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An underrated Disney classic, "The Great Mouse Detective" was released in 1986. Though it was a modest commercial success, the film was soon overshadowed by another mouse-centric movie. Former Mouse House animator and Disney's main competition at the time, Don Bluth (along with Steven Spielberg), released "An American Tail" shortly thereafter. Although "The Great Mouse Detective" has largely faded into obscurity, it's definitely a major highlight of Disney's so-called "Dark Age."

The film is based on the series of children's books, "Basil of Baker Street" by Eve Titus and Paul Galdone, which are themselves a riff on the Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle....

The post How The Great Mouse Detective Was a CGI First For Disney appeared first on /Film.

The live action remakes just keep on coming! Following the massive financial success of Disney’s most recent reboots, the studio is planning on cranking out plenty more over the coming years. According to our sources – the same ones who told us that Black Mask will be gay in Birds of Prey, and that Robert Pattinson will be playing Batman, both of which were later confirmed – one of these projects will reportedly be The Great Mouse Detective. The mice will still be animated, apparently, while everything else will be live action, much like The Lion King and the upcoming planned Chip ‘n’ Dale feature.

For those unfamiliar, this popular cartoon mystery film was released in 1986 to widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Based on the children’s book series Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus, the feature closely emulates Sherlock Holmes and other detective fiction. The main character...

Mark Harrison Nov 21, 2019

Disney tackled Sherlock Holmes back in 1986, in an animated movie that's more groundbreaking than it's given credit for...

You never miss Sherlock Holmes on screen for long these days. In just the last decade we had BBC's Sherlock, CBS' Elementary, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock: Holmes a Game of Shadows, and Bill Condon's Mr. Holmes, in which Ian McKellen played an aged version of the sleuth.

With such a familiar character, it's no surprise that revisionist takes are in vogue at the moment, and certainly, there are precedents in film and TV. In the early 1970s, author Eve Titus and illustrator Paul Galdone remounted the whole concept for children's literature with the Basil Of Baker Street novels, in which mice stood in for Holmes and Watson, making deductions from the gutters and mouseholes of Victorian London.

Disney's 1986 adaptation of those books, The Great Mouse Detective, is one...

Disney is continuing their trend of releasing everything in high-definition with 1986's The Great Mouse Detective. Based on Eve Titus's Basil of Baker Street book series, the movie paved the way for the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s. A great mix of adventure and humor makes this an entertaining homage to the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes.

Master of Disguise and detective Basil of Baker Street lives under the home of his sleuthing hero, Sherlock Holmes. The sinister Professor Ratigan kidnaps the greatest toymaker in London to create a mechanical version of the Queen of Mice in a scheme to take over the country. Basil and his new sidekick Dawson embark on a rescue mission and must also find a way to stop Ratigan's evil plan.

As usual, Disney's high-definition treatment of this minor classic is superb. The electrifying colors and dark London city settings give this a spooky yet lively atmosphere.

With Alice In Wonderland arriving on disc next week, we look back at the English literature that's inspired previous Disney productions...

Disney has used mythology, historical characters, fairy tales and fables as the foundation for some amazing animated films. But, curiously for such an American icon, its also drawn on the diverse world of English literature for some of its most successful projects.

Alice In Wonderland (1951)

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland became the first animated Disney feature to use classic English literature as a bedrock. In the Disney version, elements from both the original Alice adventure and the sequel Through The Looking-Glass were combined to give a strong flavour of the Carroll's perversely warped universe.

Unfortunately, UK reviewers weren't kind to it, and it was one of the first Disney productions to be accused of 'Americanising' a literary classic.

In retrospect, Alice In Wonderland represents some amazing work in animation,...

.I am not a rat!. The game is afoot and the feet are mouse sized. Disney.s Holmesian pastiche is based on the books of Eve Titus but it.s pure Conan Doyle. Therefore a wonderful time revisiting those fog shrouded streets with the delightful voice cast and that Disney touch. In 1897 London, Olivia Flaversham (Susanne Pollatschek) is celebrating her birthday with her toymaker father (Alan Young). The celebration is interrupted by peg-legged bat Fidget (Candy Candido) and her father is kidnapped. Olivia escapes the clutches of the fiend and goes in search of the detective Basil of Baker Street. She gets lost and is come upon by Dr. David Q. Dawson (Val Bettin) who assists her...

I remember watching "The Great Mouse Detective" when I was young; it was one of my all time favorites since I was such a Sherlock Holmes fan. We offer you a chance to relive some of those memories with a look at two bonus features and two clips from the "Mystery in the Mist Edition" which sees DVD release on April 13th. We've also included several images. When talented toymaker Hiram Flaversham is mousenapped, his winsome daughter Olivia turns to the most famous mouse detective of them all, Basil of Baker Street. Accompanied by his assistant and confidante, Dr. David Q. Dawson, Basil uncovers a villainous plot by the “slimy, contemptible sewer rat” Dr. Ratigan to replace Moustoria, Queen of Mice, with a look-alike robot and take control of the entire rodent population of London. Based on Eve Titus's book Basil of Baker Street, The Great Mouse Detective channels...