The Great Mouse Detective

[Artemis]

As "The Great Mouse Detective" was the first Holmes adaption I was exposed to, I thought it deserved an appreciation thread. 

It's a very good adaption too, for a kids' movie.  I haven't seen them all by far, but of all the incarnations of Holmes I have seen, Basil of Baker Street is one of the closest in personality to BBC Sherlock.  There are some funny parallels between the movie and the show (many of which are based in ACD canon, but some not).

Both characters are dramatic, operating outside of social norms, and some semblance of Not So Stoic; by which I mean they are both emotional but keep their feelings buttoned down in true Holmes form, until there is a rare display of compassion or caring.
Ratigan (Moriarty) is equally dramatic and dresses like royalty at one point.
Basil and Dawson (Watson) go undercover disguised as sailors.  ("He wanted to be a pirate.")
Basil can never remember Olivia's last name.  ("Is that why you're calling yourself 'Greg'?")
Interaction with a child.
Some think that the scene in HLV where Mrs. Hudson identifies "behind the clock face of Big Ben" as one of Sherlock's bolt-holes is a nod to this movie.

 

 

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A music video mashup of S1 of

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"A noble pillow sacrifice, in the name of forensic science."



 

 

[Artemis]

"This is Sherlock when he's babysitting John's kid."
 

[Artemis]

"Sherlock should get a nice framed picture of Moriarty like Basil has of Ratigan."




"I always wondered how Basil got that portrait of Ratigan that hangs over his hearth. Ratigan was such a smug bastard I figured he commissioned it himself."


 

[Artemis]

"'Upon the Distinction Between the Ashes of the Various Tobaccos'"
 

[Artemis]

"this is the most underrated disney movie ever. i swear, no one has seen it. which is really f***ing unfortunate for all of them because they are missing out. it's sherlock holmes, starring mice. but seriously, basil is probably the reason i love intelligence. he is smart and witty and does everything on the fly and is so unreasonable and difficult to live with and plays shitty violin really loud and makes totally tumblr-worthy gpoy faces and really, more people should love basil."

 

http://sugalumps.tumblr.com/post/2064720242/top-10-animated-crushes-basil-of-baker

 

[Artemis]

 

 

[Artemis]

The Sherlockian Brilliance of 'The Great Mouse Detective'

 

 

"Sorry to the bristling Disney buffs who are ready to point out that The Black Cauldron was actually the first animated film that featured CGI. It was the first released, certainly, but as mentioned, the production of the two films overlapped. As it turns out, Cauldron producer Joe Hale saw the work-in-progress and asked animators to create computer generated elements including the titular cauldron for the other project. After the earlier film failed to connect with audiences, the CGI in the pioneering Big Ben sequence became a bigger part of the eventual publicity drive for this one."

"Despite a tumultuous production, The Great Mouse Detective was a deserving box office hit, making around $25 million back in its original run, from a lower budget than was originally intended. After stumbling with The Black Cauldron, a film that has since enjoyed re-evaluation and found its audience, this was a hit for Disney feature animation.

The sting in the tale came a few months after the film's July release, when Disney defector Don Bluth released another mouse movie, An American Tail. Fievel comprehensively out-grossed Basil at the box office and the film became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time.

Nevertheless, the animation department was saved and Musker and Clements would carry it into the period we now call the Disney renaissance. When the film came out, Clements had already convinced Eisner and Katzenberg to take a chance and green-light The Little Mermaid, and the rest is history.

Quite aside from being a funny and imaginative entry in the House of Mouse's history of animated features, that makes The Great Mouse Detective the most important Disney film of an uncertain era."

[Artemis]

'The Great Mouse Detective': The Movie That Saved Disney

 

"If you don't love The Great Mouse Detective for it's story, then love it for something else. It literally saved Disney Studios. The higher ups were basically convinced that they should stop making animated films after the huge financial disaster that was The Black Cauldron happened. When the The Great Mouse Detective came out in June of 1986, it was a hit with critics and with audiences. It was more light-hearted then Disney's last film and it's characters were much more likable. With a budget of $14 million, the movie ended up raking in $25 million. With this critical and financial success, though modest, it convinced the higher ups that Disney Studios was still capable of making money and churning out good films. Without this movie doing well, we may of not had the Disney Renaissance."

More:
https://www.mouseplanet.com/9534/How_Basil_Saved_Disney_Feature_Animation_Part_One
https://www.mouseplanet.com/9549/How_Basil_Saved_Disney_Feature_Animation_Part_Two
 

[Artemis]

 

"Letter Of Note of the Day: On February 13, 1986, an inter-office memo was sent out to Disney employees announcing the retroactive renaming of many studio classics.

The notice, attributed to then-Walt Disney Feature Animation president Peter Schneider, was actually the handy work of Ed Gombert, an animator who, along with many of his colleagues, was upset over the decision to rename Disney's Basil of Baker Street adaptation 'The Great Mouse Detective.'

Then-Disney CEO Jeff Katzenberg, who reportedly called Schneider into his office to do some explaining, was unable to determine the fake memo's true origin. Nor was he successful in stopping itself spread beyond the walls of Disney HQ: A copy of the memo eventually landed in the pages of the LA Times."

http://fyeahgreatmousedetective.tumblr.com/post/10191260840/thedailywhat-letter-of-note-of-the-day-on

 

 

 

[Artemis]

"Happy Anniversary!  (July 2, 1986)"