The Great Mouse Detective

The Great Mouse Detective (also known as The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective for its 1992 theatrical re-release and Basil the Great Mouse Detective in some countries) is a 1986 American animated mystery adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 26th Disney animated feature film, the film was directed by John Musker, Ron Clements, Dave Michener, and Burny Mattinson (in their feature directorial debuts). The main characters are all mice and rats living in Victorian London.

Based on the children's book series Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus and Paul Galdone, it draws heavily on the tradition of Sherlock Holmes with a heroic mouse who consciously emulates the detective. Titus named the main character after actor Basil Rathbone, who is best remembered for playing Holmes in film (and whose voice, sampled from a 1966 reading of "The Red-Headed League" was the voice of Holmes in this film, 19 years after his death). Sherlock Holmes also mentions "Basil" as one of his aliases in the Arthur Conan Doyle story "The Adventure of Black Peter".

The Great Mouse Detective was released to theaters on July 2, 1986, to positive reviews and financial success, in sharp contrast to the box office underperformance of Disney's previous animated feature film, The Black Cauldron (1985).

## Plot

In London in June 1897, a young mouse named Olivia Flaversham is celebrating her birthday with her widowed toymaker father, Hiram. Suddenly, a bat with a crippled wing and a peg leg burst into Flaversham's workshop, kidnapping Mr. Flaversham. Olivia searches to find the famed Great Mouse Detective named Basil of Baker Street but gets lost. A surgeon named Dr. David Q. Dawson, who has just returned from a lengthy service of the Mouse Queen's 66th Regiment in Afghanistan, meets Olivia and escorts her to Basil's residence. Upon their arrival, Basil is initially indifferent, but when Olivia mentions the bat that abducted her father, Basil realizes that Olivia saw Fidget, the assistant of Professor Ratigan, a villain that Basil has attempted to arrest for years. It is then revealed that Ratigan kidnapped Hiram to create a clockwork robot, which mimics the Queen of the Mice so that Ratigan can rule England. Flaversham initially refuses to participate in the scheme but capitulates when Ratigan threatens to harm Olivia. Ratigan plans to usurp the Queen and become "supreme ruler of all mousedom."

Meanwhile, Fidget appears through the window, and they attempt to chase him. Basil, along with Dawson and Olivia, take Toby, Sherlock Holmes' pet Basset Hound, to track down Fidget's scent, where they locate him in a toyshop stealing clockwork mechanisms and toy soldiers' uniforms. Fidget ambushes Olivia and captures her. Basil and Dawson pursue Fidget but are easily outsmarted. While searching the shop, Dawson discovers Fidget's checklist, to which Basil does some chemical tests to discover the list came from a riverfront near the Thames. Basil and Dawson disguise themselves as sailors and head to a tavern called the "Rat Trap." They find Fidget and follow him to Ratigan's headquarters but are caught in an ambush by Ratigan. Ratigan has them tied to a spring-loaded mousetrap connected with a Rube Goldberg machine laid out to kill them both. Ratigan sets out for Buckingham Palace, where his henchmen hijack the royal guards' roles and kidnap the Queen. Basil deduces the trap's weakness and escapes along with Dawson and Olivia just in time.

At Buckingham Palace, Ratigan forces Flaversham to operate the toy Queen, while the real one is taken to be fed to Felicia, Ratigan's pet cat. The toy Queen declares Ratigan the ruler of all Mousedom, and he announces his dictatorial plans for his new "subjects." After Basil, Dawson, and Olivia save Flaversham and the real Queen, they restrain Fidget and Ratigan's other henchmen, while Toby chases Felicia, leading to Felicia, thinking she escaped Toby by jumping onto a high stone fence, to be mauled by the royal guard dogs waiting on the other side. Basil seizes control of the mechanical queen, making it denounce Ratigan as a fraud while breaking it into pieces. The crowd, enraged by Ratigan's treason, turns on him, and he escapes on his dirigible with Fidget, holding Olivia hostage. Basil, Dawson, and Flaversham create their craft with a matchbox and some small helium-filled balloons, held together by the Union Jack. Ratigan tosses Fidget overboard to lighten the load, and he attempts to drive the dirigible himself. Basil jumps onto the dirigible to confront Ratigan, causing it to crash straight into the Big Ben clocktower.

Inside the clocktower, where Ratigan still holds Olivia hostage, Basil manages to get Ratigan's cape stuck on some gears. He rescues Olivia and safely delivers her to Flaversham. Ratigan breaks free and attacks Basil, eventually knocking him to the dirigible. When the clock strikes 10:00, the bell hits for the loudest sound, causing Ratigan to fall to his death, taking Basil with him. However, Basil grabs a part of Ratigan's dirigible and saves himself. Back at Baker Street, Basil and Dawson recount their adventures. After the Flavershams leave the house, a distraught new client arrives and solicits Basil and Dawson's help, with Basil noting that Dawson is his trusted associate, prompting Dawson to remain and assist Basil.

## Characters and Voice Cast

* Basil - Barrie Ingham
* Professor Ratigan - Vincent Price
* Dr. Dawson - Val Bettin
* Olivia Flaversham - Susanne Pollatschek