The Magic Kingdom Project: The Great Mouse Detective 1986

The Spark of Revolution

As newly made, and soon to be ousted President, Ron Miller began his reign in 1980 and many hoped, as Walt’s son - in - law, he would be the one to lead the studio back to glory. But he was unceremoniously booted after only four years. But out of the chaos that was the production of the Black Cauldron, Miller also greenlit another animated fiml that turned into a game changer. In the mid - 70s, veteran Disney layout artist Joe Hale had floated the idea of adapting the children’s book Basil of Baker Street byt Eve Titus. Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Basil of Baker Street focuses on the titular mouse and his adventures solving mysteries with his personal biographer, Doctor David Q. Dawson.  But studio executives felt the project too closely resembled the Rescuers, and it was promptly shelved. By the early 80s, Miller was encouraged by the progress of the Black Cauldron, but anxious over the studio not having another, more traditional animated tale in the works. After animators Musker and Clements left the production of the Black Cauldron in ’82 because of creative differences with the producer, Clements pitched this film to Miller through a 15 minute short, created by story artist Pete Young. 

Miller was desperate for an alternative project for people not working on Black Cauldron, so he greenlit the adaptation and assigned Musker and Clements to direct it, along with storyboard artists Burny Mattison and Dave Michener. This marked the first time Musker and Clements collaborated on anything, though of course, not nearly the last.In 1984, when Miller was ousted and Eisner and Katzenberg stepped in as respective CEO and head of Walt Disney Pictures, their first task was to review everything currently in production, especially in the lagging animation department. They were unimpressed with a story reel screening of Basil of Baker Street in 1985 and they demanded a rewrite of the script and of the film’s title before animation could start.

THE STORY

In 19th century London, on the eve of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Olivia  Faversham and her father are celebrating Olivia's birthday when a peg legged bat kidnaps him after a brief struggle. So, with the help of bypassing Army mouse Dr. David Q. Dawson, Olivia goes to find the famous detective, Basil of Baker Street, who she believes to be the only one who can find her father. At first, Basil is unwilling, but then it transpires that the bat who took Olivia’s father is in the employ of Basil’s arch nemesis, Professor Ratigan, the “Napoleon of crime”. Now, you who haven’t seen this movie before might be wondering “what would the Napoleon of crime want with a toymaker?”… Obviously I cannot say.

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With the budget of the Black Cauldron already spiralling, Eisner tightened the projected budget of Great Mouse Detective from a modest $24 million to a paltry $10 million. Plus, he moved the release date from Christmas ’87 to July ’86, which angered the animators and gave the production team only a year to complete the films. But the decision would also inspire an animation revolution.To cut down on costs, the guys reused an old tactic that hadn’t been in use for 30 years and limited the moving characters in each scene to two, against statc backgrounds. The thick black lines on each character rendered costly, intricate detailing redundant, which, while it adheres to the budget, also damages the films aesthetic.

Numerous British actors were auditioned, but Barrie Ingham of Royal Shakespeare Company fame, won the role of Basil six minutes into his audition. Allegedly his audition was so good that parts of it made it into the final film. The film’s villain, Professor Ratigan was played by the icon of 50s horror, Vincent Price, who happily obliged to an audition, saying later “if anyone but Disney had asked me, I would have been offended”. Apparently voicing a Disney villain had always been on Vincent’s list, but he had never been approached. Appropriately, he is now the star of the film.

It’s unlikely you’ll hear many fans or critics speak of this one in this time period. Granted, it was very popular in 1986, grossing $50 million worldwide against a $14 million budget, which it needed after the disaster that was the Black Cauldron, because this film convinced Eisner and Katzenberg that the animation department was still an asset to the studio. With all it’s popularity at the time, however, this film has mostly faded away over the last thirty years, and I’d be lying if I couldn’t see why. There just wasn’t much spent on it.

MY VERDICT

Despite all the problems, it is, nonetheless, a perfectly entertaining little gem with it’s list of very memorable and endearing characters, that manages to keep audiences paying attention and even gripped, in some stages.

Is the Great Mouse Detective A Disney Classic? In a decade of disappointing films, this proved to be a breath of fresh air that reawoke all the classic sensibilities of old Disney while pushing towards the impending revival, so it deserves more love than it recieves and is an underrated Disney Classic.