The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

This is one of Disney's more serious cartoons, and one of it's surprisingly lesser seen or even heard of cartoons. It's about a young mouse named Olivia whose toy maker father was kidnapped, so she hires a famous detective, Basil of Baker Street, to track him down.

The story takes place in London and opens on a young female mouse asking a famous detective to help her find her missing father. When Olivia first tells Basil about her predicament, he doesn't take her seriously. He makes it clear that he doesn't really like children all that much and doesn't believe her case to be worth his time, until he finds out that the bat who kidnapped her father works for his arch nemesis, an evil rat named Ratigan. He then takes on the case along with his sidekick Dawson, unwillingly taking Olivia along as well. He uses his deductive skills and His pet bloodhound, Toby, to find Ratigan and Olivia's father. Ratigan then has Olivia kidnapped so that her father will do his bidding and create ingenious mechanical monstrosities (I might be exaggerating). Basil and Dawson then go about trying to rescue the pair and stumble upon a deeper diabolical plot to over-throw the queen and usurp the throne. Will Basil be able to out-wit the crafty Ratigan and save Olivia, her father, the Queen, and the day?!?

This is a great movie that I really enjoyed as a kid. It's one of the more suspenseful Disney flicks and imitates a sort of Sherlock Holmes vibe. There is also a lot of detective work going on, a lot of clue following, real gum shoe stuff. I'm always surprised to hear how unknown this movie is. I know there's no princess in it, and it's not a romance, but it rivals any of the newer Disney classics. It's a great detective story for kids, and there's a lot of action and suspense. There's even a fight scene in Big Ben. A definite watch for the kids.