Awesome / The Great Mouse Detective

• Not only does Basil live under Sherlock Holmes' flat, but the filmmakers used audio of Basil Rathbone himself! Best shout-out ever!
  • It's even better if you know the history of the book series that inspired the film; Basil of Baker Street. Eve Titus named her main character after Rathbone.
• Tiny one for Olivia: her father got kidnapped, their home got trashed, and she doesn't know why. So she finds a newspaper clipping for Basil of Baker Street, gets her wrappings, and sets out to find him! Yes, she gets lost and needs to take a break in an abandoned boot to cry, but we see she's quite a Plucky Girl.
• When Basil keeps ignoring Olivia, she gets stern and demands that she needs his help, and is insulted by his implying that her "lost" father abandoned her. She says, "I didn't lose him! He was taken by a bat!" When an interested Basil asks for more information, she remembers that the bat had a peg leg, causing Basil to have a "Eureka!" Moment: Professor Ratigan kidnapped Hiram Flaversham. When Basil wants to go ask Toby for help, Olivia says she's coming. She has her way, much to his displeasure.
• The early scene with Basil doing some forensic chemistry on Fidget's list has to qualify if you know chemistry. What he does is (with the addition of some showman's flair) what a real chemist might have done at the time. He burns the paper and grinds the ash with a mortar and pestle, then puts it in a solution with what is probably a pH indicator. Wood pulp ash is rather acidic, but the addition of coal ash makes it alkaline, and a skilled chemist would even be able to tell the type of coal (anthracite, bituminous, etc.) that generated the ash. He then heats up something that, in real life, would be silver nitrate; the heating increases its solubility in water. Adding a bit of the hot silver nitrate to the ash solution, the silver reacts with the chloride ions from the salt in the water and makes a white precipitate - exactly what is shown in the movie. And, indeed, the Thames is primarily brackish saltwater. Shown Their Work indeed.
• Dawson gets his CMOA when he shouts at Basil who is currently going through a Heroic BSoD:
  "Dash it all, Basil, the Queen's in danger, Olivia's counting on us, we're about to be horribly splatted, and all you can do is lie there feeling sorry for yourself! Well, I know you can save us. But if you've given up, then why don't we just set it off now and be done with it?!"
  • Which is followed up by the perhaps the most awesome moment in the movie. Basil snaps out of his Heroic BSoD and, within seconds, forms a plan to escape the triggered Death Trap. All the awesome of Sherlock Holmes and Batman rolled into one!
    Basil: Heh. Set it off now. (Beat) Set it... off... now? Ye... heh heh... ha ha ha! Yes! We'll set the trap off now!
  • How he does this is epic. He releases the mousetrap's mechanism early, causing it to get stuck on the ball bearing, part of the mechanism springing loose and hitting the pistol, which causes it to misfire, hitting the crossbow, which causes the axe to fall, cutting the trap in half, sending them both flying in opposite directions, meaning the anvil misses them completely.
  • After this, he gets out of disguise - complete with an orchestral "TAH-DAH!" - catches Olivia (who had gone flying after uncorking her prison), pulls Dawson into frame, and with great cheer says, "Thank you, Dawson. Smile, everyone!" just before posing for the picture Ratigan intended to show Basil's death with a bewildered Dawson and Olivia.
  • To elaborate further on Dawson's CMOA; throughout the film, he's been portrayed as a lovable (if somewhat buffoonish and a bit clueless at times) Nice Guy with a dash of Butt-Monkey thrown in for good measure (his major inspiration seems to be Nigel Bruce who played Watson opposite Basil Rathbone's Holmes). Throughout the film, even when he was the butt of many jokes, he's been kind, patient, friendly and in awe of Basil's intelligence and skill. But when Basil is bemoaning how he fell for Ratigan's trap and seemingly not caring about the grave danger not only he and Dawson are in but all of mousedom, Dawson's anger, frustration and impatience mount as Basil rejects his attempts to encourage him out of his Heroic BSoD. Fed up, Dawson yells "THAT'S ENOUGH!" before delivering the What the Hell, Hero? combined with Get A Hold Of Yourself Man speech quoted above. He's a nonlethal example of Beware the Nice Ones and it's interesting to note that after this speech...he doesn't have another comedic moment.
• Ratigan kills a drunk mouse for calling him a "rat."
  "Oh, my dear Bartholomew, I'm afraid that you've gone and upset me. You know what happens when someone upsets me..."
• Ratigan verbal-owning Basil. Vincent Price's maliciously cheerful voice makes it all the more awesome.
  "Though, frankly, I expected you fifteen minutes earlier. Trouble with the chemistry set, old boy?"
  "You have no idea what a delightful dilemma it was, trying to decide on the most appropriate method for your demise. I had so many ingenious ideas, I didn't know which to choose! So... I decided... to use them all."
  • In a breathtaking display of showmanship, the metaphorical fuse on the Death Trap Ratigan puts Basil and Dawson into is a phonograph, playing a recording of himself singing a cheerful farewell to his soon-to-be-departed enemies.
• Ratigan deserves one for listening to Basil press his Berserk Button and, judging by the look on his face, taking a MONUMENTAL amount of self-control not to jump on Basil and maul him right there.
  Basil: (with a faux smile) Ratigan, no-one can have a higher opinion of you than I have. (smile fades) And I think you're a slimy, contemptible sewer rat!
  (Ratigan smiles calmly and closes his watch while everyone else gasps)
  • Ratigan really did beat Basil, if only temporarily, and all it took was allowing Basil to find him.
• The random cameo of Bill the Lizard from Alice in Wonderland was pretty awesome.
• Ratigan threatens to feed Flaversham to Felicia if he doesn't finish the Queen robot in time. Flaversham then becomes so angry that he manhandles the in-progress robot in a way that causes it to squirt oil on Ratigan's coat. The following line ensues.
  "You can do what you want with me! I won't be a part of this-this-this evil any longer!"
  • What makes it even more awesome is that the man is still obviously terrified, but he composes himself enough to Face Death with Dignity.
  • Becomes a heartwarming moment combined with tearjerker when Ratigan realizes that Flaversham really is willing to die rather than commit this crime...and so instead threatens the life of his daughter, after which Flaversham complies with Ratigan's demands.
  • Ratigan himself gets a brief one after Flaversham puts his foot down. He doesn't scream or yell or holler. He makes a very displeased "This is unacceptable'' face as he exhales cigarette smoke before smiling, shrugging his shoulders...and playing his trump card.
    Ratigan: Very well. If that is your decision! (picks up the windup toy ballerina and winds the key) Oh, by the way, I'm taking the liberty of having your daughter brought here.
    Flaversham: (horrified) O...Olivia?!
    Ratigan: (chuckles as he puts the toy back on the table and watches the toy ballerina perform the same dance she did at the beginning of the film)'' Yes. Yes. I would spend many a sleepless night...if anything unfortunate were to befall her!
• Ratigan's attempted Awesome Moment of Crowning is foiled by Basil taking control of the robot queen and using it to give Ratigan a blistering "The Reason You Suck" Speech while making the robot expose itself as such, while we see Olivia happily reuniting with her father, and Dawson and even the Queen tying up Ratigan's minions. Basil caps his speech off by slamming Ratigan's berserk button again — and actually making him scream in frustration this time!
  Basil: You, Professor...
  Robot Queen: ...are none other than a foul stenchus rodentus, commonly known as a...
  Ratigan: DON'T SAY IT!!! (infuriated and trying to hold the robot's mouth shut)
  Basil: (emerges from the curtains and points at his nemesis) SEWER RAT!
  Ratigan: DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
  Basil: Arrest that fiend!
• Olivia gets one for calling Ratigan a rat! The first guy who did that got fed to a giant cat, and the last was nearly murdered in a Death Trap.
  • She bit Ratigan on the hand during the clock tower chase as well, allowing Basil to grab the mastermind's cape and stuff it into the gears.
• The ending: not only did they play up the Reichenbach Falls story (complete with a Disney Death for their Holmes stand-in), but the way the movie changes from a madcap, comedic mystery into a breathtaking chase sequence, a climactic fight inside the Clock Tower of Parliament, the Nightmare Fuel of Ratigan's evil transformation into a crazed killer rat, and finally Basil's clever usage of Big Ben striking to topple the villain to his death (all of it with a very effective musical score) is simply incredible. Most people who talk about the Disney Renaissance say it began with The Little Mermaid (1989), but just as many contend that The Great Mouse Detective should be the real beginning, or at least that the seeds of it were planted here. (The movie, while vastly entertaining, does perhaps pale a bit compared to what followed it.) This ending sequence may be one reason why it deserves such an inclusion.
  • Basil's actual takedown of Ratigan is awesome all on its own. Ratigan has knocked him from the clock hand they were fighting on, and the crazed rat laughs as he thinks he's finally won — only for Basil's voice to cut the celebration short.
    Basil: On the contrary...THE GAME'S NOT OVER YET!
  • With that line, Basil rings Felicia's bell that he managed to snatch from Ratigan in the scuffle, distracting him for just a moment. The moment when the clock reaches the top of the hour and tolls. The vibration from the rung bell sends Ratigan off to his Disney Villain Death.
    • The fact that Basil managed to steal the bell right out of Ratigan's coat pocket while he was slashing him up with his claws and beating the cheese out of him is awesome on its own.
  • Plus, that sequence marked only the second time CGI was used by Disney's feature animation department.^note The first usage was in The Black Cauldron. The gears were computer animated, then traced by hand. Bonus points for it being completely accurate to Big Ben's internal workings.
  • The leadup to the chase also counts. Ratigan's plan has spectacularly failed and it's only by Fidget's managing to capture Olivia that he's able to escape. Basil, Dawson and Flaversham immediately rush after him but Ratigan, Fidget and Olivia are flying away in the dirigible. Thinking fast, Basil orders Dawson and Flaversham to gather some nearby balloons while he rips down the Union Jack from Buckingham Palace's flagpole. While Ratigan is distracted by Olivia's defiant speech about how Basil is going to stop him, Basil's flying contraption; made up of balloons, a matchbox and the Union Jack comes into frame, surprising them. Ratigan and Fidget attempt to fly away but Basil shouts at Dawson and Flaversham "Let her go, chaps!" and races after them! Crowning this beautiful scene? Henry Mancini's brilliant reprise of the main theme blaring at full steam.
• Some credit to Fidget. He's a clever little bat, turning the toy store into a gauntlet as soon as he found out Basil was there, managing to escape and snatch Olivia away in the process. And though you wouldn't think it awesome, he lasted for a good while with Felicia trying to eat him before Ratigan called her off. He was probably the one who put up the biggest fight against her out of everyone she's ever eaten.
• Though Ratigan's schemes such as the Big Ben Caper were rather impressive to begin with and earned him a lot of money, he manages to outdo himself when he comes up with a scheme that will make him the supreme ruler of all mousedom.

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