Plot
In London, circa 1897, a young Scottish mouse named Olivia Flaversham is celebrating her birthday with her toymaker father, Hiram. Suddenly, Fidget, a crippled bat with a peg leg, bursts in, and after a brief struggle, disappears with Hiram. Fidget takes Hiram to Professor Ratigan who commands him to create a clockwork robot which mimics the Queen of the Mice so Ratigan can rule England. Hiram refuses to take part in the scheme, whereupon Ratigan orders Fidget to capture Olivia so he can feed her to his pet cat, Felicia.
Olivia searches to find Basil of Baker Street, a world-famous detective and Ratigan's archnemesis. Returning to London after a tour of duty in Afghanistan, Dr. David Q. Dawson stumbles upon Olivia, and helps her find Basil's residence. At first, Basil is reluctant, but when Olivia mentions Fidget, Basil realizes his chance to capture Ratigan. Basil and Dawson take Toby, Sherlock Holmes's pet dog, to track Fidget's scent, where they find him in a toyshop stealing clockwork mechanisms and toy soldiers' uniforms. Fidget later traps Olivia by ambushing her from inside a toy cradle. Basil and Dawson pursue Fidget, but become entangled and fall behind. While searching the shop, Dawson discovers Fidget's checklist, to which Basil does some chemical tests to discover the list came from the riverfront near the Thames. Basil and Dawson disguise themselves as sailors and go into a tavern called the "Rat Trap" and follow Fidget to Ratigan's headquarters. They are caught, and Ratigan ties them to a spring-loaded mousetrap connected with a Rube Goldberg machine. Ratigan sets out for Buckingham Palace, where Fidget and his accomplices kidnap the queen. Basil, along with Dawson, deduces the trap's weakness and escape just in time.
Back at Buckingham Palace, Ratigan forces Hiram to operate the toy Queen, while the real Queen is taken to be fed to Felicia. The toy Queen declares Ratigan the ruler of all Mousedom, and he announces his tyrannical plans for his new "subjects". Just then, Basil, Dawson and Olivia save Hiram and the real Queen, and apprehend Fidget (along with Ratigan's other henchmen). Basil seizes control of the mechanical queen, making it denounce Ratigan as a fraud and tyrant while breaking into pieces. The crowd, enraged by Ratigan's treason, start climbing onto him and defeating his shanty guards (meanwhile, Toby chases down Felicia and delivers her straight to the Royal Guard Dogs). Ratigan frees himself and escapes on his dirigible with Fidget, holding Olivia hostage. Basil, Dawson, and Hiram create their own craft with a matchbox and some small helium-filled balloons, held under the Union Jack. Ratigan throws Fidget (who can't fly) into the Thames River to his death, and then attempts to drive the dirigible himself. Basil jumps on to the dirigible to confront Ratigan, causing him to crash straight into the Big Ben. Inside the clock, Basil manages to get Ratigan's cape stuck on some gears and rescues Olivia and safely delivers her to Hiram. Ratigan, however breaks free and nearly kills Basil (even knocking him to the dirigible) until the clock bell strikes 10:00 and Ratigan plunges to his death, taking Basil with him. However, Basil manages to grab the wreckage of Ratigan's dirigible and save himself from falling just in time.
Back at Baker Street, Basil and Dawson recount their adventures, as well as the queen's gratitude for saving her life. Afterwards, the Flavershams leave to catch their train. As Dawson tries to leave, a distraught new client persuades both Basil and Dawson to help her. Finally, Basil proclaims Dawson to be his "trusted associate, Doctor Dawson, with whom I do all my cases".
Read more about this topic: The Great Mouse Detective
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“Trade and the streets ensnare us,
Our bodies are weak and worn;
We plot and corrupt each other,
And we despoil the unborn.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Ends in themselves, my letters plot no change;
They carry nothing dutiable; they won’t
Aspire, astound, establish or estrange.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.”
—Jane Rule (b. 1931)