Film
After finishing production on Taron and the Magic Pot, John Musker and Ron Clements turned their attention to a new project based on the children's book series by Eve Titus called 'Basil of Baker Street'. This film is a clever parody of the Sherlock Holmes saga, where the protagonist himself, Basil, is named after the actor famous for playing the well-known detective, Basil Rathbone. The film's great success is mainly due to the care with which the characters were created, in particular Basil, who is one of the few characters able to carry both the main plot and the subtle humour. He is impetuous, intelligent and extremely self-centred, but above all funny. The character is so charismatic that he is inevitably reminiscent of other protagonists in British fiction, such as Holmes himself or the Doctor Who from the TV series, taking Disney away from the dark atmospheres of 'Taron and the magic pot'.
Art
The film is set in London during the reign of Queen Victoria and features many references to that era and especially to the city. Besides Big Ben and Tower Bridge, which we have already seen in Peter Pan and all the other films set in London, here we also see one of the city's most famous and often forgotten monuments in this game of quotations: the statue of General Nelson in Trafalgar Square. Built to commemorate the death of General Horatio Nelson, who was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the 5.5 metre high statue was sculpted by Edward Hodges Baily in 1840 and stands on a tall granite pedestal. General Nelson is depicted in military uniform, one arm outstretched towards the sky, in a pose that recalls his death on the deck of the ship HMS Victory during the battle. The statue has become an icon of London and one of the city's main meeting places, as well as a popular tourist destination.
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