My Movie Review on The Great Mouse Detective

Greetings and salutations, my friends.

This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.

Today, for the third installment of my "Spook Spectacular" series, I'm gonna give you guys my take of Disney's "The Great Mouse Detective".

Here's the rundown of this adventure:

Olivia Flaversham is the daughter of Hiriam Flaversham, a toymaker who is a master at creating clockwork toys.

However, when her father is mysteriously kidnapped, Olivia quickly seeks the aid of a famous detective named Basil, whom she believes to be her only hope of reuniting with her father.

With the help of Dr. David Q. Dawson, Basil takes on the case. He discovers that Olivia's father was kidnapped as part of a plan by his arch-nemesis: Professor Ratigan.

Will Basil figure out what Ratigan's up to and save Olivia's father? Or will Ratigan succeed in whatever nefarious scheme he's concocting?

I'm not gonna lie, I've been interested in analyzing this film since...well, I don't know how long. I thought that it'd be a perfect movie to review for Halloween since it's a mystery film and stars the late Vincent Price.

Having watched this movie recently, I really must say that "The Great Mouse Detective" is not only another one of Disney's most fun films, but...it's also perhaps one of their most underrated.

The vocal performances, casting, characters, and character development were among what I enjoyed.

When it came to voicing Professor Ratigan, Vincent Price literally nailed portraying the character! Admittedly, I haven't seen many of Price's works outside of this film, partly because most of the other movies he starred in were horror-oriented. However, Ratigan was a character Price was clearly born to play, and he and Disney make a surprisingly excellent pair. Price gave Ratigan outstanding theatricality, personality, and emotion; especially to where it sounded like he was putting his heart and soul into the role. The character himself was not without development, particularly when the film's climax came along.

Likewise, I deeply enjoyed the performances of Barrie Ingham and Val Bettin, and the characters of Basil and David Q. Dawson. Basil and Dawson make an incredible duo, and the growing friendship between them and their character developments helped Basil and Dawson be all-the-more alive. Ingham's performance gave Basil a sense of refinement that fit the character's personality and intelligence, and Bettin's voice fit Dawson so well that the character was instantly lovable.

The direction by Ron Clements, John Musker, Burny Mattinson, and Dave Michener, and the story by them, Pete Young, Vance Gerry, Steve Hulett, Bruce Morris, Matthew O'Callaghan, and Mel Shaw were fantastic too.

I did wish that the movie was longer in some ways, mainly because it felt a little short. That's okay, though, because the filmmakers made sure everything tied together perfectly under its one hour and fourteen minute runtime. They were able to make the film as intriguing, mysterious, and unpredictable as possible too; plus, the comedy was fun, and there was a vast amount of emotion and heart to help the movie not be lifeless.

The animation was awesome as well.

As a movie showcasing an upgrade in technology and visual style, the directors and animators created perhaps the most visually impressive Disney film of the 1980s (before "The Little Mermaid" came along, of course). The expressions of the characters matched perfectly with the feeling the cast put into their performances, and the character-movements and object-motions moved with excellent grace and fluency. Additionally, the overall visualization was like that of a marvelously-illustrated story about a detective. The computer animation used for the inside of Big Ben was impressive as well, because I felt like I was actually inside of the clock and witnessing the action firsthand.

Finally, the music by Henry Mancini was terrific.

His melodies matched the film's concept and genre like a glove, and I can hardly picture anyone more qualified for composing the project than Mancini. I particularly enjoyed the melodies he made for the moments of high stakes, thrills, and tension. Plus, the songs that were featured in the movie were entertaining showstoppers, and they fit so well in the story it's hard to imagine what the film would be like without them and how it would work.

In conclusion "The Great Mouse Detective" is a Disney gem that's absolutely worthwhile. Everything about it was incredible, and I can tell everyone onboard was having a blast working on this project.

So, I rate "The Great Mouse Detective" five out of five stars.

(Also, this may just be my enthusiasm speaking here, but I'm surprised that Disney didn't do a TV show based on the film. The movie would be a perfect pilot for a sequel program focusing on Basil and Dawson solving mysteries and going on adventures, and the two characters hold an incredible amount of potential for franchise expansion too)