Disney is the king of animation. The studio dazzled superb projects like The little mermaid, Aladdin, And Hercules. In recent years, they have once again impressed films like The princess and the frog, which takes place in New Orleans and twists the classic fairy tale “Frog Prince” on his head. Moana, Released in 2016, would have been the return Disney needed after the repeated flops at the box office. All these films have one thing in common – they were made by the Powerhouse team at Ron Clements and John Musker.

There are truly talented artists, writers and directors who work for Disney, but perhaps none has helped shape the studio as much as Ron Clements and John Musker. Many know their work. However, there is a project of their which stole under the radar. It is an incredibly dark film that is inspired by classic characters. It also happens that it is the beginnings of director of Clements and Musker. The project in question is 1986 The great mouse detective. It’s been thirty-nine years since the film was released, and it remains just as fantastic and captivating. Certainly a must for any Disney fan!

The Great Mouse Detective is an animated interpretation of Sherlock Holmes

No conversation on underestimated Disney films is complete without mentioning The great mouse detective. The film follows a young mouse called Olivia Flaversham, whose father is kidnapped by a friend from a malicious bat of a teacher ratigan (superbly expressed by the late Vincent Price). His father must create a robot version of the Queen so that Professor Ratigan can be secretly behind the scenes. Olivia is recruiting a famous detective named Basil of Baker Street to help resolve the case and find her disappeared father. Basil colleague David Q. Dawson, is the Basil colleague and a giant Bassett dog named Toby.

The great mouse detective is surprisingly dark and scary for a Disney animated film, that may be why it went under the radar. Fidget, the evil battle, hits a threatening profile each time it hides in the shadows. Professor Ratigan is downright sadistic with his plot to pretend to be the queen via a coarsely built robot. There is even a controversial scene where Basil and Dawson go to a shabby tavern near the quays called Rat Trap. They are there to follow an advance, but while checking customers, they end up looking at the impertinent performance of one of the women artists – a moment Jessica Rabbit who seems extremely inappropriate for a film classified in G.

The events of the film plays like a black film or a mystery in the vein of Sherlock Holmes. Adults in the public will recognize and appreciate the similarities and will be just as captivated by the film as the youngest audience. Overall, The great mouse detective is a family film that everyone can appreciate.

The great mouse detective Has a sophisticated story and a rich animation. He also explores darker themes that will appeal to fans of other more stretched Disney films, such as Alice in Wonderland, nightmare before Christmas, Or Notre Dame’s hunchback. Professor Ratigan, on the other hand, remains one of the most delicious Disney bad guys of all time. He is a giant sewer rat who does not like to be called rat. At first, he was written to be a lean character and looking for. However, after Ron Clements and John Musker made the wise choice by hiring Vincent Price to serve as a voiceover actress, one of the cinema illustrators, Glen Keane, changed the design.

According to Keane:

“I started to make drawings of a much larger and huge rat character and it adapts. So, we have in fact brought Vincent Price and we are directed in this direction. ”

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The price was 75 years old and at the end of his acting career, although his final performance was seen four years later in Edward Scissorhands As an inventor, a role written just for his talents. The veteran actor, whose vast filmography includes Wax house,, The abominable Dr Phibes,, The Mask of Red DeathAnd William Hill’s classic horror film House on the haunted hillprovides expressiveness and bravado to his role as a teacher ratigan who cannot be paired. It was the right decision to make the character hard and threatening. He has become one of the most formidable bad guys in Disney’s history, with Cruella de Vil, Scar and Captain Hook.

Casting Vincent Price was only one of the genius choices that Ron Clements and John Musker made for The great mouse detective. Despite its more mature content, the film There remains one of the most beautiful features of Ron Clements and John Musker Canon. The animation is beautifully dark, the action sequences are exciting and the story is captivating.

There is a sequence in a toy store that stands out to be particularly delicious. It is from the point of view of the mice, so all the toys seem greater than life. A jack-in-the-box gets started in a threatening way after Basil, Olivia and Dawson climbed a ladder through the window. As the scene progresses, viewers see a view of the birds of mice that are going through a failure. Due to the way the camera is defined, the pieces seem imposing on the characters.

This is an excellent example of the strength of writing and management The great mouse detective. The public really has the impression of being at the same level as the mice which serve as main characters. Ron Clements and John Musker paid attention to details and made the world as shown in the point of view of mice. It makes it all even more immersive.

Disney desperately needed a return during the release of the great mouse detective

The great mouse detective It was a chance for Ron Clements and John Musker to prove themselves as filmmakers for the first time. It all started after Ted Berman and Richard Rich The black cauldron was a box office in 1985, earning only $ 21.3 million with a budget of $ 44 million. The film Dark Fantasy has since become a classic cult, but at the time, it was devastating for Disney to invest so much time and effort in a bomb.

Fortunately, Ron Clements was there to save the day. He had read a children’s book written by Eve Titus and illustrated by Paul Galdone called Basil of Baker’s Street And thought it would do an excellent animated functionality. He presented the idea to Disney, who accepted with pleasure because they needed a film that would help them put them on foot.

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The great mouse detective increased occasionally. The film received two inches from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert in their program In the cinema. Siskel then praised the film The Chicago Tribune, Saying “travels a wide emotional range, taking us from cuddly to frightening, from recognition to wonder”.

Moreover, The great mouse detective was a success at the box office. It was made for a modest $ 14 million and ended up bringing $ 50 million worldwide. Ron Clements and John Musker have proven to be a dynamic duo, which is why Disney continued to use them for many projects in the future.

It will be exciting to see what comes then for Ron Clements and John Musker

In an interview with Columbia College of Art & Design, John Musker shared more on how he and Ron Clements have become the Disney Animation Dream team. According to the director, they were strange men when they worked as history contributors to The black cauldron. The film lost a lot of money, and nothing of what they presented could save it from Box Office Doom.

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After Ron Clements presented his idea of ​​adapting Basil of Baker Street, The rest was in history. He and John Musker have teamed up for co -director The great mouse detective And were welcomed with critical praises and huge box office numbers. Disney received the proof that they needed Clements and Musker were capable of magnitude. The duo continued to make the animation story with films such as The little mermaid,, Alladdin,, Hercules,, Treasure,, The princess and the frogAnd Moana.

This shows that success could always be hidden behind a failure. Due to the success of The great mouse detective, Ron Clements and John Musker have become pillars in Disney Animation. They then wrote and directed some of the most famous films in Disney’s history.