The Sleuths – The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

Directed by: Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, David Michener, John Musker | 71 minutes | action, animation, adventure | Original voice cast: Vincent Price, Barrie Ingham, Val Bettin, Susanne Pollatschek, Candy Candido, Diana Chesney, Eve Brenner, Alan Young, Melissa Manchester | Dutch voice cast: Bill van Dijk, Paul van Gorcum, Paul Haenen, Harry Geelen, Tonny Huurdeman, Hugo Koolschijn, Guido de Moor, Marlijn Pel, Lisa Boray

The Disney Classic ‘The Great Mouse Detective’ starts with images of a gray and rainy London in 1897, although it is not yet clear at that time that the story takes place in this metropolis. We are introduced to two mice, Olivia Flaversham and her father, a toy maker. For her birthday, Olivia gets a beautiful ballerina mouse, which her father made especially for her. This sweet scene soon comes to an end when the door is rattled in an ominous manner. Father Flaversham already suspects danger, because he tells his daughter to hide in the closet, not a normal reaction for a parent when there is a knock at the door in the evening… The toymaker is kidnapped in a scene undoubtedly frightening for small viewers . Then we see all kinds of famous sights in London in helicopter view and the film could just as well be about ‘normal’ people at that time. We follow a man in a carriage reading a newspaper and for a moment it looks like it’s his voice we hear, but the camera moves down, and look! On a step at the bottom of the carriage sits a neat gentleman, uh… mouse. It turns out later that Dr. to be David Q. Dawson. dr. David Q. Watson meets a little mouse girl who is very sad. She is looking for Basil from Baker Street, because he might help her find her father. That girl is, of course, Olivia. dr. Watson takes her to the address in Baker Street and then the adventure really begins.

The film is based on the books by Eve Titus, who based his series of children’s books about a mouse detective on the character Sherlock Holmes from the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ‘The Great Mouse Detective’ or ‘De Speurneuzen’, as the film was released in the Netherlands, is the 26th Disney classic and came out in the 80s, before the blockbusters like ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ . Therefore, this animated film could not take advantage of the Disney revival brought about by these films, which undoubtedly had consequences for the reception of this film by the public. As a result, ‘The Great Mouse Detective’ has become a somewhat underrated film, which still has little fame.

That is not quite right. Except for a single scene, the film is full of speed and beautiful images. The scene in Big Ben is phenomenal and, although it was created with the help of computers, is a fine piece of work. The characters are endearing, with Basil’s nemesis, Professor Ratigan (voiced by Vincent Price) as a great villain. His humor and style makes a deep impression. His dark, crackling voice fits the character perfectly and it’s almost a shame you don’t see his expressive face with it.

Not an “elementary Disneyclassic, so, my dear Watson”, but one that is worth watching!