For their 26th animated theatrical release, Disney once again lives up to its nickname of the House of Mouse with this well-done Sherlock Homes parody, The Great Mouse Detective.
Like the books, the film is set in Victorian England, around the time of the Mouse Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Olivia Flaversham (Susanne Pollatschek) is a young girl mouse who lives with her kindly father (Alan Young), a toymaker. One night, Olivia watches in horror as Flaversham is kidnapped from his shop by Fidget (Candy Candico), a one-legged bat. (Note to parents - this can be a pretty scary scene for really little kids to handle). Olivia seeks out Basil of Baker Street, the titular Great Mouse Detective. She runs into Dr. Dawson (Val Bettin), a doctor recently returned from military service in Afghanistan and now looking forward to a quiet life back in England. Feeling sorry for Olivia, he helps her find Basil (Barrie Ingham), who's just come off working another case - unsuccessfully. Initially bored by Olivia's plight, he becomes a lot more interested when Olivia describes the one-legged bat who kidnapped her father - a known underling of Basil's arch-enemy, Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price).