The Great Mouse Detective: Difference between revisions

''Basil, The Great Mouse Detective'' in the UK.

 

 

This [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[Basil of Baker Street (Literature)|Basil of Baker Street]]'', a series of children's books by Eve Titus, tells a story of [[Sherlock Holmes]] in a [[Mouse World]]. When toymaker and mechanical genius Hiram Flaversham is [[Kidnapped Scientist]], his daughter Olivia hires [[Great Detective|the greatest detective in all mousedom]], Basil of Baker Street, to find him. On her way, she is found by the [[Narrator]] and Dr. Watson's [[Captain Ersatz]], Dr. Dawson, just back in London after serving overseas in the military. Basil is reluctant to take the case until he realizes the bat who kidnapped Olivia's father works for his [[Arch Enemy]], the [[Diabolical Mastermind]] Professor Ratigan.

{{quote| '''Dawson''': Oh, how very thrilling, eh, Basil?<br />

'''Basil''': All in a day's work, Doctor. }}

 

 

* [[Ax Crazy]]: Ratigan towards the climax, when he's enraged.

* [[Awesomeness By Analysis]]: Near the end, Basil escapes Ratigan's killer [[Rube Goldberg Device]] by setting it off at a very precise moment.

** ...or simply toss you overboard when you're weighing him down.

* [[Bad Guy Bar]]

* [[Big Friendly Dog]]: Toby.

* [[Big No]]: Basil, when discovering that the two bullets don't match.

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: Ratigan.

* [[Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics]]: The ''idea'' behind the ballistics test is presented fairly well, but the experiment conducted to determine a match has a fatal flaw. Basil holds the ends of the bullets together, and most of the grooves etched into the bullets by the rifling match, except for few. The problem is, if you turn the bullets around in your head so they're side-by-side as opposed to end-to-end, one would be a mirror image of the other! Thus, a cursory glance at them would be all you need to see that they don't match. Of course, if Ratigan knew Basil would make such a stupid mistake when comparing the bullets, this could be a case of [[Fridge Brilliance]], as it implies almost ''impossibly'' good foresight.

* [[Blowing a Raspberry]]: Ratigan's appearance in the Royal Palace elicits [[Dramatic Gasp|Dramatic Gasps]] from the crowd, except one little kid who just razzes him.

* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]]: Justified. Ratigan does build a giant death trap that he leaves our heroes in. However, it is explained that he wanted to stay and watch it, but as the heroes arrived 15 minutes later than he planned, he doesn't have the time to stay. So he rigs a camera to capture Basil's dying moment instead.

* [[Brick Joke]]: Right before leaving for Buckingham Palace, Ratigan tells a soon-to-be-dead Basil "Now, you ''will'' remember to smile for the camera, won't you?" as he activates his deadly Rube Goldberg contraption which is set to take a picture at the exact moment Basil and Dawson are to die.

** {{spoiler|...A few scenes later, after Basil's last-minute ingenuity ''very narrowly'' lets them escape the trap, he grabs hold of Dawson, catches Olivia and says "Smile, everyone!" as the picture of the three is successfully taken.}}

* [[Cape Snag]]: Basil invokes this on Ratigan towards the climax.

* [[Captain Ersatz]]

* [[Cats Are Mean]]

* [[Climbing Climax]]

* [[Disney Death]]: Basil.

* [[Disney Villain Death]]: Ratigan.

* [[Dueling Movies]]: With ''[[An American Tail]]'', another animated movie about mice coming out the same year (though it didn't come out until a few months afterward.) ''[[The Great Mouse Detective (Disney)|The Great Mouse Detective]]'' lost in the end, but that didn't mean it wasn't successful; in fact, it convinced [[Disney]] that its animation unit still had a future.

** The success of ''[[An American Tail]]'' probably helped convince [[Disney]] as well.

* [[Evilly Affable]]: [[Villain Song|In song]], Ratigan professes that he has planned his worst crime yet. His mooks gush ''"Even meaner? You mean it? '''Worse than the widows and orphans you drowned?'''"'' The thing is that his thugs asked the question with enthusiasm, and Ratigan was simply having fun the entire time.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: Largely averted, as Jeffery Katzenberg had little to no faith the movie would be any good. Most of his attention was spent on meddling with [[The Black Cauldron]]; we all know how that film turned out. Katzenberg did, however, demand the title of this film be changed from "Basil of Baker Street" to simply "The Great Mouse Detective". Two of the four directors have since said they've always hated this new title.

* [[Expressive Mask]]: Basil as a white rubber Chinese mouse during his introduction (also an example of [[Latex Perfection]]).

* [[Expy]]: Basil to [[Sherlock Holmes]], Ratigan to Professor Moriarty.

** Ratigan also bears some resemblance to Mok from [[Rock and Rule]] according to [[John Kricfalusi]]'s [http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2008/09/rock-n-rule-mok-robin-budd.html analysis of that movie]

* [[Face Palm]]: Basil during "Let Me Be Good To You" after Dawson starts making a fool of himself.

* [[For the Evulz]]: "You don't know what a ''delightful'' dilemma it was trying to decide on [[Death Trap|the most appropriate method]] for your demise."

* [[Frothy Mugs of Water]]: Averted; the drinks in the [[Bad Guy Bar]] are explicitly referred to as beer.

* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Basil comes across as somewhat rude, especially early in the film, which makes him a good contrast to the [[Faux Affably Evil]] Ratigan. Fitting, since the original Holmes can be somewhat of a [[Jerkass]] [[Smug Snake]] himself at times.

* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]: You see the shadow of Bartholomew the mouse getting eaten by Ratigan's cat.

* [[GPS Evidence]]: The brandy, coal dust, and salt water on Fidget's list.

* [[Heel Face Return]]: Fidget does this in a sequel comic.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Basil after he falls for Ratigan's trap.

** In fact, in ''The Adventure of Black Peter'', Holmes mentions he's known as (Captain) Basil around the Sumner area, though that much is coincidence. Of course, there's also Toby the dog, whom Holmes used in ''The Sign of the Four''.

* [[I Am Not Weasel]]: The professor HATES being called a rat; he's actually a "big mouse".

** and...

{{quote| "Set it off now. Set it...off...now? . ''(laughs madly)'' Yes, yes, we'll set the trap off NOW!!". }}

* [[Lucky Translation]]: Basil is called "Basil Holmuis" (hole-mouse) in Dutch. Yes, that's a real word.

** The Italian title for the film is ''Basil l'investigatopo'', a play on words with "investigatore" ("detective") and "topo" ("mouse").

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Queen Mousteria, a clear analogue of Queen Victoria.

* [[No Holds Barred Beatdown]]: Towards the end of the movie, Ratigan mercilessly attacks Basil while shouting "There's no escape this time, Basil!" That Ratigan is usually [[Affably Evil|more friendly]] than that only makes his [[Mood Whiplash|suddenly vicious]] attack feel even more intense.

* [[Nominal Importance]]: Some characters, including "[[Ms. Fanservice|Miss Kitty]]", are only named in the credits.

* [[Not Good With People]]: Basil. He is downright rude towards Olivia and seems to be very very uncomfortable while trying to cheer up Dawson.

* [[Obsession Song]]: "Goodbye So Soon"

** How about the current DVD cover artwork? Basil and Olivia don't look too bad, despite Basil having five fingers (usually he has four) and Dr. Dawson's eyes looking rather odd.

* [[Offstage Villainy]]: Ratigan lists his villainous exploits in his opening song, but [[Noodle Incident|we never get to see them]].

* [[Ominous Music Box Tune]]: In the toy shop, when the cradle that Fidget hides in is wound up.

* [[Panty Shot]]: Olivia, a few times. Most notably when Fidget shoves her into the bottle.

* [[Primal Stance]]: When Ratigan's animal rage returns him to all fours while attacking Basil.

* [[Punny Name]]: Many in the foreign language editions -- besides, of course, "Ratigan". For instance, the Italian Dawson is named "Topson", with "topo" meaning "mouse."

* [[Putting a Hand Over His Mouth]]: Basil does this to Dawson, as does Ratigan to Olivia--before she bites it.

* [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]]: [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100306022349/disney/images/7/74/Mousedetective017.jpg Olivia].

** Let's not forget she is the Hand Cat, of a RAT

* [[Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts]]: The clock tower ends up being a huge death trap. It doesn't work, but man, if someone didn't outdo themselves thinking it up.

* [[Unwitting Pawn]]: Basil falls for Ratigan's ploy perfectly, throwing him into a temporary [[Heroic BSOD]] at the shock of his own stupidity.

* [[Victorian London]]

** Made even ''more'' frightening is the fact he was previously so [[Evilly Affable]]. It series to show just how insane and feral his breakdown has left him.

* [[Villain Song]]: "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind"

* [[You Got Spunk]]: Olivia:

{{quote| '''Olivia:''' Just wait! Basil's smarter than ''you!'' He's going to put you in jail! He's not afraid of a big, old, ugly '''''rat''''' like you!<br />

 

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