Disney: 5 Ways The Fox & The Hound Is The Best ’80s Movie (& 5 Ways It’s The Great Mouse Detective)

The Fox and the Hound and The Great Mouse Detective are both are forgotten Disney gems from the ’80s. Here’s how they compare.

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The 1980s were a bit of a bleaker period for Disney, and for a while, it seemed like the studio might never be able to achieve the heights of artistic maturity as it had earlier in its history. However, a closer examination reveals that there’s actually quite a lot to enjoy about the movies that came out during this period, particularly The Fox and the Hound and The Great Mouse Detective, both of which are forgotten gems.

Though they are very different from one another, each of them has its unique charms, and each can make a realistic claim to be the best Disney movie from the ‘80s.

10 Fox And The Hound: The Bittersweet Ending

If The Fox and the Hound is famous for one thing, it’s for its ending, in which Todd and Copper, the title characters, have to accept that they will never be able to recapture their childhood bond.

The world that they live in simply can’t accept that a fox and a hound could ever be anything more than enemies. While the ending of the movie isn’t nearly as bleak as the book, it’s still a somber one, and surprisingly depressing for a Disney movie.

9 Great Mouse Detective: More Light-hearted

The Great Mouse Detective was released in the latter half of the decade (1986) when it was clear that Disney was starting to move in the direction that would result in the greatness that was its renaissance of the 1990s.

As a result, The Great Mouse Detective is a much lighter and funnier Disney movie than most of its predecessors in the decade, and as a result, it manages to cast a spell that is all its own and that allows it to stand the test of time surprisingly well.

8 Fox And The Hound: Pearl Bailey

Disney has always had the ability to hire the exact right person for a particular role, and they really hit it out of the role by casting renowned actress and singer Pearl Bailey as the owl, Big Mama. She brings just the right amount of warmth and compassion to the role, and it’s she who takes the young Todd under her wing and helps him to understand the nature of the world that he’s been born into.

She’s truly a treasure in the Disney canon.

7 Great Mouse Detective: Ratigan

No Disney movie is complete without a compelling villain, and Ratigan more than fits the bill. This is a character, after all, who was more than willing to feed his own henchman to his cat all because he called him a “rat” (which he is, but he insists on being called a mouse). He also plans to feed an elderly queen to that same cat.

The fact that he’s voiced by the one and only Vincent Price, star of many horror movies, just makes him all that much better.

6 Fox And The Hound: Dinky and Boomer

Another key ingredient in any Disney movie is the sidekick, and this movie blesses the viewer with two, in the form of Dinky and Bloomer, two rather goofy birds that spend a lot of time trying to get a worm.

Of course, they’re quite silly but, given the rather somber tone of the rest of the movie, they help to remind the viewer that it’s okay to laugh, even when the world can be a sometimes very sad place to live in.

5 Great Mouse Detective: The Climactic Fight Scene

Basil is not what one would call a burly type of Disney hero in the mold of some of the princes that would appear in later movies. Nevertheless, he is remarkably brave; he’d have to be, to take on someone as physically imposing as Ratigan.

This leads to a climactic fight at the top of Big Ben, and it’s truly a marvel of animation, showing what the studio could do when it really put its mind to it. It’s a fitting climax to this charming little movie.

4 Fox And The Hound: Philosophical Depth

The ending of the movie is, obviously, quite sad, but there’s also something deeply reflective and philosophical about it. In fact, the entire movie is about that most pernicious of social phenomenon: prejudice, and the unwillingness of some people to ever look past superficial differences to see the unity beneath.

This is quite a heavy thing for a Disney movie to talk about, and it’s to the movie’s credit that it manages to do it in a fascinating way.

3 Great Mouse Detective: The Chemistry Between Basil And Dawson

Given that The Great Mouse Detective is a bit of a spin on the classic stories about Sherlock Holmes and Watson, it makes sense that one of its key relationships would be between Basil and his assistant Dawson.

There’s no question that there’s a lot of chemistry between these two characters, with each of them bringing out the best in the other. They’re really just a lot of fun to watch, and the animation allows the viewer to really appreciate the strengths that each brings to the team.

2 Fox And The Hound: The Fight Scene With The Bear

There are many noteworthy scenes in The Fox and the Hound, but one of the most terrifying, and in some ways traumatic, one occurs when Copper and Todd have to face down a terrifying bear.

The creature is one of the most realistically-rendered parts of the whole movie, and that gives the whole encounter a visceral intensity and a pulsing excitement that is somewhat at odds with the more deliberate pace of the rest of the movie.

1 Great Mouse Detective: Some Genuinely Scary Scenes

Every good Disney movie manages to hold both the comic and dramatic elements in tension, and The Great Mouse Detective does this superbly. Though it’s largely a comedy, it has to be said that there are still some pretty dark and scary scenes, particularly those involving Ratigan and his determination to seize the throne for himself.

And, let’s not forget that he also fed his own henchman to a cat; that’s not a scene most people are likely to forget.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/disney-fox-hound-vs-great-mouse-detective-best-80s-movie/