In my humble opinion this is the most underated animated film of all time. Its a shame such an awesome film is overlooked by many people today and (even with Disney considering theyve never really marketed any GMD toys). As a kid this was one of my favourites, and even rewatching it as an adult I still enjoyed it. Plus Ratigan is one badass villain.
GMG Man
This is why it's vital to spread the word to as many people as possible. Do little things here and there to help it gain awareness. I wear a Basil pin on my purse and yes, people do notice it. I heard a conversation behind me going, "Is that Basil?" "That character looks like from The Great Mouse Detective." I tried to hold in my enthusiasm. :)
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Don't forget guys that THIS film's modest success encouraged Disney to go forward with the project that relaunched Disney animated films after a LONG dry spell--the Little Mermaid.
NM
Oh, no, I didn't forget at all. I know GMD saved the animation studio when The Black Cauldron did so poorly at the box office. It still falls into the shadow of films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Whenever Ron Clements and John Musker are mentioned, it usually reads as "From the directors that brought you..." and it will list at least one or two of those three films, never GMD. :(
share>>"From the directors that brought you..." and it will list at least one or two of those three films, never GMD
All too true...
Basil of Baker Street
http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/basil/bakerst.html
I collect Disney pins, and I have one of Basil in his traditional detective garb. Just knowing that Disney actually made a Basil pin was pretty exciting for me.
shareI love that pin!!
Basil of Baker Street
http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/basil/bakerst.html
Do you mean this pin:
http://www.pinpics.com/cgi-bin/pin.cgi?pin=46402&sid=5768.1222474405
If so, that's the same one I wear on my purse, the one Barrie Ingham pointed out when I met him! :)
I may be completely wrong but I felt Disney paid this film homage whenever they had the "also available from Disney" trailers before the film (at least on VHS), I remember the backing music being the main theme from GMD.
shareI know this post is a couple of years old, but I wanted to mention this. When Walt died in 1966 (the year before Jungle Book came out), that's when the Disney Studios started to have creative troubles. Walt helmed every picture and put his creative sense into every movie and pushed everyone to do their best. As far as their animated movies go they did moderately well after Walt's death, but as you said Great Mouse Detective helped Disney to go forward with their next project. I'd say Disney redeemed themselves then with GMD considering before it The Black Cauldron did very poorly.
It still surprises me that both Wayne Allwine (voice of Mickey Mouse) and Tony Anselmo (voice of Donald Duck) provided their voices in GMD as two of Rattigan's thug guards. Tony was even the key assisant animator.
I absolutely adore movies. Even bad ones. A good bad movie you must admit is great. -Roddy McDowall
Noxtan gets bonus points for quoting my favourite actor ever!!
Basil of Baker Street
http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/basil/bakerst.html
Aw, shucks! Roddy's a great actor. :-D
I absolutely adore movies. Even bad ones. A good bad movie you must admit is great. -Roddy McDowall
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Those three movies ARE underrated along with ones that came before them: The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood, and The AristoCats. Even before Walt's death, I think The Sword and the Stone is also underrated. And these movies are not getting near enough the recognition they should have, what with most of Disney's animated features being released in the Diamond Editions and previously the Platinum Editions. The underrated Disney animated movies, I feel, need their due-diligence.
BTW, your quote makes me smile.
I absolutely adore movies. Even bad ones. A good bad movie you must admit is great. -Roddy McDowall
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Now, I've got insider news. Padraic Ratigan survives the fall... I've got a stuffed toy of "Padraic". I renamed the stuffed toy "Jason Kreis" in honor of my favorite soccer player.
Don't blame me. I just like to write my thoughts.
It's an underated film, and was a big step up from The Black Cauldron. I believe GMD was Disney's best animated film from the 80s.
shareIt is a shame that so solid films like GMD and Robin Hood are so minimalized because they came out during the Disney Dark Age. I very certain that had the former come out during the renaissance era, it would be much better remembered.
shareRobin Hood was their most successful animated film when first released. As was The Fox and the Hounder, which is my personal favorite
shareLet's not go crazy. The Little Mermaid is a masterpiece
shareI agree
shareProblems with the movie:
1. It is incredibly cliche from the bad guy to the bar scenes
2. It is incredibly short only running at around 70 minutes of actual movie time
3. The characters are all generic looking and don't have much anything to distinguish them from other mouse movies
4. Ratigan's legs are awkward. Seriously he has lady's legs
5. The soundtrack was good but the songs were embarrassing and awkward. It has the 80's vibe of everything was made electronically and this annoying since electronic imitations of instruments sucked in the 80's
6. The animation was below Disney's standards. Visually there isn't much good in this movie until the clock scene at the very end when Ratigan is running through the clock work
7. No character development
8. Straight forward plot
9. Very linear straight forward characters (though Disney has this problem with all of their movies)
Now don't get me wrong, I'm an animation "nerd" and I love the art of animation whether is be stop motion, CGI, or traditional. I do hand drawn animations myself. But honestly this movie is VERY flawed. The reason why it is overlooked it mainly because it doesn't have much to offer adults since all of the characters are very linear and one dimensional and the humor is lacking. Now I can respect your opinion but I do disagree and I listed all of the problems that I found in it so that maybe you can see why someone would think it isn't "good".
I totally disagree with what you had to say about The Great Mouse Detective. The characters blended together very well. The animation was superb for its time, the story was excellent and was easily followed, it had enough to keep adults and kids entertained throughout the entire film. Overall, I have to agree that it is one of Disney's most underrated full length animated feature films. On a different note, if you were to have done your homework on Disney History, you would know that Disney likes to bring something new to the table with most of their animated features. Four key films come to mind. The first being Bambi. Disney invented the "Multi-Plane Camera," so the audience was able to get the full depth of the charactersand background. FUrther more Disney won an inventor's award for the Multi-Plane Camera. How about Fantasia the first animated film set to symphonic music and the invention of "FantiSound. Only a handfull of theatres were equipt with that then state of the art sound system. Then there was Sleeping Beauty, Disneys first animated to be shot in "Widescreen" format. Lastly, "The Great Mouse Detective." The first Full length animated feature film to use CGI. If you look at other studios' animated films, they have taken key elements from Disney.
In closing, I will reiterate that The Great Mouse Detective is one of Disney's most underated animated films. Now, it may not be as timeless as "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," or "The Little Mermaid." But if it wasn't for the success of "The Great Mouse Detective, Disney Animation could have been no more.
Yeah, I knew about those trivia facts except for the wide screen thing.
The reason why I can accept this movie being mediocre is the reason WHY it is. The black Cauldron did very poorly financially compared to most Disney animated movies. So, since the animation studio was looking like it might get closed, Disney decided to give one last hurrah by making a simplistic, kid friendly, generic, and short film. The movie was INTENTIONALLY simple.
While I don't think it is a great film, I can give them credit for the fact that they knew from the start that they weren't trying to make a masterpiece. They were just trying revive their animation studio.
Also, concerning good animation, compare The Great Mouse Detective to Fantasia's animation. The Great Mouse Detective looks ancient in comparison.
Last note, I hope I'm not coming off as aggressive (I love debates) but I'm glad you were able to enjoy this movie. I just couldn't get into it at all... accept for the last couple of minutes. The clock scene was still cool.
Let's just agree to disagree
shareI heard the same thing about how underrated the movie "The Rescuers: Down Under" was.
But the truth is, it is exactly overlooked because it is flawed. It simply doesnt compare to the 70s movie and is very generic.
But I guess the main reason GMD is overlooked is because "An American Tail" triumphed over it.
I don't think The Rescuers: Down Under was underrated, but I did still enjoy it. I think people love to exaggerate how good forgotten movies are. The Great Mouse Detective is virtually unknown compared to most Disney classics, so naturally people want to remember only the good things about it. It does have its moments, but it is easy to forget all of the flaws that are in it as well.
sharebut it is easy to forget all of the flaws that are in it as well
So you are saying that because the animation is hand drawn that that means that Heavy Metal and Fantasia are the same in terms of quality? That The Thief and the Cobbler is equivalent to Winnie the Pooh?
Sorry, but that doesn't make any sense. Hand drawn animation varies significantly in style and quality and animation has nothing to do with the quality of a movie's plot, character development, voice-acting, and soundtrack.
there are a lot of films that have all the recipes to turn into classics, but in the end something really doesnt stick right and the gain only the "just good/decent" status.
Eg I remember the hype for the Disney movie "Oliver and Company". Same if not more as with Aladdin and Lion King. There were long queues of kids to see the film on its premiere. But movie was forgotten or perhaps overshadowed by the success of Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.
The Rescuers Down Under and ironically also the much better An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West, fell also victims to this. I remember I was the only kid in the room to watch An American Tail 2!
I'm kinda partial to Oliver and Company myself, but to each their own.
"There is no escape, John!"
While I am not sure that it is THE most underrated Disney, I certainly agree that TGMD deserves a lot more love and attention than it has received.
I so wish Disney had made a TV series out of Basil of Baker Street (which, incidentally, I would have preferred as the movie's title) while Barrie Ingham was still with us. Of course, they wouldn't have had Vincent Price, but they could have created a long-lost brother for Ratigan, and that would have explained the different voice.
But no more Barrie Ingham?
I have been, and always shall be, your friend. We'll miss you, Leonard.
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