Disney Movie Challenge: The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

Disney Movie Challenge

The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020.

After taking a trip to the fantasy land Prydain in The Black Cauldron, Disney returned to more familiar territory with The Great Mouse Detective. Based on a book which is based on the Sherlock Holmes stories the story feels familiar and yet done differently enough that it feels fresh.  The addition of Vincent Price as the voice of the villain and Henry Mancini first score for an animated film adds a touch of prestige to the film.  

After her father is kidnapped a young mouse, Olivia, seeks out the famous mouse detective Basil on Baker Street.  With the help of her new friend Dr. Dawson,  they convince Basil to take on the case.  He quickly figures out that his arch nemesis Ratigan is behind the kidnapping and it’s part of a master plan to rule England.  Using his detective skills and pseudo science Basil locates Ratigan’s secret lair.  Then begins the race against time if Basil can stop Ratigan before Ratigan has time to fully implement his secret plan.  

Considering the bad rap the Disney’s 80’s movies get this movie was surprisingly good. It has some good action set pieces.  There is a fight in a toy store and the climactic fight in Big Ben. These scenes work really well and have lots of tension and good animation.  The final battle in Big Ben was one of the first major scenes to use computers to help with the animation and you can’t even tell.  Whie the screenplay doesn’t break any new ground it is certainly written well and better than the other pre-renaissance Disney films from the era.  Two of the directors, Ron Clements and John Musker,  would go on and direct several of the Disney Renaissance films including The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules.  So while not part of the Disney Renaissance this is an important film leading up to it.  

I was curious to see how Vincent Price did as a voice actor but he did great.  He has a great menace to his voice that wasn’t too scary but told you he was pure evil.  He also does a pretty good job with the singing.  The rest of the voice cast was spot on.  Everyone did a great job.  Every now and then the voice of the girl's dad sounded like Scrooge McDuck from Duck Tales and turns out they are voiced by the same guy.  A few spots it takes you out of it but for the most part it works.   

There are a few odd scenes in the film.  Ratigan singing about drowning orphans and widows and  constantly feeding mice to a cat is a bit disturbing for a kids movie. There is also a scene where Basil and Dr. Dawson go to a bar in disguise.  There they watch a cabaret show where a mouse sings “Let me be good to you”.  The song written by Henry Mancini is actually good but feels like it belongs in a show like Chicago not a Disney film.  Check out the full clip here https://youtu.be/e2IctxaCPqw.  The scene proved controversial in some countries where the film was given a higher rating and children weren’t allowed to see it.  Disney appealed to the MPAA for a G rating saying since the singer was a mouse it wasn’t inappropriate.  But the scene did delay the release of any home video release.  The first time it got released on VHS was in 1992 and some feel that is one of the reasons it tends to be a more forgotten film.   

Overall: A fun movie that deserves more credit than it gets.  Has some good action and the set pieces in the toy store and at the end in Big Ben are great.  I was always a fan of Sherlock Holmes so maybe that's why I feel an affinity to the movie but I enjoyed watching the movie and am surprised it never did get a sequel.  

Random Facts

Credited with saving Disney’s animation department and made the Disney Renaissance possible.  

Released the same year as Don Bluth’s An American Tale which ended up grossing more money than The Great Mouse Detective. An American Tale would be the highest grossing non Disney Animated Film at the time.  

Basil Rathborne who was known for playing Sherlock Holmes (and was the inspiration for the name of the mouse) is heard in the background in one of the scenes.  The clip is taken from a previously recorded reading of “The Adventure of the Red-Headed League”.  The reading was recorded in 1966 prior to the death of Rathborne.  

Newly elected CEO Michael Eisner slashed the budget by half and so while the film didn’t make huge amounts of money at the box office but because it was made much cheaper it was very profitable. 

Eisner and Katzenberg also ordered rewrites because they felt the initial story was too slow.  

Platoon

For me 1986 will always be remembered for a specific sports moment and not for movies.  I remember watching on that fateful October when Bill Buckner let that ball roll through his legs and the Red Sox lost the World Series.  But 1986 also saw one of the best movies of the 80's released. 

Platoon is about a young soldiers experience in Vietnam.  He starts of as an idealistic recruit and that learns that war is hell.  The two sergeant's that are over represent the good and bad of men.  Chris Taylor(Charlie Sheen) is caught between Sergeant Barnes(Tom Beringer) and Sergeant Elias(Willem Defoe) in a battle of morality.  Elias is the caring Sergeant who takes Taylor under his wing and Barnes is the tough as nails Sergeant who will do anything to get what he wants.  The tension comes to a head after Barnes orders the killing of civilians and Elias threatens to report him. 

The movie is dark and gritty and really shows the horrors of war.  Oliver Stone wrote the movie based on his own experience in Vietnam.  The movie is controversial due to the portrayal of American Troops killing of civilians.  But it really shows how in war there are both good and evil people and war is never pretty.  The tagline for the movie says it all "The first casualty of war is innocence". Also,  the last lines of the movie where Taylor is talking about being born of both Elias and Barnes and how each one fights for control of his soul shows how we take what we need from both the good and bad to make us whole 

The movie won 4  awards besides Best Picture it Won Best Director for Oliver Stone, and Best Editing and Best Sound.  It's actually the ones it lost that are surprising.  It lost best screenplay to Woody Allen who won for Hannah and Her Sisters.  And both Willem Defoe and Tom Beringer lost the Best Supporting Actor to Michael Caine for Hannah and Her Sisters.  It would have been tough to choose between Defoe and Beringer but either one would have been better then Michael Caine. 

Other Oscar Notables:
Marlee Matlin was a suprise win for Children of a Lesser God and at the age of 21 is the youngest person ever to win Best Actress and the only deaf person to win. 
William Hurt was nominated the second of three times in a row for Children of a Lesser God
Probably the oddest nomination was the nomination of Crocodile Dundee for Best Screenplay.
And one my favorite movies of my childhood  Stand By Me was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay based on Stephen Kings novella The Body.