Hi folks! Welcome to my My Own Personal Nerdy Disney and Animation Scrutinizing Analysis blog. A blog where I'm analyzing several Disney films, Disney or Animation in general! These entries are just meant to be my analyses. Not reviews or statements. Just fun analyses! Though I'll make some personal remarks now and then, the content of these entries are meant to be depicted objectively. They're made for entertainment purpose only and the pictures/clips are copyright Disney or other companies.
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And finally; If you haven't seen the films, beware of spoilers! And the funny lines aren't meant to be nothing than funny. So I hope you won't find them offensive. If so, I apologize
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| I (Toby) know that I`m not a mouse, but I wanted to show that dogs can get along with mice more than cats :) |
The late 1980`s was essentially a peculiar, but important time for Disney. It was the time between the death of Walt and the rebirth of the Disney Renaissance. After having lived the colossal commercial and critical failure with The Black Cauldron (which was a movie that I found bland at the beginning, but that I liked afterwards), Disney were slowly climbing up again and restoring their reputation. With the regime of Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who wanted to take Disney back to it`s glory days, Disney decided to release a movie every year (which was something that Walt wanted to strive for, but never did, thanks to his perfectionism). 
The truth is that these movies have never been highly credited by Disney historians or Disney themselves for the lone reason for how they simply didn`t lived up to Walt`s time or the Renaissance. But at least there were two movies released before Disney managed to climb up again to their top (unless you count Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was a Touchstone production). And the first movie to actually begin this small era was none other than The Great Mouse Detective.General Information About The Great Mouse Detective
Released in July 2d 1986, The Great Mouse Detective was the very first picture released from John Musker and Ron Clements (the directors who would have the longest directing resume to date from Disney after Walt), with Dave Michener and Burny Mattinson. Based on Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus. Glen Keane, Mark Henn, Rob Minkoff, Hendel Butoy (The Rescuers Down Under), Ruben Aquino, Kathy Zielinski, Phil Nibbelink, Ron Husband, Barry Temple, Ed Gombert, Mike Gabriel, Jay Jackson, Andreas Deja, Ellen Woodbury, Kirk Wise, Tony deRosa and Dave Pruiksma were the animators. 
Lisa Keene worked with the background. Mark Dindal was the effect animator. Chuck Williams was the coordinating animator. Eric Larsson was the animation consultant. Rasoul Azadani was assistant layout. Vincent Price voiced Ratigan. Wayne Allwine
and Tony Anselmo (Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck) voiced the Thug Guards (and Anselmo was a key assistant animator). Alan Young (Scrooge McDuck for Mickey's Christmas Carol) voiced Hiriam. Candy Candido (Chief in Peter Pan, Malificent’s goons in Sleeping Beauty and the Constable in Robin Hood) voiced Fidget. Detective was a critical and financial success (grossing $38,625,550 Worldwide), despite being surpassed by on Bluth`s An American Tail.The Trademarks and Elements of The Great Mouse Detective
In a way, The Great Mouse Detective was among a trend of animated studios making movies about mice. Since
The Great Mouse Detective was shaped and made to be a modern movie alongside with The Black Cauldron (with end credits and such), it harkened back to many of Disney`s previous properties. Since it`s another Disney movie set in London, England (after Peter Pan, 101 Dalamatians and Mary Poppins) and taking place in England (also after Alice in Wonderland, The Sword in the Stone and Robin Hood). Since mice has been Disney`s bread and butter (starting with Mickey Mouse, duuh), Detective fills that bills. But in that regards, it also harkens back to The Rescuers in many ways: For being a rescuing story, but also for featuring anthrophomorphic animals in a human World (yes, because Disney has always been tangible about naturalistic and anthropomorphic animals existing together).
And yes, it has a cat who`s a pet to the rat, a rarity in animation (inspired by evil Ernst Blofeld in James Bond and also by Elizabeth Taylor in her later years.). But Detective is also a movie to have only three songs (and none of them sung by the lead himself). And a villain who is truly memorable and is regarded as one of Disney`s best. But it`s a rare movie that is completely urban and taking place at nighttime. And yes, the girl of this piece is motherless. And since the Disneyfication aspect of Disney`s versions has always been relevant, the Disneyfication aspect is present here too, as Detective has little resemblance to the original stories, with the exception of the setting and some characters.The Premise and The Protagonist of The Great Mouse Detective
Due to it`s premise, The Great Mouse Detective is first and foremost amystery and serves like a version of Sherlock Holmes. And it tells three stories in parallel: Olivia`s quest for her father, Ratigan`s scheme and to a lesser extent Dawson`s story. And the bromance between Basil and Dawson is given some focus. But still while it`s first and foremost both Basil and Olivia`s story, Dawson`s subplot doesn`t feel superfluous or overlooked. But since Musker and Clements` features have been known for their own trademarks and elements (which were present in the Disney Renaissance), it`s remarkable how Detective included most of them, with the exception of a romance (despite how it`s sparingly hinted with Lady Mouse at the end, as her cameo could`ve been interpreted as a romance).
And it`s known for the use of CGI inside Big Ben (where the CGI seems seemlessly integrated) in a very suspensful climax. But one notable thing about The Great Mouse Detective is it`s lead character, Basil. For being a snooty, condescending, stuck up and conceited character (which is taken by Holmes). Sure, Basil wasn`t the first Disney lead to be a brat (Peter Pan and Taran from Cauldron
comes
to mind, despite how they`re bratty in different ways). But at least Basil
is the first adult protagonist to have an attitude (and his actor Barrie Ingham found him to be sensitive). And he`s still entertaining and appealing, despite of his bad attitude.
The Reception and Staple of The Great Mouse Detective
As for the final reception of The Great Mouse Detective, thanks to it`s position in Disney`s canon, it`s not regarded to belong to Disney`s Pantheon list. And frankly, Disney historians usually credits it for starting the erao f Disney that preceeded the Renaissance. So therefore it`s mostly regarded as good, but not great (despite being Charles Solomon favorite animated film of the 1980s). And sure, it has it`s fanbase and many people thinks it`s underrated. But it`s still not regarded as the epitome of Disney`s most underrated pictures. But still it`s not regarded as one of Disney`s Black Sheeps either. So despite how it haven`t rised from it`s ashes, it`s still worshipped by those who likes it. Behind the Scenes Information
To make an film about Holmes with animals was first mentioned during The Rescuers.Layout artist Joe Hale suggested Basil of Baker Street, but it was shelved as it was similar to Rescuers. In 1980 or 1982, Clements brought up the idea again and Ron Miller approved it. As he was always interested in Holmes (and had made a 15-minute Holmes animated short on Super 8 film). The crew liked the idea of a fun picture following the dark Cauldron. Yet the idea floundered for years with ten different storymen giving ideas. The movie was going to be wackier in Looney Tunes style. The crew had first good time to hone the story. But in a screening, Eisner and
Katzenberg complained about the slow pacing and wanted for
rewrites before animation would begin, which was over a year. Although the first release
was Christmas 1987. Eisner slashed the budget at $24 million in half, where it was green-lit at $10 million. And moved the release date to
July 1986, giving the team a year to complete the film. Animation began in in the fall of 1984. Originally it was a 90-minute film but had to be cut to 74 minutes with a simple, tighter story and a smaller
cast and shortcuts in animation. Over three years of work had been done and the film had to be
re-pitched.
An older love interest for Dawson was proposed for the victim, but Miller wanted the character
be a little girl to have the audience feeling sorry for. Due to the flop of Paramount/Amblin film Young Sherlock Holmes, Eisner renamed the movie to The Great Mouse Detective (since the marketing thought the first title was too headscratching). The re-titling was unpopular with the crew (since they thought it was unimaginative), so Ed Gombert wrote a satirical interoffice memo giving preceding Disney films satiric titles as Seven Little Men Help a Girl, The Wonderful Elephant Who Could Really Fly, The Little Deer Who Grew Up, The Girl with the See-through Shoes, Two Dogs Fall in Love, Puppies Taken Away, and A Boy, a Bear and a Big Black Cat. And they later became a category on Jeopardy! And Schneider was furious about it. All the characters except Basil were designed by Keane. Candido recorded for Fidget in one hour. But when he first read, it was hard to understand him. And his natural low, gravelly tones were sped up to make him less
threatening. His original voice is heard as the mouse shouting
"Get off, you eight-legged bum!" at the octopus in the Rat
Trap bar. And Candido`s nephews rooted for his character. 
Basil Rathbone originally recorded the cameo of Sherlock Holmes. But he wanted more money for the snippet, so an actor recorded his lines in a Rathbone
style, until a last minute agreement was made. To heighten the pitch, the tape recording of his voice was sped up. Nigel Bruce’s never voiced Dr. Watson, since he died in 1953. Ingham`s fan mail and approaches on the streets (by even old people) increased after Detective was released on Blu Ray. Since the bells in Big Ben would chime at every
quarter-hour, the crew finished their research in one hour. Eric Larson worried about the tighter schedule, feeling that the crew wouldn`t have enough time to make a character work. Detective was the debut of Henry Mancini, aside from the opening for The Pink Panther. He composed a song to be a parody of Victorian British music hall. But Katzenberg hated it, and thought it was too mild and harmless. The crew wanted a more current song to make the film marketable. And Michael Jackson was suggested by Eisner sing as a character in the saloon but it was met with
uncomfortable silence. He later also proposed for Madonna. So Melissa Manchester
was brought in. For being the first
artist in the history of the Oscars to have two nominated movie themes Ice
Castles and The Promise. Epilogue
The Great Mouse Detective is an honorary addition to Disney`s library. And it was a worthy way to redeem Disney when they were in a bad position. And sure, it may not be a milestone in Disney`s history, but still worthy of it`s own right. As for my own personal opinion about it, I remember that I wanted to have the read along cassette. And being intrigued by the movie. I got the read along when I was most likely seven years old. However, I never saw Detective Theatrically during it`s Theatrical releases. And finally saw it when it was released in Norway on VHS in the spring of 1995 (since it was released at the time) when I was four years older. 
movie, despite how I just found it okay and nothing else. And frankly, that`s the same impression that I`m stuck with today. Still, despite how Detective is just good, but not great, it`s still pleasant, cozy and appealing enough to overcome it`s staple. While there are some juvenile bits of comedy here and there and the animation may not be as top-notch (no offense), the movie doesn`t have many serious flaws. And yes, it`s hard to believe that it`s now 40 years old. But considering
that this entry was meant to synergize with it`s 40th Anniversary,
there`s nothing left than to wish The Great Mouse Detective Happy 40th Anniversary and may you continue to have many more.
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| Yes, I know that I (Ratigan) ain`t the detective of this story, but I wanted to be in front :) |
References:
The Great Mouse Detective DVD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqji2EC3gnI&t=12s (Vincent Price Interview Splash 1986)
Waking Sleeping Beauty
The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms and Beyond (Christopher Finch)
Mouse Under Glass (David Koenig)
