signified a great start back for Disney considering the 70s and early 80s were troubling times for them.
And I agree with you on this. Ratigan was an awesome antagonist, and Vincent Price killed it in the role. As a matter of fact, this movie was the farthest I ever got in terms of films starring Price, and I don’t think I ever would’ve heard of him if not for this movie.
This movie is one of my favourites. I always borrowed this movie from the library as a child.
The plot? Fascinating and interesting. The characters? Great! I actually loved Basil. He isn´t perfect but he´s also good hearted, intelligent and funny. Dawson, Olivia and his father were pretty cute. I´ll say that this is my favourite depiction of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Their relationship is the most humane, because in other adaptations, Sherlock is a sociopath (then again, that´s how the original character was written).
Ratigan is one of, if not the most, underrated Disney villains and general animation in general. He´s calm and smooth but also a beast. I feel bad for Fidget, though.
I wanted to ask you, do you have a cat? Because I do
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No, I don’t.