Voices of Barrie Ingham, Vincent Price, Val Bettin, Candy Candido, Alan Young, Frank Welker, Basil Rathbone

(8-Exceptional Film)

Nostalgic. Exciting. Unique.

Dr. Dawson: [voice over] From that time on, Basil and I were a close team. We had many cases together, but I’ll always look back on that first with the most fondness; my introduction to Basil of Baker Street, the great mouse detective.

Larger, more beloved films followed in Disney’s great canon of animation-three years later, The Little Mermaid arrived and started the company’s renaissance-but The Great Mouse Detective was always a favorite of mine as a child. I’m pleased to find that it’s still as charming and exciting now as it was to me then. A twist on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s invention, Sherlock Holmes, the great detective, along with every other character, is replaced, here, by a mouse called upon to help a young girl-mouse reunite with her abducted father, and thwart his arch-nemesis, Professor Ratigan (Price), once more. The animation is striking, bolstered by early use of CGI; the climactic showdown between the heroes and Ratigan in Big Ben is a stunning example of this. The voice work by Vincent Price, clearly relishing his role, is fantastic, and the story is compelling and efficient.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

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