One Man, One Woman, Eight Decades of Disney Animated Features watched in order, and the overly complex system they invented to grade them. These are our thoughts, rants, and observations.

This is Disney By The Numbers.

Okay, it’s done been a while. No good reason for it. Life is just life and sometimes it gets ahead of you. And truth be told, I wasn’t super excited about this review. Not that I think that this is a bad movie, not at all. In fact, if I were to give this review a subtitle it would be “Disney by the Numbers: The Great Mouse Detective (1986): Turning the Corner.”

But that would be quite the mouthful and I’m given to understand brevity is the soul of wit. Which bodes poorly for my long-winded reviews.

So maybe I’ll just cut this intro a bit shorter than usual and let the numbers do the talking.

Storytelling

• Theme 2
  
• Tightness of Script 1.5
  
• Dialogue 1.5
  
• Use of Comedy 1.5
  
• Use of Drama 1.5
  

But where would the fun be in that? I gotta say something don’t I?

The story of The Great Mouse Detective is about a famous detective that lives in 19th century London who uses his amazing powers of deduction to solve crimes. Now I know that you think this sounds exactly like Sherlock Holmes. But it couldn’t be more different, and not only because our detective, Basil, is a mouse, but also…

Okay…. yeah,

It’s just Sherlock Holmes but he’s a mouse. He has a former army doctor just returned from Afghanistan named Dawson, he smokes a pipe, he plays the violin, he uses a magnifying glass. He even lives on Baker Street, right underneath the real Sherlock Holmes.

And this was apparently a thing in the late 70s/early 80s. Entire mice populations that flourish in near exact duplicate civilizations as their human counterparts. We see it here, and in the Rescue Aid Society in The Rescuers.

We even see this phenomenon in Disney’s only real competitor at the time Don Bluth, and the miniature world that Fievel and his family inhabit in An American Tale.

But I digress.

If The Great Mouse Detective is simply a miniature Sherlock Holmes’ story, what can we really say about it as a story?

Well… Is it a particularly great mystery?

Not especially.

We know from pretty much the beginning that our villain is the delightfully wicked Professor Ratigan. We know most of his plan well before Basil figures it out. And the clues aren’t especially clever. All of this makes it sound as though I didn’t enjoy this movie.

However, what the movie lacks in genuine detective mystery, it makes up for in charm, humor, and classic Disney fun. This is especially refreshing considering it came off on the heels of the dismal The Black Cauldron,  which lacked pretty much all of that.

In fact, when watching this film, I kept getting the distinct impression of “almost”. It almost felt like I was watching not a movie that came out of Disney’s dreaded dark age, but rather something more akin to the highly regarded Renaissance.

Almost…

If it almost feels like a true Disney classic, then what’s missing? Well a few things but most noticeably…

Total: 8

Music

• Lyrics 1.5
  
• Score 2
  
• Number of Songs 1
  
• Notoriety of Songs 0
  

Yeah, this is always a sticking point. Disney is defined by music whether we like it or not.

The films that don’t have music almost always seem to lack that intrinsic Disney magic that elevates their films. And in this category, The Great Mouse Detective does better than some of its contemporaries.  Unlike previous films like The Black Cauldron or The Rescuers, it actually has songs sung by the characters.

So what’s the problem then? Why does this count as an almost classic and not a hit?

Well, out of three total songs, only one of them is particularly good, the other is barely present and the last… it’s… well…

Now, apart from inspiring young furries to look at animals the wrong way, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this number. “Let Me Be Good To You” is a nice enough song… but it also has nothing to do with anything. It’s just sort of there. Basil and Dawson go undercover to a pub and… this song happens. It means nothing to the characters of the plot. Also it’s a burlesque number in a kid’s movie.

But thankfully it doesn’t detract from the film’s one great song, “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind.”

Now this can’t be considered the first Disney villain song. That distinction goes to the “Elegant Captain Hook”. Though a strong case could also be made for “The Three Caballeros”.

But while there were villain songs before, Ratigan’s song feels much more like some of the later Disney villain songs like “Poor Unfortunate Souls” or “Gaston”. There’s a certain flair and panache  about it. A song that doesn’t merely inform us about who the villain is, but relishes his dastardly ways.

Of course it doesn’t hurt that it’s sung by the wickedly talented Vincent Price.

Total: 4.5/15

Animation

• Quality of Animation 2
  
• Use Of Color  1.5
  
• House Style 1
  
• Character Design 1.5
  
• Breaks New Ground 1
  

Hey now look at this, the animation score has gone up too!

And it’s with good reason. This is a far cry from the choppy, scratchy animation of movies like The Aristocats and Robin Hood, though interestingly, Disney was still utilizing the xerography method for their animation. They’d just refined it to a point where it became much less noticeable.

But not only that, The Great Mouse Detective is also the first Disney movie to employ large scale computer animation. As with the CGI used later during the Renaissance, it’s mostly used as a gimmick but it’s a small step into what would eventually be the company’s future. And it’s actually used fairly effectively to boot. It comes in one scene at the end to animate the gears of Big Ben.

Obviously, the animators that worked on it at the time could never have guessed that it would have led to the all CGI movies of Pixar, or Blue Sky Studios… or Walt Disney Studios. To paraphrase another movie that  unwittingly kicked off a new age of cinema… the artists might soon find themselves not just out of a job, but extinct.

But for now, the cgi was simply a gimmick to make a scene a tad more dynamic.

The rest of the animation is pretty standard for the day. Though I want to give a shout out to the character design. Not only are they classically looking Disney designs here, but the way the mouse world mirrors the human one is often clever. All in all this is a step up from most of what came before in Disney’s Bronze Age.

Total: 7/15

Love Story

• Character Interaction 3.5
  
• Importance To Overall Plot 1
  
• Complexity 1
  
• Pulls At Heartstrings 1
  
• Overcomes Obstacles 0
  

This is where the score dips just a bit, though this one is a bit more forgivable than most. The Great Mouse Detective is trying very hard to be a Sherlock Holmes mystery. And while those are entertaining stories, their not known for their heart.  That isn’t to say there isn’t any. The entire mystery is based on a daughter trying to reunite with her father who’s been kidnapped by Ratigan. And said kidnapped father only cooperates in creating a robot mouse Queen Victoria….

… because he’s worried about his daughter’s safety.

But that wouldn’t be at the heart of the film. No, by and large the central love story in this film is Basil learning to care for and trust Olivia, the mouse girl looking for her father, and Dawson who by the end of the film enters into the full fledged Holmes/Watson partnership with Basil. And for the most part it works. It’s fun seeing these three together.

So why the lower score? It mostly has to do with the fact that while it’s nice to see these relationships form; Basil has a particularly fun running gag where he keeps getting Olivia’s last name wrong. None of it is especially important to the plot. The story would have turned out essentially the same whether or not Basil decided he cared about these two. It wouldn’t have been as rewarding, but it also wouldn’t have mattered.

But for a Sherlock Holmes’ homage that is actually to be expected.

Total: 6.5/15

Hero

• Sidekick 2
  
• Charm 2
  
• Goodness 1
  
• Emotional Transformation 1
  
• Comedy 1
  

It’s been a while since we had a Disney hero score this high. And given that Basil is a pastiche of Sherlock Holmes, that shouldn’t be entirely unexpected. But seeing that in the 137 years since his debut, Sherlock’s characterization has ranged from the incredibly dry to bombastic it is worth noting how Basil stands out.

Because where most Disney films, particularly up to this point, have relied on the secondary characters for entertainment, there’s no denying that Basil is the one that’s driving most the comedy and fun of this particular picture.

Basil is one of the more animat…. ahem… energetic, Holmes. The writers and animators saw fit to imbue him with an infectious excitement and wit. He even has a bit of flare just to endear him  to the audience a bit more.

To top it off, he also has some of the best lines of the film and one of the most interesting dynamics with his villain of any Disney hero. It’s might be a bit controversial, but one could even go so far as to say that he’s Disney’s best cinematic mouse.

Total 7/10

Villain

• Evilness 2.5
  
• Comedy 1.5
  
• Sophistication 2.5
  
• Henchmen 1
  
• Poses A Threat 2.5

But as much as Basil is an entertaining lead,  he can’t compete… as least as far as our numbers are concerned with… well… I’ll let Basil himself introduce him.

Because while Basil ticks the Disney Hero boxes well enough, Ratigan mashes his Disney villain boxes. He’s at once suave as he is repulsive, sophisticated as he is evil, and in spite of being funny, most definitely carries an air of danger and madness.

All of this, the way he’s written, his character design, and his dastardly plot would have been enough to put Ratigan in the upper echelons of Disney villainy. But, as mentioned in the music section, the producers did us one better and gave us the single greatest voice casting of any Disney movie until 1992.  The one and only Vincent Price

His masterful performance tips Ratigan over the edge. The moment Ratigan comes on screen and starts speaking… you want to see and hear more of this guy.

Luckily the movie delivers and allows Ratigan to steal every scene he’s in. On top of that, they give us this runner of everyone casting doubt as to whether he is a mouse or a rat. This might have been a simple joke at first, but at the very end, when Ratigan’s schemes are foiled by Basil, we get one of the most terrifying villainous transformations as Ratigan goes full crazytown bananapants, revealing himself to be a terrifying, feral rat, complete with claws and insanity.

Of course what may have also played a factor in the Disney Animators bringing their A-game to Ratigan was the fact that they may have been working out some frustration with him. We’ll get more into the external troubles the company was having a bit later, but given what was happening, it’s no small surprise that Ratigan bore a passing resemblance with the then current Disney boss Ron Miller.

But regardless of secret origins, Ratigan is easily the best Disney villain since Prince John and would have remained at the top if you know… the Disney Renaissance didn’t happen. Still, it’s delightful to see Disney put in a 10 effort after so long of not impressing us much.

Total: 10/10

Supporting Characters

• Comedy 1
  
• Inventiveness 1
  
• Clear Help Or Hindrance 1.5
  
• Strength of Relationship with Main Character 1
  

Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the rest of the cast. We’re still at a time when characterization is an either/or proposition in Disney films. It seems either the lead is well developed and fun, or the secondary characters are. It’s rare for it to be both.

This isn’t to say that the secondary characters are bad. Olivia is cute and Dawson is… British… but none of them really shine as brightly as Ratigan or Basil. Dawson in particular isn’t especially impressive. Given that he’s in the “Watson” role that may be expected. He’s Sherlock’s… or rather Basil’s sidekick after all.

But more recent incarnations of Sherlock Holmes from the BBC’s Sherlock or the Robert Downy Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies and even CBS’ Elementary have given us much more developed and nuanced takes on Watson with Martin Freeman, Jude Law, and Lucy Liu.

They’ve proven that Watson doesn’t have to be an overweight, bystander that’s just there to make Sherlock seem smarter.

Dawson unfortunately doesn’t fit that category. He is a welcoming, gentle, presence but he could have been a lot more.

Really the only thing left to say about the ancillary characters is to just point out that it’s impossible for someone that grew up in the 90s and watched Disney Afternoon’s DuckTales to not be thrown in a loop every time Olivia’s father speaks and Scrooge McDuck’s voice comes out.

It’s not bad. It’s just weird.

Total: 4.5/10

Disney Magic and Legacy

• Theme Park Presence 0
  
• Timelessness 1
  
• Impact On Culture 0.5
  
• Scope of Audience 1
  
• Disney Feels (Or Did It Make us Cry?) 0.5

This is another category where The Great Mouse Detective falls a bit short.

The movie actually had strong box office returns but it sort of got lost in the shuffle. Not only  because it came at the tail end of Disney’s Dark Age but also it went up against Don Bluth at the height of his powers and his own animated mouse.

And… yeah, Basil and Ratigan, I love you guys but you’re not competing with this…

Because of this, The Great Mouse Detective isn’t remembered nearly as well as it probably deserves. It certainly doesn’t have any theme park presence, not even in random meet and greets. In many ways it’s a forgotten film. But it’s also one of the most important Disney films because it represents a true turning point. One who’s impact wouldn’t be felt for a few years, which we’ll touch on in our wrap up.

Total: 2/10

Grand Total: 49.5

As we’ve covered in previous reviews. The mid 80s were a particularly troubled time for the Disney Corporation. With increasingly diminishing returns on their films, theme parks that fell short of expectations, and huge managerial shake ups, the company, particularly the animation department needed a win.

The Great Mouse Detective was greenlit by Ron Miller but also saw his ousting and replacement with Michael Eisner. With the previous failure of The Black Cauldron, there was serious talk about shutting down the animation department entirely. The Great Mouse Detective pulled the company back from the brink considering it had a modest budget and high box office sales.

Because of the success of The Great Mouse Detective, Michael Eisner was able to convince the board that they could keep doing animated movies. Not bad for a film that’s often forgotten amongst the great Disney classics.

A few years later The Little Mermaid would herald the opening of the Great Disney Renaissance, but The Great Mouse Detective is when Disney first righted the ship. The next step would be to set a new course, things would turn out alright. So you just have to ask yourself now…