The 1980s were an interesting time for kids movies. This was the era that Don Bluth was making his movies in, and Disney was also releasing a lot more movies with darker or heavier themes. This seems to have died in the nineties with the Disney Renaissance, personally I pin the blame on how bad The Black Cauldron turned out, but after that mess was released, they made The Great Mouse Detective, which didn't begin the renaissance, but did it put Disney on the right path?
The movie follows Olivia Flaversham who is found by Dr. Dawson and they both find famous detective, Basil of Baker Street to find her father, who has been kidnapped by a servant of the wicked Professor Ratigan, who has a particularly villainous scheme to become ruler of all of mousekind by replacing the Queen. Plotwise, I gotta say it was all rather tight. It flowed really well and at no point was I ever confused about where the plot was going. Every location was gone to for a purpose and the movie does explain why they're going there. I don't think there is really anything here that pads out the plot, even during a seemingly superfluous musical number, they do slip in something that is plot relevant. It is very well done, no plot holes, no confusing parts, probably one of Disney's most well written plot lines.
I do have to add though, this movie does have some moments that are... not as child friendly as kids movies today would be. There are some scarier moments and there is a scene with a character is dressed in typical showgirl attire, yes... showgirl. The movie's opening would probably be scary to some young kids who aren't expecting it. I would say to not show this movie to anyone younger than seven. It is definitely a movie for older kids and parental guidance.
Character wise, I really like the characters here. Basil is eccentric and enthusiastic, thinking about it, he kind of reminds me of something... plus it is clear he isn't very social. Could he be... oh well. Olivia is also very cute, the way she mimics Dawson occasionally is just adorable. However, the character that steals the show is absolutely Professor Ratigan, who is delightfully devilish, and skirts the line of suave and sophisticated baddie, to blood-thirsty brute. A lot of this has to do with the voice performance. Vincent Price does an absolutely delightful job as the villain, just the epitome of slime and vileness that is his voice. The rest of the cast do an excellent job as well, Barrie Ingham and Val Bettin, even some of the smaller roles had good voice work, even if I could tell one of the voices was Alan Young.
Now animation is where the movie really shines. Of course, being a Disney animated feature, it looks brilliant. I would say that some of the faces looked a bit unsettling, but I think that it was done on purpose, to show that Basil can be as crazy as Ratigan. However, I think the most impressive thing about the animation is the incorporation of CGI. While this wasn't the first of the Disney animated canon to incorporate Computer Generated Imagery, and I don't think it is the best incorporation either (Let's be real it is hard to top that one shot from Beauty and the Beast), the CG is still really well done here. It is really obvious, but the cel shaded look of it makes it blend in better than say, the cave of wonders from Aladdin. Otherwise, the rest of the animation is well done, no obvious problems and a really good colour palette.
Overall, I quite enjoyed The Great Mouse Detective. While I don't think that it is one of Disney's greatest, I can admit that it was a cute and fun little movie that had a little bit more of a risque side to it. I think I enjoyed the characters the most, they were engaging to watch and putting them into this really well woven plot and really good animation made this movie a very enjoyable. I didn't mind the darker and more adult moments, I don't think it is the most extreme in that regard, but most of the other dark kids movies of the era were more emotionally dark like An American Tail or more intense like The Secret of NIMH, so I would advise parental guidance when putting this on for kids. Still, it was an enjoyable movie, I can give it a solid recommendation rating.
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