Actors: Vincent Price, Barrie Ingham, Basil Rathbone, Val Bettin, Susanne Pollatschek
Directors: Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, Dave Michener, John Musker
Rated: G (General Audience)
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 9, 2012
Run Time: 74 minutes
Film: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 2 out of 5 stars
“The Great Mouse Detective” is one of Disney under-appreciated animated titles. It was originally released theatrically in 198 and is a play on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and is based on Eve Titus’s book “Basil of Baker Street”. I have always been a fan of this film since I was a kid but it never really got the respect it deserves. This film packs some great voice talent as well, I mean Vincent Price playing the villain. Can you ask for anything better? Like all Disney releases, this release comes in a combo pack with a Blu-ray and DVD discs of the film. This is a must for Disney fans to add to their collections!
Official Premise: When the diabolical Professor Ratigan – voiced by the late Vincent Price – kidnaps London’s master toymaker, the brilliant Basil of Baker Street and his trusted sidekick Dawson – voiced by Barrie Ingham and Val Bettin respectively – try to elude the ultimate trap and foil the perfect crime. This family classic on Disney Blu-ray proves big heroes come in small packages.
The film looks stunning on Blu-ray. Disney has been releasing a bunch of archive titles and this one is among the best. It’s 1080p transfer looks fantastic and is framed at 1.78:1. The colors are very sharp and I love seeing the drawing lines on the characters. I really watched this film on Disney Junior and let me tell you, it looks like VHS compared to this amazing HD upgrade. The audio on this release included an DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. It delivers for the most part like past Disney archive releases and works wel with the songs.
The special features are really nothing special. “So You Think You Can Sleuth?” is a short 5 minute look into the history of the detective. “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” includes sing-along lyrics to sing along with Vincent Price. Lastly there is “The Making of The Great Mouse Detective” is another short behind the scenes look into the film’s production and how it used computers to assist in the animation.