The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
After the artistic, critical, and box office failure that was The Black Cauldron, Disney released what would become the slow return to their peak form, The Great Mouse Detective. As a child, this was my favorite film, and revisiting it again it is not hard to see why. The characters are all charming, the villain is great fun, the story is inventive, and it all builds to a killer climax. Production on this film took only one year thanks to bolstered help from computers, which expedited the animating process considerably.
The premise is a simple one: Sherlock Holmes, but as a mouse. Our hero is Basil of Baker Street (who happens to share a flat with Holmes), who is hot on the trail of the criminal mastermind Ratigan (Vincent Price). He teams up with Dr. Dawson and a little girl named Olivia whose father, an inventor, was recently kidnapped by Ratigan. Together, they set out to stop his nefarious plan of usurping the Queen's throne.
Most notable about this film is it is the first major use of CGI (though computer graphics had been employed in Black Cauldron) for the gears inside the clock tower. Seeing it now, you can recognize that they are in fact not completely painted, but its a wonder to behold and serves as one of the film's best scenes. The climax between Ratigan and Basil takes place on top of Big Ben, inside and on the face. As far as Disney goes, this stuff gets pretty intense and dark, as Ratigan beats Basil to within an inch of his life (though of course our hero is victorious).
The film was directed by a team that includes Ron Clements and Jon Muskar, and I'll be repeating their names quite a few times in the coming reviews as they are responsible for some of Disney's successes and failings. But with this feature they, along with Burny Mattinson and David Michener, have created one of my favorite Disney films, though it is not one that immediately stands out when recalling the classics.
Oliver & Company (1988)
With Disney, no stone is left unturned, so naturally we get Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist, but....updated to modern day New York, with most of the cast now dogs and cats? Quoi? Well, Disney usually makes the absurd possible!
Unfortunately they don't with this one. While its not altogether that bad, with some fun characters voiced by Billy Joel and Cheech Marin, its just kind of a head scratcher why this movie exists. The animals offer no new insights into the source material and, in fact, the story feels more convoluted in places. Fagin is not a cunning, master thief, making him one of fiction's great anti-heroes, but instead is a bumbling hobo (voiced by Dom DeLuise) who has a huge debt with the formidable Sykes. This character serves no purpose except to give the film an exciting climax, though he does have the most shocking villain death in Disney...ever. Instead of merely falling to his death, he is plowed head on by a train. Pretty brutal.
The rest of the movie has its moments, though. The opening is a sad little story of a kitten that gets left in the adoption box, Billy Joel's Dodger gets a fun musical number, and the relationship between Jenny and Oliver is sweet. But overall, this film is more for kids then adults, and even then it goes to some dark places in the end that may only be appropriate for kids no longer interested in seeing it.
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Disney Animation had struggled ever since Walt Disney's death in 1967. The department came close to shutting down and their films became bigger and bigger failures as time went on. Yet sometimes all the elements come together at the right place and the right time, and lightning strikes like you never thought it could.
I think the biggest reason Little Mermaid is such a huge success is because of the songs by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. The movie itself is still a fairly decent retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, albeit without the Little Mermaid dying at the end. There's a spectacular villain in the form of Ursula (Pat Carroll) and this marks the first time in Disney Animation that the Prince and Princess do not immediately fall in love with each other. Well, Ariel is immediately taken with the Prince, but she has to work to get him to like her (without her beautiful singing voice). And there are great supporting characters in the form of Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle. Unfortunately, the Prince (who does have a name, Eric) is still pretty bland, but you can't have everything.
But my God, the songs! Part of Your World, Under the Sea, Poor Unfortunate Souls, and Kiss the Girl. You know at least two of those songs, and you would easily recognize the others if you heard them. Not since The Jungle Book in 1967 has there been a collection of songs this good. The showstopper, of course, is Under the Sea, which will have you smiling and will brighten your day. Howard Ashman supplied the fun, creative lyrics, and if you don't know his name, there's a good reason for that which we'll touch on later. Still, before this he wrote the lyrics for the musical version of Little Shop of Horrors (1986), which also features a slew of great songs.
All these elements combined to make this film a rousing success for Disney. It took in $84 million and was ranked number 13 at the box office in 1989. It revived Disney Animation and ushered in the Renaissance period, where some of the company's best work was put out. Lastly, it was directed by Ron Clements and Jon Musker, who got their directorial kick-off with The Great Mouse Detective and brought the studio huge returns 3 years later. It's a delightful film, and the fact that it even got made is nothing short of a miracle.
The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
Many forget that this film counts as one of the official Disney canon films. It's the only sequel from the Disney Animation department, and it comes from one of the worst Disney films. But surprisingly it becomes one Disney's better efforts, a mildly entertaining continuation of the adventures of Bernard (Bob Newhart) and Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor).
A young boy in Australia (who is not Australian, I might add. Must have moved from LA) is kidnapped by the menacing poacher McLeach (George C. Scott) because the boy, Cody, knows the whereabouts of a very rare bird, the Golden Eagle, and her egg nest. So its Miss Bianca and Bernard to the rescue as they commandeer another Albatross (this time voiced by John Candy) down under. Along the way they meet a helpful Aussie mouse named Jack, a pack of sadistic nurse mice (in one of Disney's strangest scenes) and of course, the golden eagle Marahute.
It's a fairly short film, but its a lot better then the first outing, with more energy and better characters. The villains morals are fairly scrambled, as he is prepared to feed Cody to the Crocodiles multiple times before something interrupts him. That's said, its still a fun little adventure, and I imagine the opening scene plays very well on the big screen. Its one of those fantastical moments infused with a bit of Disney magic, before it gets mired down in convention.
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Arguably, this is the best Disney film since the studio's founder passed on. I'm not counting Pixar, I'm talking strictly about films that have come out of the Disney Animation department. None have done it better then this.
The main character, Belle, doesn't only dream of marrying a prince, she's more interested in reading her books (which does involve a princess meeting her Prince Charming). The villain Gaston is not evil to his core, he's just a vain, stuck up individual who gets insanely jealous at the end. The Beast is also a vain creature, but his horrifying transformation has humbled him, and the idea of romance between our two characters is out of the question. And, once again, the songs are all fantastic.
Be Our Guest. Beauty and the Beast. Gaston. Something There. Belle. The Mob Song. All of these are fantastic numbers, and I can't think of too many musicals that can boast such an impressive line-up of songs. Once again this comes from the minds of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken hard at work, and it takes a good fim and it makes it great. Anyone who knows me well knows I love singing along to Be Our Guest. It's Disney's best song, in my opinion.
And the fact that Belle and the Beast have to work their relationship is, while obvious considering he's a monster, a refreshing take on Disney's tired Princess formula. True he turns into a human at the end, but she truly cares for him and at this point its a little added bonus. Most Disney films going forward would let the relationships between their characters build, instead of automatically assigning them the role of couple straight away. Rounding out the film is a cast of fantastic supporting characters, including the candlestick Lumiere, Cogsworth the Clock, Mrs. Potts, LeFou, and many others. This is Disney at its best, like it hadn't been seen since 1940, and like we may not see until 2042.
Part 7 will cover:
Aladdin (1992)
The Lion King (1994)
Pocahontas (1995)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Hercules (1997)
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