Common Sense Note
Parents should know that kids will see a barroom brawl and a final showdown between Basil and Ratigan featuring a duel, but both are depicted in a benign and cartoonish manner.
Families can talk about why people like to watch shows about detectives solving crimes. Do you feel good when the detective figures out the mystery? Do you like trying to figure it out first? Does it feel good to know that the mystery will be solved at the end of the show?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Michael Scheinfeld
The game is afoot in THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE, a charming Disney cartoon about a Sherlock Holmes-like mouse. Co-directed by two of the animators who would go on to make The Little Mermaid, it's an enjoyable movie featuring a cute story and the voice talent of the legendary Vincent Price.
In 1897 London, toy-maker mouse Flaversham is kidnapped by a peg-legged bat. His daughter Olivia seeks the help of the famed mouse detective, Basil of Baker Street, and his trusty assistant, Dr. Dawson. Basil soon discovers that his archenemy, the evil Professor Ratigan, engineered the kidnapping as part of his nefarious plan to do away with the Mouse Queen, put a mechanical dummy in her place and seize the reins of power.
The clues lead Basil and Dawson on a thrilling adventure around London, from a waterfront hang-out to Ratigan's underground sewer lair. The story climaxes with a spectacular chase as the duo pursue Ratigan in his getaway balloon and finally defeat him after a duel inside Big Ben.
Produced three years before The Little Mermaid put the Disney people back on the map, this film is an often overlooked, but it's a highly entertaining cartoon in its own right.
Made by a combination of veteran Disney animators and newcomers who would lead the studio into the future, the movie stands as a bridge between the two schools. The literate setting and old-fashioned values of story and character are pleasingly augmented with exciting action sequences. Similarly, the animation is an accomplished blend of traditional techniques -- vividly rendering London's rainy, cobblestone-street atmosphere -- with stylized computer-assisted segments for the dizzying climactic balloon chase and battle inside the famous Big Ben clock tower.
The plot hews closely to typical Sherlock Holmes stories (Basil even plays the violin and exclaims "Elementary, my dear Dawson") and there is one lovely touch that will appeal particularly to adult movie fans. When we see the silhouette of the real Holmes for a second (who lives upstairs from Basil), his voice is provided by none other than Basil Rathbone -- who played Holmes in a series of classic 1940s movies. Vincent Price is delightfully hammy as the dastardly Ratigan, and he even sings at one point.
Fans of this movie will also enjoy An American Tail, The Rescuers, and the views of old London in Mary Poppins.
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