Mr Flaversham, a world-renowned inventor and toy maker has mysteriously disappeared and his Daughter Olivia is desperate to find him, she enlists the help of Basil and Dr Dawson to try to make sense of the mysterious clues he has left behind. Even Toby, Basil?s Faithful bloodhound is brought in to help follow the clues.

When Olivia is kidnapped by Fidget the bat a close ally of Ratigan, Basil is worried that this case might be too much for him to solve, the clues are not making sense and time is running out for Olivia and her father. Only a truly great analytical mind will be able to unravel this mystery and save London form the world most evil Rat.

In 1995 my then 3-year-old nephew watched this movie so much he wore the videotape out. Every time we visited this Video was playing on the TV. So I just about know this story by heart; but I have to say that in typical Disney style this is the type of movie that will stand the test of time & is still a favourite of mine to put on for little kids 10 years later. This is not only a great story full of fabulous characters and great action and adventure for kids? minds, but the colour and magic contained in the animation is still brilliant even by today?s standard. Disney has this knack of bringing characters to life and capturing the imagination of young children right form the first scene. It?s great to see these older movies being released onto DVD for a whole new audience to enjoy.

My four kids aged 4 to 10 and two of their friends sat in complete silence and watched this late one Saturday afternoon and all thoroughly enjoyed the story. The DVD runs just over 70 minutes and was the perfect length to get them settled down after a busy day. I ran the audio through our stereo system and the kids loved the effect of surround sound with this movie. This movie has not dated at all, and stands as a testament to the outstanding job that the team from Disney have done with this animation. I was also impressed to find Subtitles on offer in both English and Spanish ? my kids are at the stage of wanting to read any and everything & I love subtitles not just for reading but for allowing the volume to be down a tad lower saving my ears and sanity too!

Disney has released many of this generation of animation onto DVD and now audiences have a great collection of movies like this one to choose from. It has certainly made it a safe bet to buy anything with the Disney Brand on it knowing kids will love it, and this movie is no exception.

THE EXTRAS

The making of Basil ?

This quick featurette style flick gives you and insight into how the older style animations were done long before Pixar and the magic of fully CGI movies.

Bonus animated short ?

A 5-minute animation called Clock cleaners features some really cute little characters

A Disney Sing a long of the theme song from the movie ? The worlds greatest detective.

A Donald Duck animation called Donald?s Crime

Some photos of the characters of the movie

Whilst the bonus features are not mind blowing they are still acceptable and certainly given the age of the film and the fact that Disney probably never expected to have to make bonus features for this film they are not too bad. I would have liked to see a game in here just to add value for younger kids but certainly the feature are not lacking in quality.

CONCLUSION

You may have heard of Sherlock Holmes the worlds second greatest Detective-but have you heard of the greatest detective that ever lived? Basil The Great Mouse Detective. Join Basil and his faithful deputy Dr Dawson in an adventurous quest from Baker St to the sewers of London as they try to capture their archenemy Ratigan and free an innocent man.