The Game's Afoot! {The Great Mouse Detective fansite}

{ Goofs }

Note: These bits of Goofs were from my own observations, as I do not want to duplicate similar bits of information from other sites such as Internet Movie Database (IMDb). If I do have a similar mention from IMDb, I will credit them, too. This means I am going to nit-pick this poor film, but it's all in good fun...and to discover many bizarre mysteries! More might appear, so keep checking back. I would please ask that if you want to use any of these bits of Goofs for your own web site that you give credit to where you originally found them. Thank you!


  • Continuity- CASTLE THUNDER is the sound effect used for storms in Disney films. It is heard every time lightning flashes. A minor goof is that the two effects appear simultaneously. In a real storm, lightning occurs first with thunder following seconds later. Longer delays of the sound of thunder depend on how far away the storm is. One could easily disregard this as a goof and say that the thunder is heard with the lightning because the storm is extremely close. There is a very informative web site that discusses thunder and lightning well worth a viewing.

  • Continuity- A letter B is seen in stained glass window above Basil's front door, yet disappears in other shots.

  • Continuity- The furniture in Basil's flat changes shape, color, and position in almost every frame.

  • Continuity- Mrs. Judson only took Olivia's Tam O' Shanter hat and scarf as she remained seated in Basil's chair, leaving her coat on. In the next few frames, her coat is missing and she never left the chair. Maybe she took it off when we weren't looking and then quickly sat back down in the chair?

  • Continuity- In the Chinese attire, after Basil removes the face mask, his neck appears bare. In the next shot, his high collar appears. It had to be hiding beneath the kimono and flipped up after Basil released the air of the fat suit.

  • Continuity- As Basil introduces himself to Dawson, he's holding the gun in his left hand. In the next shot, it's gone. Yet, as he says, "All in good time!" to Olivia and walks off-camera to the left, he quickly runs to the right and is seen holding it again.

  • Continuity- The entire Chinese costume vanishes from the floor after Basil removes it from himself. His hands and arms were light blue as he wore the suit, too. Were those long gloves?

  • Continuity- As Basil goes on about how he knew Dawson was a surgeon, that strange gun keeps disappearing and reappearing in Basil's hand in-between shots.

  • Continuity- As Basil aims the gun (which appeared in his hand again) into the pillows, you can see a coat hung over the blue sofa in the background. Later on, as Basil shoos away Mrs. Judson, a clear shot of the sofa shows the coat is missing. It reappears again as Basil crawls on all fours to find the bullet.

  • Continuity- When Basil shoots at Mrs. Judson's good pillows, bits of material and feathers litter the area. In the next few shots, it's perfectly clean. Did Olivia and Dawson clean it up? And where did the gun go for that matter?

  • Continuity- After the failed comparison of the two bullets, Basil goes to flop into his now clean red chair. He picks up his violin resting against it, although it was not there in many frames before!

  • Incorrectly regarded as a goof- It's been pointed out that Basil is playing the violin at first in the wrong hand, and then moments later, switches sides to hold it correctly. I'd like to think the mouse is such a genius, he can play the violin on any side he chooses.

  • Incorrectly regarded as a goof- The portrait of Ratigan on Basil's fireplace shows the professor grinning the entire time and only after Basil points to the picture, the image changes to him smiling with exposed teeth. This is England, you know, home to the world of Harry Potter? Basil (or a friend of his) must have purchased one of those magic pictures at a wizard's store from Diagon Alley!

  • Plot holes- Fidget appearing at Basil's window after Ratigan sent him to go to the human toyshop. There is no explanation to how he knew to go there, only that he needed to be there to drop his hat for Toby to pick up his scent. One way to save this from a plot hole is Fidget got a tip-off from another of Ratigan's henchmen. He was told the toymaker has a daughter and she might have gone off to seek help. The henchmen suggested she went to Basil, a very skilled private detective, causing Fidget to make a quick stop at Baker Street to see for himself. Another suggestion sent in by Wilhelmina is this: Fidget, on his way to the toy store to gather the things on Ratigan's "shopping" list, happened by Basil's flat, and unaware that Olivia was there, he showed up at the window with the intention of maybe startling or mocking Basil, just for a little fun. When he saw that the girl he was supposed to kidnap was there, he was naturally surprised.

  • Continuity- Basil was smoking his pipe and carried it out with him when running after Fidget. It disappeared when he retrieved the hat and never showed up again until the human toy shop. He must have put it in his housecoat pocket, but yikes, it was still lit!

  • Continuity- Mrs. Judson's appearance and disappearance. It's so strange, she suddenly shows up at the front door after Basil and Dawson run out, comforts Olivia very briefly, and then disappears in the next frame! In logical terms, she appeared after hearing Olivia scream, stands there to tell her not to worry, and as the camera is on Dawson saying, "The scoundrel's quite gone" and then to Basil as he says, "Ah-ah, but not for long, Miss Flamhammer!" Mrs. Judson had already done her exit back to the kitchen. Rather quickly, too!

  • Continuity- Fidget's hat disappearing from Basil's grasp. He ran inside with it, but as he removed his housecoat to put on his Norfolk jacket, the hat disappears. He later has it in his Inverness coat pocket to present to Toby. I can only guess he got the hat from where he tossed his housecoat on the floor, again when we weren't looking.

  • Continuity- Basil's Inverness coat and deerstalker appearing on the suit of armor when it wasn't there in many frames before. IMDb has this listed and I also caught it in the theater.

  • Continuity- The typical appearance/disappearance of pockets on clothing. Basil has a pocket the size of a drawer on his Inverness coat when retrieving Fidget's hat for Toby to sniff.

  • Continuity- Basil getting stomped on by Toby. Unless our hero is made of rubber, he would have been severely injured than just bouncing back. Characters can survive several degrees of injury in animation, thus the weight of Toby's paw is not the equivalent of, say, an anvil, so we would not see a bloody pulp of a mouse underneath.

  • Anachronisms- Dumbo, the Flying Elephant, can be seen as a toy blowing bubbles in the toy shop. The character was originally created in a children's book by Helen Aberson and published in 1939, forty-three years later of when this film takes place. However, with this being Disney, it's common for them to feature characters from their other films.

  • Continuity- After Fidget escapes with Olivia, Basil begins to smoke his...pipe? He retrieved it from his Inverness coat pocket, but how did it get there when he originally left it in his housecoat pocket, if he did at all? Maybe he's got more than one identical pipe?

  • Continuity- Back with Flaversham and Ratigan, the professor presents him to Olivia. Fidget's peg-leg has switched sides as she stomps on his only foot. He's been faking it all along and has two good-working feet.

  • Continuity- The disappearance of rips and holes in Fidget's ears after Felicia lightly feasted on him. They grew back and restored fully, best solution to come up with.

  • Revealing Mistakes- When Basil and Dawson are examining Fidget's shopping list, there is no writing on either side of the paper. IMDb points this out at their site. I find this goof a little unfair because even though it's true, it was just easier to animate a blank piece of paper when shown at a distance. Goodness, at least we see the contents of the paper at a zoomed-in view!

  • Continuity- In the Rat Trap scene. Basil loses his cigarette as he talks to the Barmaid. He's waving it around freely and then the camera pans right up to his eyeball at the mention of "Ratigan!" As soon as the camera pans back, his cigarette is gone. He must have dropped it or flicked it away.

  • Continuity- When Basil and Dawson appear at Ratigan's lair and Ratigan surprises them, Basil's sailor coat is variously shown buttoned and unbuttoned. Maybe they're loose buttons and kept unbuttoning on him?

  • Continuity- Inside the wine bottle, Olivia is seen wearing her hat but minus her coat. Once freed from the bottle, the hat is gone.

  • Continuity- As Basil switches from his sailor costume to his detective clothes, his blue trousers and black shoes are still on him, but when the scene pulls back as Ratigan's camera goes off, he's wearing his normal brown trousers and brown shoes with spats. IMDb also mentions this and I remember catching it way back in the theater.

  • Plot holes- At Buckingham Palace after Basil took over the controls of the robot queen, Olivia is seen wearing her Tam O'Shanter hat briefly. How did she get it back after Fidget had stolen it?

  • Continuity- It is very quick, but as Basil's makeshift balloon flies up to the camera and zooms in on his face, you can see his waistcoat beneath his Inverness coat instead of the Norfolk jacket he applied over it. In fact, you see the waistcoat in many scenes.

  • Revealing mistakes- Another very quick movement, as Basil is handing Olivia to her father atop Big Ben, he briefly has four fingers and a thumb. The single button to his coat is on the wrong side, too. Slow fast-forward helps to catch this.

  • Continuity- During the battle scene outside of Big Ben, the rips in Basil's coat and sleeves change in almost every frame.

  • Continuity- Back at Basil's flat, he places Ratigan's 'death tolling' bell on the fireplace mantle next to the newspaper clipping. In the next shot, it disappears and is never seen again. Yes, IMDb caught it and so did I in the theater. Have no explanation for its disappearance.

  • Continuity- Olivia's ear bow switches sides as she hugs Basil. Eagle eyes of IMDb also mention it.
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