“The Great Mouse Detective” is set in London in the late 1800s. Olivia Flaversham, a cute young Scottish mouse, and her father, the toymaker Hiram, fall victim to crime as Hiram is mousenapped right out of his own workshop. Olivia seeks the help of the most famous rodent detective in the country, Basil of Baker Street.
At first, Basil isn’t interested in the case, but then he realizes that the abductor sounds very much like a mouse who works for his old enemy, Ratigan. He’s been trying to get Ratigan arrested for years, but to no avail. Maybe this time, he’ll have his chance to bring about justice.
Ratigan, meanwhile, has concocted an evil plan. He wants to build a robot that is the spitting image of the Queen of the Mice. If the real Queen is out of the way, he will rule England’s entire rodent population. (An odd aspiration, to be sure) He has taken Hiram so he can tap into Hiram’s toymaking genius to create this marvelous robot. Those who run afoul of his plan aren’t known for being around long enough to complain further.
Olivia, too, is taken by Ratigan’s men, giving Basil yet further incentive to solve the case. The crescendo of the movie takes place in a chase scene through Big Ben, which employs the use of computer generated imagery, this being one of the first animated films to go that route.
As I’m sure you’ve guessed, this movie is patterned after the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Basil is, of course, our famed detective, while Ratigan is the mouse-version of Moriarty.
You know, I can’t say that this is one of my favorite Disney films. I found it just a bit too violent. Ratigan’s methods of dealing with his henchmen and his victims were just . . . a bit over the top for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a total prude, but when it comes to children’s entertainment, my threshold is a bit lower. I think this is one of those films you need to see for yourself and decide if it will work for your family.
This film is rated G.
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