| “ | My friends... we are about to embark on the most odious, the most evil, the most diabolical scheme of my illustrious career. A crime to top all crimes, a crime that will live in infamy! Tomorrow evening, our beloved monarch celebrates her Diamond Jubilee. And... with the enthusiastic help of our good friend, Mr. Flaversham... it promises to be a night she will never forget. Her last night... and my first, as supreme ruler of all MOUSEDOM! | „ |
| ~ Ratigan, talking to his minions about his evil plans. |
Professor Ratigan is the main antagonist of Disney's 26th full-length animated film, The Great Mouse Detective. He is Basil's arch nemesis and the self-proclaimed criminal lord.
He was voiced by the late Vincent Price.
His Qualities[]
What Makes Him Entertaining?[]
- He is easily one of Disney's most wholesomely over-the-top card carrying super villains by far. In fact, Basil even says that there is no such thing as an evil scheme he would be unwilling to concoct, twice. His surname also really speaks for itself.
- He is known for having two fantastic villainous songs named "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind" and "Goodbye So Soon".
- He has some comedic moments, such as the moment where he berates Fidget or where he exhibits his godlike pettiness with his Rube Golberg trap.
- He also has a very fun-loving and bombastic demeanor for most of the film that makes him fun to watch.
- Despite various arrested attempts by Basil, Ratigan remained a step ahead of his arch nemesis, as proven when he and his conspirators set up a surprise for Basil and Dawson to fall into his traps. This further shows that Ratigan is quite intelligent when setting up ideas to try to trick and kill Basil.
- He has a fantastically wholesome Rube Golberg trap activated by a record player that will cause a marble to release the spring to a mouse trap Basil is bound to with rope that will in turn cause a gun to shoot, an arrow to release, an ax to fall, and an anvil to crush their corpses.
- All of the aforementioned weapons are human-sized, too. Sometimes saying he hates a certain detective's guts just doesn't feel like enough.
- When he has his list of new laws, the paper stretches down the length of the large stage and all the way across the room.
- Furthermore, he is still near the top of the list when he is on the ninety-sixth law which says a lot when he had to write so small on such an enormous sheet. This further emphasizes his pettiness is as astronomical as it is hilarious.
- He is an excellent fighter, as even with Basil, Dawson, Flaversham, the Queen, and two random mice ganging up on him, he can easily hold them off and push all six of them off of him at once just by shifting his cape.
- The moment where he loses his sanity at the end and trying to murder Basil further cements how badass he is.
- His evil laugh just before the climax sounds absolutely incredible.
- He is shown to be charismatic as he lets Hiram Flaversham finish the robot queen in order to spare Olivia's life.
- He even sarcastically says he would lose sleep over her.
- His voice acting performance given by the late Vincent Price, led to him becoming one of the most underrated villains, as well as being one of the most successful villains. Price later recalled that doing the voice of Ratigan is by far his favorite role he did in his life and career.
What Makes Him Detestable?[]
- His feral form and his claws can be scary to younger viewers.
- He is ageist since he wants to levy unreasonable taxes against both old people and little children and irrationally calls them all parasitical "sponges" (olden days slang for mooches) to their faces.
- He is shown to be a bad boss to his minions that are not immune to his insults, not even the competent ones like Fidget, whom he only didn't murder him just for losing a list of items to steal because he wanted him to wear Olivia's clothes as a ruse for Basil.
- Even though it happened offscreen, he committed heinous crimes like drowning widows and orphans, not to mention Felicia is disturbingly well-fed, confirming that Ratigan is a mass-murderer.
- He almost got Dawson and Olivia killed when neither of them had ever done anything to him.
- He brutally assaults Basil during his raging breakdown during their showdown in the Elizabeth Tower for foiling his conquest over Mousedom.
- As stated prior, given that he set up a Rube Goldberg trap to execute Basil and wrote hundreds if not thousands of new laws for Mousedom to adhere to as replacement for the Queen's far more conventional laws in an extremely tiny font size, and given how he turned feral just because Basil saved an innocent little girl's life, Ratigan obviously is supernaturally petty.
External Links[]
- Professor Ratigan on the Villains Wiki
- Professor Ratigan on the Disney Wiki
- Professor Ratigan on the Great Mouse Detective Wiki
- Professor Ratigan on the Pure Evil Wiki
[]
 Entertainingly Detestable
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Animated Features Pixar Other Live-Action Features Star Wars Marvel Studios Animated Television Darkwing Duck Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Phineas and Ferb Gravity Falls Star vs. the Forces of Evil DuckTales (2017) Amphibia The Owl House Others Scripts Videogames Fanon See Also | ||