Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney, and today we continue our investigation with our second Villains Profile of the event as we look at Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective. As always, this will include Voice Actor, First Appearance, Personality, Grand Desire, Most Evil Deed, Villain Songs, Lackeys, Demise, and finally, Is Ratigan A Good Villain? Before we start, I should address that I will not be reviewing this movie as I already reviewed it six years ago back when most of us were still posting on TGWTG and it was a crossover with an old friend from back then, Patrick_O, that I have sadly lost touch with and I feel as though doing a re-review would be unfair to him and the memory of that review. You can find it right here, if you so choose to read it.
Voice Actor
Vincent Price
I'll be honest and say that I'm not overly familiar with Vincent Price movies as I'm not the biggest horror fan. I mostly know him from narrating Thriller, The Great Mouse Detective, and as Vincent Van Ghoul from The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo
But really, I think that is okay because with this character, Price seemed to have been hired for his voice. And that makes sense given how iconic it is. It is just so wonderful listening to Price's voice and I could listen to this man reading a phone book. Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't bring this up from one of many Month of The Mansion crossovers with The Creature. Namely, our Top 6 Haunted Mansion Moments. Price also for a brief time lent his voice to The Phantom Manor. Focusing on, Price's role in this movie, one word comes to mind. Delicious. I know that may sound strange but the way Price plays Ratigan is just so deliciously campy, yet he always gives Ratigan the proper inflections in his voice to make the rat err greatest criminal mind threatening, when needed. Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this little piece of trivia.
Vincent Price, the voice of Ratigan, said that doing Ratigan was his favorite role because he had two songs written for him.
And honestly, you can hear how much Price enjoyed playing Ratigan especially during those wonderful musical numbers.
First Appearance
Ratigan's introduction into the movie takes some time as we first hear Basil mention him and see his henchman, Fidget take Flaversham in the beginning of the movie but when we do, we see Ratigan as big, proud and boastful.
We also get a sense that he can be easily set off and that will lead to him feeding his henchmen to his cat, Felicia as we saw with poor Bartholomew.
Personality
The best way to perhaps Ratigan's personality is to say that he is a bit of a showboater. He loves elaborate schemes as shown during Goodbye, So Soon. And he carries himself with a high regard, that it is so fun to watch. Now, he can be set off if he is referred to as a rat or by the stupidity of his henchmen. As I said, when talking about Price's voice performance, Ratigan has such a delicious personality that makes him such a treat to watch and one that is such a highlight of this film.
Grand Desire
Ratigan's grand desire is quite simple. He wants to become the ruler of all of mousedom. It's easy enough to understand but again, the lengths that he goes to are what he goes to get this done such as kidnapping Flaversham in order to have him build a robot version of the queen of mousedom.
It just shows that he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants and be oh so entertaining along the way.
Y'know, this is really tough. Not that Ratigan doesn't do a lot of deplorable things such as killing one of his henchmen for calling him a rat in a drunken stupor but I think because it sets off the events of the movie, I gotta go with kidnapping Flaversham. There might be something more sinister that Ratigan did but I think is the best one for this particular blog.
Villain Songs
The World's Greatest Criminal Mind
I return to my favorite word in this blog, delicious as that perfectly sums this song up. It is such a delight as Price hams it up here as Ratigan. And makes the number so much fun, even when it comes to a screeching halt and we get one of the darker moments of the film.
Goodbye, So Soon
Unless, you've been with A Look at Disney since it's inception, you may not recall that when I originally reviewed this film with Patrick_O, who was a mystery reviewer from the TGWTG blogs (granted, that was six years ago. WOW!), I called this my favorite number from the movie. So, what did a 22 year old Moviefan12 have to say about this number. Let's hop in a time machine and find out.
This is a great song and I would even on say that it is just as good, if not better than The World's Greatest Criminal Mind. This tune is so infectious and catchy. Here again, you can hear that evil undertone and you can almost hear the grin on Ratigan's face as he sings this. Again, this song is so much fun and I would say that this is the better villain song from this film. Also if you take out the tune and just listen to the lyrics, it makes a a great taunt as he is taunting and making of Basil because of the dire situation he is in. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Vincent Price actually sang this. I would go far as to say, this is a song that you guys may want to take a another listen to. Really, it's that good. My feeling about this song can be summed up in this three word phrase, "One More Time!"
Yeah, that pretty much lines up with my thoughts still to this day.
Demise
Ratigan gets a worthy demise as we see him and the hero of the piece, Basil of Baker Street fight on Big Ben and Ratigan for the first time shows his true state as the audience gets to see him for the rat that he truly is. And it is actually quite terrifying.
Honestly, this fight is just so amazing to watch and you see Ratigan shed away the fanfare that he had been prancing around with earlier in the movie and he becomes well, a rat. And as the fight goes on, it just gets more and more intense. Until you finally see Ratigan fall to his death from the clock tower and wow, what a way to go.
Is Ratigan A Good Villain?
Absolutely, and that is all due to the wonderful performance given by Vincent Price. No one could have played this role. This role was tailor made for Vincent Price and you can hear that in every line he delivers. Price makes Ratigan the memorable villain that he is and that makes him such a delight to watch. Join me next time as we finally close out this event by looking at....
Zootopia
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