Review: The Great Mouse Detective (DMC #80)
“Smile everyone!” Last night we watched The Great Mouse Detective, the 80th film in our Disnerd Movie Challenge. It was so fun getting back to one of the animated movies we remember from our childhood! If, unlike us, you’ve never seen this one before, we’ve included a synopsis below. The rest of you, skip ahead to our review!
Synopsis
In 1897 London, on the eve of the queen’s diamond jubilee, a young mouse named Olivia Flaversham is with her father in his toy shop, Flaversham’s Toys, when a bat with a broken wing and a peg leg approaches from outside and tries to break in. Flaversham tells Olivia to hide in a cabinet, and she watches through the crack as her father is abducted by the bat. In another part of town, a mouse named Dr. David Q. Dawson, formerly of the queen’s 66th regiment in Afghanistan, arrives by coach to begin searching for work. He doesn’t get very far before he discovers Olivia crying inside an old boot. Dr. Dawson comforts Olivia, who reveals she’s trying to find Basil of Baker Street in hopes that he’ll help her find her father. Dr. Dawson admits he doesn’t know Basil, but he knows where Baker Street is and he offers to help. Basil, it turns out, lives beneath the home of the renowned Sherlock Holmes. When Dr. Dawson and Olivia reach the door, Basil’s maid, Mrs. Judson, greets them and invites them inside to wait for Basil to return. Moments later, Basil bursts in wearing an oriental disguise and introduces himself. He ignores Olivia and Dr. Dawson’s attempts to share Olivia’s plight as he hurries about the room, shooting a bullet into a pile of pillows and extracting the bullet to compare with another. The bullets don’t match, however, leaving Basil at another dead end. When Olivia is finally able to get Basil’s attention, she tells him about the bat that kidnapped her father. The bat gets Basil’s attention—he knows this bat as Fidget, one of Ratigan’s lackeys. Basil has been trying to capture Ratigan, but Ratigan has eluded him at every turn. Meanwhile, at Ratigan’s hideout, Flaversham is being forced to construct a robot for Ratigan’s plan. When Flaversham rebels and tries to sabotage the robot, Ratigan threatens to harm Olivia and Flaversham reluctantly returns to work. Ratigan leaves Flaversham and gives Fidget a list of items to acquire: tools, gears, girl (meaning Olivia), and uniforms. Ratigan and his minions then celebrate his upcoming crime—he’s planning to kidnap the queen at her diamond jubilee celebration. His minions sing his praises, but when one mouse drunkenly calls Ratigan a rat, Ratigan insists he’s not a rat and retaliates by ringing a bell to summon a large cat named Felicia to eat the offending mouse.
Back at Basil’s, Basil is trying to determine what Ratigan would want with a toy maker when Fidget appears outside the window. Though Basil and Dr. Dawson rush out to apprehend the bat, the bat runs off, leaving behind a trail of muddy footprints and his hat. Basil runs back inside and prepares to leave to chase down the bat. Olivia insists she’s coming with them, despite Basil’s objections. Upstairs in Sherlock’s home, Basil calls for a dog named Toby. Toby sniffs Fidget’s hat and catches the scent, running off after the bat with Basil, Dr. Dawson, and Olivia in tow. As they run through the streets of London, Fidget steals uniforms off of toy soldiers in a human-sized toy shop. He panics when he hears Toby’s howl and drops his list. Toby drops off Basil, Dr. Dawson, and Olivia at the toy shop and the three mice sneak inside to search for Fidget. They discover the toy soldiers with no uniforms, toys that are missing their gears, and Dr. Dawson finds Fidget’s abandoned list. However, before Dr. Dawson can share his discovery, all the wind-up toys in the shop begin to move. Fidget uses the distraction to kidnap Olivia, leaving Basil and Dr. Dawson behind in a heap of toys. Dr. Dawson rediscovers the list he’d placed in his pocket and Basil victoriously grabs the clue, hurrying them back to his home to examine it further. Meanwhile, Ratigan delivers Olivia to her father, but then takes her away again, reminding her father that the robot must be ready tonight. Fidget takes Olivia and secures her inside a green bottle so she can’t escape. When Ratigan asks Fidget if he got everything on the list, Fidget realizes he lost the list—it must have fallen out of his pocket when Basil was chasing him. Ratigan freaks out that Basil is already on the case. He rings the bell to summon Felicia to eat Fidget, but as Fidget is fighting to get out of Felicia’s mouth, Ratigan realizes he’s been presented with an opportunity to finally capture Basil once and for all. He tells Felicia to release Fidget.
At Baker Street, Basil and Dr. Dawson examine the list’s ink and paper. Through close examination and a bit of chemistry they deduce that the list originated from a seedy pub located where the sewer connects to the waterfront. Basil and Dr. Dawson ride Toby to the pub disguised as sailors. They ask a barmaid if she knows of Ratigan. She lies and says she’s never heard of him. While Dr. Dawson watches a female mouse perform on stage, Basil watches the barmaid whisper something to the bartender who spikes their drinks. The barmaid offers the drinks to Basil and Dr. Dawson saying they’re “on the house.” Dr. Dawson quickly downs his before Basil can warn him that the drinks have been drugged. Basil spots Fidget in the pub, but Dr. Dawson drunkenly runs up onto the stage with the dancers who kiss him. Dr. Dawson faints onto the piano which causes a chain reaction leading to a bar brawl. Basil quickly gathers Dr. Dawson and the two hurry to follow Fidget through a trap door behind the bar. They follow Fidget through the sewers until they reach Ratigan’s lair. They spot what they believe to be Olivia trapped inside a green bottle, but it’s actually Fidget—they walked right into Ratigan’s trap. Ratigan reveals himself and taunts Basil, claiming his own victory. Basil, defeated, doesn’t even fight as he and Dr. Dawson are restrained in an elaborate mouse trap mechanism designed to kill them when the record on the gramophone finishes playing. Ratigan inspects a large gift box and congratulates Flaversham on his work before heading to Buckingham Palace with the gift box. At Buckingham Palace, the queen is getting ready when Ratigan’s fake guards take over for the real guards and present the queen with the large gift box. The queen opens the gift to reveal a robot queen, who then chases the mouse queen all over her chamber. Ratigan reveals himself and orders his guards to grab the queen as he rings his bell to summon Felicia. Back at Ratigan’s lair, Dr. Dawson tries to rally Basil to stop the trap. When Dr. Dawson gives up and angrily tells Basil they might as well set the trap off now, his words give Basil an idea—they’ll set the trap off now! With precise timing and calculations, they manage to spring the trap in such a way as to release themselves and Olivia from their restraints just in time for a victory photo.
Meanwhile, at Buckingham Palace, the robot queen enters the stage while Fidget drags the real queen off to Felicia. The robot queen announces Ratigan as her new royal counsel. Meanwhile, Basil, Dawson, and Olivia call for Toby to give them a ride to the palace. As Ratigan begins to read off his long list of changes now that he’s in power, Fidget is about to feed the queen to Felicia. Basil rescues the queen in the nick of time, and Toby chases Felicia into the yard of the royal guard dogs. Basil, Dr. Dawson, and Olivia sneak into the robot control room, free Flaversham , and subdue Ratigan’s minions. Basil takes over the controls and uses the robot queen to reveal Ratigan’s villainy and call him a sewer rat. In the ensuing fight, Fidget grabs Olivia and runs off with Ratigan, with Ratigan threatening to kill Olivia if anyone tries to stop him. Basil, Dr. Dawson, and Flaversham give chase. On Ratigan’s dirigible, Olivia stands up to Ratigan, telling him that Basil is going to defeat him. Basil, Dr. Dawson, and Flaversham create their own makeshift hot air balloon to chase after Ratigan’s dirigible. When Fidget suggests Ratigan lighten their load, implying Olivia should be thrown overboard, Ratigan instead throws Fidget off and takes over the controls, but he becomes distracted by Basil attempting to leap onto the dirigible and crashes into Big Ben. Ratigan, Basil, and Olivia are thrown amongst the turning gears of the clock tower. Basil manages to get Ratigan’s cape stuck in a gear, but Olivia is accidentally sent flying onto another gear and almost crushed. Basil manages to rescue Olivia in time and they escape to the outside of the tower. Enraged, Ratigan frees himself and loses his composure, becoming even more like a rat as he chases after Basil. Outside the tower, Basil safely hands Olivia off to her father and Dr. Dawson in their air balloon, but Ratigan prevents Basil from reaching safety. The two face off on one of the narrow hands of the clock. Ratigan eventually knocks Basil off and believes he’s finally won, but Basil grabs hold of the dirigible wreckage. Having managed to steal Ratigan’s bell, Basil rings it at almost the precise moment the clock on Big Ben chimes. The force of the chime causes Ratigan to fall from the tower. He grabs Basil with him, and the two fall into the mist. Dr. Dawson, Olivia, and Flaversham look on sadly, believing Basil to have perished with Ratigan, but then Basil emerges from the mist, using the busted propeller of the dirigible to fly up to meet them. Back at Baker Street, the newspaper headline announces “Queen honors detective.” Basil and Dr. Dawson say their goodbyes to Olivia and Flaversham as the two leave. Dr. Dawson makes to leave, too—after all, the case is over and he still needs to find living arrangements. Just then, a female mouse arrives looking for Basil. Basil introduces Dr. Dawson as his associate—his way of inviting Dr. Dawson to stay, to which Dr. Dawson accepts. As Basil takes the case, Toby listens happily from outside.
Thoughts Before Watching
Megan: I like this one. It’s not a favorite by a long shot, but it has its good moments. As a kid, I liked the mystery aspect (shoutout to all my fellow Nancy Drew nerds). I also liked that Olivia was such a fun character to root for (although I’m almost positive this film is going to fail the Bechdel test). Now that I’ve seen many different iterations of Sherlock Holmes stories, I can better appreciate all the nods to Sherlock Holmes in this film. It’s been ages since I last saw The Great Mouse Detective, so let’s get watching!
Kevin: I have good memories of this movie dating back to childhood, and I’ve managed to re-watch it a couple of times in the last few years alone, so my memory is still pretty fresh. The mystery elements still hold up well, and I love how much banter goes on between the characters. I also remember Ratigan being an impressive villain, certainly the kind that is more like the Disney villains of old and the ones that would shortly follow during the Renaissance. Overall, this is certainly a fun film, and I expect it to be just as fun again.
Thoughts After Watching
I still love Olivia, but OMG the sexism!
Megan: I stand by my childhood self—Olivia is probably the best female character in this film to root for. She’s a little sassy, spunky, and totally determined to find her father, even if she has to do it on her own. That said, she and the other female characters in this film get the short end of the stick compared to their male counterparts. First of all, there are damsels in distress all over the place. Olivia herself is a damsel in distress on multiple occasions: when her father insists she hide from Fidget, when Dr. Dawson discovers her crying inside a boot, when she appeals to Basil for help, when Fidget startles her outside the window, when Fidget kidnaps her and ultimately imprisons her, when Basil rescues her from the bottle, when Ratigan again kidnaps her, and finally, when Basil rescues her from the clock tower. Then there’s the queen who’s taken hostage by Fidget and nearly fed to a cat, and the distressed female mouse who comes to Basil’s door at the end of the film. So many dangers (99% from from male characters)…so many rescues (100% by male characters)… At least Olivia and the queen fight back when they’re abducted, but ultimately it still stands that all the female characters are put into a perilous situation in which they must be rescued by the male characters—not once do we see it the other way around. We don’t even truly see male characters in a form of distress that requires rescuing. When we see Basil in the most perilous of circumstances—the elaborate mouse trap or falling from Big Ben—Basil is the one who rescues himself. No one else comes to his aid. Now why can’t we get a little more of that for our female characters?
Megan: Honestly, the entire film seems to belittle the female characters. It’s hard to say if Olivia is predominantly a damsel in distress who’s ignored or belittled because she’s a child or because she’s female (or if it’s because she’s female and a child). In any case, the male characters of the film seem to discredit Olivia. Her father moves to protect her from Fidget (probably the right move, but who’s to say she couldn’t have helped her father fight off the intruder and prevented her father from being kidnapped? And why didn’t he hide himself?); Basil completely ignores her and only shows interest in taking her case when it appears that finding Olivia’s father will help Basil find his nemesis, Ratigan. It’s a similar story with the maid, Mrs. Judson. When Basil recklessly shoots a pile of pillows merely to test a bullet, Mrs. Judson rightfully protests that Basil is ruining her good pillows. However, Basil ignores Mrs. Judson’s protests and shuffles her back into the kitchen, telling her to fetch crumpets for their guests.
MRS. JUDSON: Oh! My…my…my good pillows. Mr. Basil! How many times have I told you to—
BASIL: Mrs. Judson, it’s quite all right. Uh…mmm…I believe I smell some of those delightful cheese crumpets of yours. Why don’t you fetch our guests some?
MRS. JUDSON: But…I…I…I…
BASIL: Now, I know that bullet’s here somewhere…
There’s a few things I want to unpack here. First of all, is this Mrs. Judson’s home that Basil is staying in? She says the pillows are “my good pillows,” so either she’s taken the liberty of decorating Basil’s home, or she’s the true owner of the home and takes on Basil as if it were a boarding house. In any case, Basil is showing zero respect for her belongings. He’s also further disrespecting Mrs. Judson by quite literally shoving her back into the kitchen, implying that Mrs. Judson’s place as a maid/housekeeper and as a woman is in the kitchen, serving food for their guests. Not a great look.
Megan: When the female characters aren’t being belittled by the male characters, they’re being objectified. Case in point: the entire pub scene. One of our first introductions to the scene is a drunk male mouse trying to kiss the female barmaid mouse and then getting punched by the barmaid for his actions (bit of an over-the-top reaction, but at least she’s showing that what he’s doing is unacceptable rather than permitting it). Later in the scene, the crowd of male patrons is becoming angry and violent, but they are “tamed” by the presence of a female mouse singing on stage (also, have you ever really listened to those lyrics? Not at all what you’d expect from a Disney movie!). As her act progresses, she strips off her outer garments to reveal a sexy leotard adorned with feathers. She is joined on stage by other female mice who dance with her as the male mice cat-call and hungrily grab for the singer and dancers, visibly salivating. Even Dr. Dawson, the most proper of the hero characters, appears unable to resist the siren call of the singer and dancers as he drunkenly climbs onto the stage to be closer to them. It’s scenes like this that perpetuate the myth that men can’t help themselves when they see an attractive woman. Men are totally capable of controlling themselves—those who hide behind this argument merely choose not to.
Furthermore, I remember watching this film as a little girl and thinking that the female dancers were cool or pretty. Um…that singer is just shy of being a stripper—that’s not exactly the thing parents want their young girls to aspire to. But what other options are there for girls to look up to in this film? The options are these: a little girl who’s ignored and constantly a damsel in distress; a queen who seems to have no real agency or power when she also becomes a damsel in distress; a barmaid who gets hit on all day long and has to resort to violence to get men to take a hint; a singer/dancer/stripper who performs for male audiences who care more about her appearance than her talent; or a maid/housekeeper who gets no respect in her own home and is forced to cook and clean for an ungrateful male. Compare these to the options boys have to choose from: a brilliant detective who uses observation, math, and science to solve crimes; a timid but talented toy maker and loving father; a former army doctor turned detective’s assistant; a criminal mastermind; a bumbling sidekick to the criminal mastermind; or any one of the background male characters either in the pub or among Ratigan’s crew. Sure, the villains on the list aren’t anything to aspire to, but the hero characters are pretty great compared to their female counterparts. Sure, the male characters have their flaws, but they’re paired with some great upsides. The female characters in this film are nowhere near as dynamic. They don’t have flaws in the same way the male characters do, and it’s hard to really identify how any of the female characters are an asset to the story since none of them actually do anything to impact the plot—instead the plot happens to them. It’s no wonder, then, that this film’s one and only “conversation” between two named female characters is one-sided: Mrs. Judson offering to fetch tea and crumpets for Olivia, with no reply from Olivia. Technically it is two named female characters in conversation, since the two do make eye contact, but since Olivia doesn’t respond it makes it a narrow miss on passing the Bechdel test. (For more on this, Feminist Disney has a good post on the topic.)
A good mix of mystery and horror
Kevin: Calling The Great Mouse Detective a horror film is a stretch, but that’s not to say it isn’t without some chilling, spine-tingling moments. In contrast to the typical Disney formula of appealing to young children, the filmmakers clearly decided to make something that could bring in older children and possibly some adults by blending mystery and horror together. I know I had a lot of fun as a kid watching Basil and Dawson work together to solve the case, and there were a few times re-watching it where I picked up on some things I hadn’t noticed before. The horror aspects don’t detract from the rest of the film since they never feel out of place. It has just the right amount of creepy moments, such as those first moments we are introduced to Fidget when he ominously shakes the door handle and then his face bursts through Flaversham’s glass window and stares right at the audience. It’s a tiny jump-scare that sets up the movie really well because it almost feels as if Flaversham has been abducted by some terrifying yet unknown monster. Thus begins the mystery.
Other chilling moments are created through the use of forced perspective. Since mice are the central creatures of the movie, many environments and other characters are drawn much larger to create a sense of scale. For example, Felicia the cat can and does look terrifying when next to the mice. On the other hand, Toby the dog is made to be an ally, so his larger size compared to the mice is never meant to be scary. Still, the movie keeps to this perspective throughout. The toy store sequence is just one long series of potential nightmare fuel moments, while also being blended well with mystery. We watch as Basil and Dawson make a few discoveries, with Basil realizing gears and uniforms are missing and Dawson discovering a strange list. The dark setting is what creates the unnerving feeling. I actually felt the hairs on my arm stick up a bit during the shot in the toy store when Dawson looks up and sees what, to him, is a giant doll staring down at him. Add the dim lighting and the effect is more disturbing. As the camera zooms out, we see that all the toys are conveniently shelved in such a way that they’re staring down at the small mice. A bit later, all the toys turn on, and I don’t know about you, but some of those toys were more creepy than cute. When Olivia is drawn to a baby in a cradle, the action is so slow that you can pretty much tell what’s going to happen before it does. It still doesn’t make it any less disturbing when Fidget suddenly bursts out of the cradle and jumps at the camera towards Olivia. Then there is the final showdown at Big Ben, an already massive clock tower to humans which looks even more impressive when seen through the eyes of Basil and Ratigan. The sheer size is, I’m sure, intended to be slightly horrific, as is the ticking of the clock gears which sound like the slow countdown to some sort of doom. Lastly, Ratigan himself is on the horrific side, especially when his anger takes over and he turns into more of a rat than he has ever looked. The transformation is unsettling, from his large clawed hands and ripped suit to his wildly drawn eyes and raspier than usual voice. The film is lighter than The Black Cauldron, but it still has a few elements of horror that keep it from being completely child-friendly. Unlike that last one, though, The Great Mouse Detective actually never feels too dreary.
Still a well-structured story
Megan: Despite the film’s sexism, I do still enjoy this movie more than just about all the films Disney made in the ‘70s, and that’s largely because The Great Mouse Detective has a solid story structure. If we’re using the Save the Cat model, all the story beats land just about where you’d expect them to. We have our opening scene with the stakes characters (Olivia and her father), a strong “Setup” that takes roughly 10 film minutes before the “Catalyst” event (Olivia revealing that her father was kidnapped by a bat with a peg leg, which convinces Basil to take the case). The “Debate” section isn’t all too terribly strong, since Basil is pretty quickly convinced into taking the case and allowing Olivia to come along with them, but the “Break Into Two” is solid with the heroes riding Toby to chase down Fidget right around minute 25. There isn’t as much of a clearly defined “B Story” since no new character is introduced around minute 30, but the film on the whole is well balanced between the A story of what’s happening with Basil, Olivia, and Dawson vs. the B story of what’s happening with Ratigan, Flaversham, Fidget, and the rest of the villains. The toy shop scene is easily “Fun and Games,” but the “Midpoint” is a bit trickier to track down. When we were watching the film, I was almost positive that the “Midpoint” was when Basil and Dr. Dawson failed to stop Fidget from kidnapping Olivia (a false defeat) yet managed to find the list that could lead them to Ratigan’s hideout. However, this scene doesn’t happen truly in the middle. The true middle of the film is actually a scene later when Ratigan feeds Fidget to Felicia and then suddenly realizes Fidget’s failure will work in his favor—he can set a trap for Basil. This scene fits far better as a “Bad Guys Close In” beat, so my guess is the “Midpoint” just happens a touch earlier in this film. The bad guys continue to close in through the pub scene and well into the trap, at which point we hit the “All Is Lost.” Basil has lost a battle of wits to his nemesis, and now he and Dr. Dawson are captured in a trap that’s set to thoroughly kill them while Olivia remains trapped in a bottle and Flaversham is forced to do Ratigan’s bidding to overthrow the queen. Basil’s “Dark Night of the Soul” has him wallowing in self-pity, but in a “Second Act Climax,” Dr. Dawson snaps him out of it and launches him back into action to save them from the trap and go on to “Break Into Three.” The “Finale” of Basil and his friends rescuing the queen and facing off against Ratigan does feel like it goes on a bit longer than it needs to (maybe that’s why the “Midpoint” beat doesn’t land quite in the middle?), but ultimately it satisfies the story beat and we get a solid ending that wraps up all the loose ends with a “Final Image” looking over Baker Street. After slogging through so many films that had hazy story structures or totally jumbled beat sheets, it’s so refreshing to watch a well-structured story play out on screen.
Another small gem in Disney’s animated history
Kevin: Hindsight is a funny thing; since we know what is to come, it’s all too easy to recognize how much the films Megan and I grew up watching were influenced by, or built on, the stuff that came before. Could anyone, let alone Disney Studios, possibly have foreseen what the company would bring to the table in just a few short years? Probably not, but they were certainly building the foundations for what would come during the Renaissance. At the same time this film was being worked on, the studio saw a huge expansion of talent as it brought in new animators. The company’s leadership took on the daunting task of trying to revitalize an animation department that had never really recovered since the passing of Walt. There’s certainly something about this movie that comes off looking as if the animators were having more fun than they had for a long time. The last animated film I actually liked was The Fox and the Hound, and the score I gave it is more due to my emotional response to it. Then The Black Cauldron is just such a lackluster follow-up, apparently both subjectively and objectively, since it did so poorly at the box office. Even though The Great Mouse Detective was released only about a year later, I wonder if everyone working on the film just saw it as something more akin to the films of the past.
Kevin: There is a lot that this film gets right. There’s the story itself, which Megan covered extensively. The characters are also done really well; for example, Basil is a far more interesting title character than Robin Hood (see our post for more on him). Basil’s arrogance is both annoying and endearing. It’s fun to watch him work through problems and throw out the occasional quip or two. His banter with Dawson and Olivia is great to watch, and those two characters are also fantastic in their own right. Dawson is the film’s everyman (or everymouse, in this case) with a generous heart and spirit. His determination to help Olivia is heart-warming, and the only instance where he really messes up is when he drinks the spiked beer. Once he gets a hold of himself, he is right back to being the character we’re probably more likely to identify with. Of course, Dawson’s character reaches its peak moment when he snaps Basil out of his defeated state, allowing Basil to work out the complicated solution to save their lives. If Dawson hadn’t said those words, he and Basil would be dead. Olivia, too, has her rightful place in this story. As mentioned earlier, she is spunky and determined, and she’s a lot of fun when she’s arguing with Basil and driving the detective up the wall. It’s certainly unfortunate that her agency is limited and that she needs far more rescuing than vice versa, but I completely applaud how well done Olivia is. Her voice actress, Susanne Pollatschek, was a great choice, as she does amazingly well in giving Olivia a wide set of emotions. The filmmakers in general made Olivia a lovable character who is never annoying (other than to Basil, but he’s a bit stuck-up and really needs to come down a peg or two anyway), and someone that we root for from beginning to end. Lastly, what this film also gets right is the animation, in particular the CGI. The Black Cauldron deserves the credit for using CGI first, but The Great Mouse Detective truly took that idea and went into overdrive. The CGI is a lot more noticeable here, and is most prominent during the interior shots of Big Ben. The shots of those gears turning would not have worked as well had they been animated traditionally. It seems clear that pushing what CGI could do would be a major influence on how it would be used in films down the road. The best thing that this movie does is show that the awkwardness of the 1970s was well and truly behind, and the studio was ready to get back to what made it great in the first place: good stories, good characters, and good animation. It’s not perfect, but it turned out to be a sign for a major resurgence for Disney, even though they wouldn’t know it yet.