THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE: Blu-ray (Walt Disney Pictures 1985) Disney Home Video

Coming as it did, at the end of a very prolonged dry spell for the Walt Disney Co., its empire in grave danger of succumbing to either a corporate takeover or complete dissolution of its assets, retired to the annals of history – a fate akin to MGM and United Artists, both gone the way of the dodo in the early 1980’s, the release of The Great Mouse Detective (1985) was the Disney’s last-ditch effort to pull back from the brink of receivership with a valiant, though nevertheless, largely fruitless retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, loosely masqueraded throughout the children's book series, 'Basil of Baker Street' by Eve Titus. If not for the combined efforts of newly appointed CEO, Michael Eisner and businessman, Frank Wells, Walt’s empire too might have perished, though hardly from neglect. Moreover, the Disney organization’s inability to progress with the times had earmarked the company with the pall of unwelcome old-fashioned-ness. That the organization’s devotion to wholesome ‘family entertainment’ remained inviolate after Walt’s death was admirable. That it should also have increasingly fallen out of favor with live-action product being produced elsewhere after the mid-1960’s was perhaps foreseeable too. Cute, quaint and cuddly characters were considered passé in the age of the antihero. But to also discover that their animated features – once thought of as the studio’s bread and butter – were struggling to be made attractive, even to the tiny tot sect, was a shift in audience tastes and focus that alarmed the company’s executive brain trust.

Thus, Eisner’s appointment was viewed as something of last stand to resurrect the company’s past and restore it to prominence yet again. Disney Inc. thereafter began an aggressive campaign to saturate the mass media market as never before; reintroducing TV audiences to ‘The Disney Sunday Night Movie’ on ABC, launching their own pay-per-view cable network, showing nothing but Disney product 24 hrs. a day, adding several prominent and new animated series to ABC’s Saturday morning kiddie line-up, and, separating the Disney brand from its live-action endeavors by launching Touchstone Pictures – later, to absorb Caravan, Cinergi and Hollywood Pictures too, and, finally, to kick-start a new spate of animated theatrical features that would mark a return to the company’s time-honored traditions of the fairytale musical for its inspiration. The Great Mouse Detective is therefore the last of the studio’s dying breed and clumsy efforts to escape this past – preceded by The Black Cauldron (1985), which was, in retrospect, by far, their worst artistic and financial miscalculation of the decade; second only to The Black Hole (1979), and, Tron (1982).

Often incorrectly sited as the first animated feature to use CGI technology for its climactic showdown inside the gears of Big Ben (CGI was first employed in Disney's The Black Cauldron), The Great Mouse Detective’s story, cobbled together by far too many writers to have one driving narrative shine through, resulted in yet another hodge-podge of cutesy characters, given precious little to do except fall back on the vocal characterizations of its stars, including Vincent Price, and, Barrie Ingham. The ‘too many cooks spoiling the broth’ writing team consisted of Pete Young, Vance Gerry, Steve Hulett, John Musker, Ron Clements, Bruce Morris, Matthew O'Callaghan, Burny Mattinson, Dave Michener and, Mel Shaw struggling in fits and sparks to drag the narrative along to its next predictable vignette, arbitrarily and rather indiscriminately inserting forgettable songs penned by Henry Mancini, in a vain attempt to hark back to the Disney tradition of creating memorable musical moments. Set in London, England circa 1897, the story concerns Olivia Flaversham (voiced by Susanne Pollatschek) the daughter of a prominent toymaker. Olivia's father, Hiram (Alan Young) has been kidnapped by Fidget, the bat (Candy Candido) at the behest of his employer, Professor Padraic Ratigan (Vincent Price) to carry out a diabolical bait and switch, involving Queen Mousetoria (Eve Brenner) – the mousy version of Queen Victoria.

Hiram's robot will replace Mousetoria and declare Ratigan as the new regent before she steps down: a wicked ploy to be sure, except that Olivia has decided to take matters into her own hands and seek out the crime-solving expertise of Basil of Baker Street (Barrie Ingham); the great mouse detective. Basil's domicile is at the base of Sherlock Holmes’ elegant mansion. After discovering Olivia lost and shivering inside an abandon boot, Maj. Doctor David Q. Dawson (Val Bettin) brings the young charge to Basil's attention. Basil, however, has other plans, distracted by his singular quest to apprehend Ratigan and prove himself the greatest crime solver in all England. Eventually recognizing his and Olivia's pursuits are basically one in the same, Basil employs the services of Holmes’ faithful Basset Hound, Toby (Frank Welker) to pursue his arch nemesis. From here, however, the narrative becomes increasingly lost and misguidedly concerned with living up to the 'Disney tradition' for songs and good cheer. We get a truly terrible anthem to crime, sung by a preening and remarkably effeminate, Ratigan. This is followed by an almost as obtuse torch song, warbled by a sultry 'nameless' saloon entertainer, (Melissa Manchester), who has absolutely nothing else whatsoever to do with the plot. The narrative gets back on track with Ratigan capturing Basil and Dawson; the former, inexplicably, if temporarily losing his nerve, resigned to defeat; the latter, refusing to give in. Replacing the Queen with Hiram's creation, Ratigan is declared the new ruler of the land, only to have Basil intercept the controls and declare the entire evening a shrieking fraud. Ratigan escapes with Fidget aboard a flying machine that crashes into Big Ben, resulting in the climactic showdown between Ratigan and Basil amidst its churning clockwork gears.

This last act is, to be sure, remains the highlight of The Great Mouse Detective. There are some stunning visual effects to behold herein. However, on the whole, neither these visuals nor the characters established thus far seem to gel with everything gone before this moment. The CGI allows the animation inside Big Ben to move with ease as a live-action camera might through similarly staged footage, liberating the animator’s in their craft. But it also draws undo attention to the rather static hand-drawn animation that dominates the picture. In terms of character development, Ratigan is the most fully realized of the lot, with Vincent Price’s mellifluous voice, establishing this feminized fop, suddenly transformed into a ferocious and pulsating mass of raging testosterone, hell bent on clawing the lanky and sophisticated Basil to death. The Big Ben sequence ends with Ratigan plummeting to his death off the minute hand of the clock. Basil is rescued by his own ingenuity, transforming Ratigan's crippled airship into a makeshift solo flying device and peddling it to safety. Our story concludes with Olivia and Hiram reunited and Dawson, employed by Basil to pursue yet another case as his crime-solving partner.

Viewed today, with the benefit of the studio’s renaissance classics to consider, The Great Mouse Detective has heavily dated by direct comparison. It was never a good movie, but in the interim it appears shamelessly to suffer from a time capsule of artistic ennui. Lest we forget, the best in Disney animation not only heralds from an embarrassment of riches – both visually and in song – it also retains its timeless appeal for adults and children. Arguably, The Great Mouse Detective does neither. Although it will be popular with tiny tots, there is a decided disconnect for older children and adults, the picture curiously cleaved from that fondly recalled Disney legacy. This is very much a kiddie flick that talks down to its target audience. Absent is that spark of eternal storytelling for the ages we have otherwise come to expect under the Disney banner. Disney Home Video’s Blu-ray release of The Great Mouse Detective is suspiciously similar to its previous ‘Mysteries in the Mist’ DVD edition, in that overall improvements to color saturation are minimal at best.  Dirt and scratches inherent in the original DVD release have been tempered, but remain baked into this 1080p transfer with a modicum of edge enhancement also afflicting the computer-generated portions of the movie. The audio, originally recorded as 'Dolby Surround' has been given a DTS 5.1 upgrade which does not entirely benefit its original sound design. Curiously, the upgrade seems to amplify rather than mask the shortcomings in the original fidelity.  Effects sound tinny, while songs tend to be center channel focused. Extras are direct imports from the original DVD release, including a fleeting 'making of' featurette, a new interactive game and quiz. Bottom line: pass.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

2

VIDEO/AUDIO

3.5

EXTRAS

1