Professor Ratigan: Disney’s Most Fabulous Rat Villain

(This article is co-authored by Psycho Bob the Cat, the co-host, engineer and chaos consultant of What's Shakin With Shaner.)

The Great Mouse Detective’s criminal mastermind deserves a little more respect

There are Disney villains. There are great Disney villains. And then there is Professor Ratigan. He’s a criminal mastermind, a megalomaniac, a self-proclaimed genius, a professional schemer, an aspiring king, and quite possibly the most fabulously overdressed rat ever to terrorize the streets of Victorian London. And somehow, whenever people start making lists of the greatest Disney villains, Professor Ratigan often gets pushed toward the back of the cheese drawer. Which is a crime. And Psycho Bob the Cat would like it noted that cats are experts on crime.

Professor Ratigan first strutted onto the screen in Disney’s 1986 animated classic The Great Mouse Detective, and from the moment he appeared, it was obvious that this wasn't going to be your ordinary Saturday morning cartoon villain. He wasn't simply evil. He was theatrical evil. And nobody understood theatrical villainy quite like Vincent Price.

Voiced magnificently by legendary actor Vincent Price, Ratigan is Disney villainy turned into a stage performance. Price was already famous for his work in gothic horror, suspense, dark comedy, and wonderfully sinister characters, and Ratigan gave him the perfect opportunity to let loose. You can practically hear Price smiling through the performance. Ratigan isn't merely threatening. He's amused by his own villainy. He's vain, arrogant, sophisticated, petty, brilliant, and completely convinced that he is the smartest creature in the room. When someone questions him, Ratigan doesn't simply become angry. He becomes personally offended that someone would have the audacity to question Professor Ratigan. And that's what makes him such a wonderful villain.

Ratigan is loosely modeled after Professor Moriarty, the criminal mastermind who serves as Sherlock Holmes' greatest intellectual enemy. In The Great Mouse Detective, Ratigan has established himself as the criminal mastermind of London's mouse underworld. But being the most feared criminal in London isn't enough for him. No, Ratigan wants something much bigger. He wants the throne.

His plan involves kidnapping the Mouse Queen and replacing her with a mechanical duplicate that will allow him to take control of the entire mouse kingdom. It's a wonderfully ridiculous plan, which is exactly what you want from a Disney villain. Ratigan doesn't simply wake up one morning and decide that world domination sounds like a fun weekend project. He has a plan. A complicated plan. A plan involving kidnapping, political manipulation, mechanical engineering, criminal associates, and enough theatrical flair to fill an entire London stage. And naturally, Ratigan expects everyone to appreciate how brilliant he is.

That ego is one of the most important parts of his character. Ratigan doesn't just want power. He wants recognition. He wants respect. He wants everyone around him to acknowledge his intelligence and sophistication. He surrounds himself with criminals, throws elaborate parties, gives dramatic speeches, and behaves as though he is the most important person in Victorian London.

There is, however, one thing Ratigan absolutely cannot tolerate. Being called a rat.

You can call him Professor. You can call him a criminal mastermind. You can call him a genius. You can even call him evil. But whatever you do, don't call him a rat. Ratigan considers himself a mouse, and that distinction is incredibly important to him. In fact, his obsession with the difference between rats and mice tells us quite a bit about his personality. Ratigan has constructed his entire identity around the idea that he is superior. He considers himself sophisticated, cultured, intelligent, and worthy of respect. Being called a rat reduces him to something he considers beneath himself. And that is precisely why the insult gets under his skin.

Ratigan's greatest strength is also his greatest weakness: his ego.

He is brilliant, but he desperately needs everyone else to recognize that brilliance. He can tolerate failure far less easily than he can tolerate disobedience. When his carefully constructed image begins to fall apart, so does the civilized exterior he has worked so hard to maintain.

Standing in Ratigan's way is Basil of Baker Street, a brilliant mouse detective who is essentially Disney's answer to Sherlock Holmes. Basil is eccentric, arrogant, obsessive, brilliant, and completely fascinated by Ratigan. Their relationship is one of the strongest elements of The Great Mouse Detective because Ratigan doesn't simply want Basil dead. He wants to outsmart him. That's an important distinction. Ratigan wants Basil to know that he has been defeated. He wants the victory to mean something. Basil represents the one thing Ratigan cannot stand: someone who might actually be smarter than him. And for a man who has built his entire identity around being the smartest creature in the room, that's unacceptable.

The rivalry between Basil and Ratigan eventually leads to one of the most memorable finales in Disney animation. The final confrontation takes place inside London's enormous Big Ben, and the sequence is absolutely spectacular. The massive gears, swinging mechanisms, bells, clockwork machinery, and towering interior of Big Ben transform the finale into something much more suspenseful than you might expect from a children's animated movie.

Basil and Ratigan battle among the machinery while the clock continues ticking around them. The stakes are enormous despite the fact that the combatants are tiny. Disney understood that scale could create suspense, and the filmmakers made excellent use of it.

But the most interesting part of the finale isn't simply the physical danger. It's watching Ratigan lose control. For most of the film, Ratigan is composed, sophisticated, and theatrical. He's dressed impeccably. He speaks with confidence. He laughs at danger. He believes he is in complete control. Then everything starts going wrong. And the mask comes off. The polished gentleman disappears. The sophisticated criminal mastermind disappears. The arrogant aristocrat disappears. What's left is an increasingly feral and desperate creature clinging to survival.

It's one of the best villain breakdowns Disney had produced up to that point. The character design itself reinforces this transformation. As Ratigan's carefully controlled world collapses, his movements become more animalistic and his appearance becomes increasingly feral. The villain who spent the entire movie insisting that he was above being called a rat ultimately reveals the creature hiding beneath the elegant exterior. It's clever character design, but it's also clever storytelling. Ratigan spends the entire movie trying to convince everyone that he is something more than what he believes a rat represents. But when his ego is threatened, the civilized façade collapses and the animal underneath emerges.

And then there is Felicia. Ratigan's enormous cat. Felicia doesn't need a long speech or elaborate dialogue. She simply exists as a gigantic feline reminder that Ratigan has resources most people would rather not encounter. When Ratigan needs someone intimidated, punished, or simply eaten, Felicia is available. Imagine working for a criminal mastermind and knowing that one wrong move could result in Ratigan casually ringing a bell and calling, "Felicia!" Psycho Bob has asked me to point out that Felicia is not necessarily evil.

She is simply highly motivated. And as a cat, Psycho Bob respects her work ethic.

Another reason Ratigan deserves more recognition is the era in which The Great Mouse Detective was released. The film arrived in 1986, during a transitional period for Disney animation. The studio was coming out of a difficult period and had not yet entered the animation renaissance that would explode with The Little Mermaid in 1989. As a result, The Great Mouse Detective sometimes gets overshadowed by the Disney films that came afterward. And that is unfortunate. Because Ratigan is fantastic. He has an unforgettable voice. He has an instantly recognizable design. He has a clear motivation. He has a great musical number. He has a fascinating relationship with the hero. He has one of the most memorable villain breakdowns in Disney history. And, thanks to Vincent Price, he possesses an unmistakable personality.

So why doesn't Ratigan receive the same attention as villains such as Maleficent, Ursula, Scar, Jafar, or Captain Hook? Part of the answer is simply that The Great Mouse Detective doesn't have the same cultural footprint as some of Disney's biggest animated films. Those other villains benefited from blockbuster movies, merchandise, sequels, theme-park appearances, and decades of renewed attention. Ratigan never quite received that same level of exposure. But that doesn't make him any less entertaining. In fact, there is something refreshing about Ratigan precisely because he feels different from many of Disney's more famous villains. He isn't an all-powerful sorcerer. He isn't a giant dragon. He isn't a supernatural creature. He's a criminal mastermind with an enormous ego, a network of henchmen, a mechanical queen, a gigantic cat, and an unhealthy obsession with being called a rat. And somehow, it works. That's the magic of Professor Ratigan. He's funny without becoming harmless. He's frightening without becoming boring. He's intelligent without being invincible. He's theatrical without becoming ridiculous.

Well...Okay. He is absolutely ridiculous. But that's part of the fun.

Vincent Price understood exactly what Ratigan needed. He gave the character sophistication, menace, humor, arrogance, and just enough madness to make him unforgettable. Ratigan doesn't walk into a room. He enters. He doesn't make a threat. He delivers a performance. He doesn't lose his temper. He produces an entire theatrical production about losing his temper. And that brings us back to the great question: Is Professor Ratigan one of Disney's greatest villains? Psycho Bob says absolutely.

Ratigan may be overshadowed by more famous Disney villains, but that doesn't mean he should be forgotten. In fact, if anything, The Great Mouse Detective deserves a fresh look from anyone who grew up with Disney animation in the 1980s or anyone discovering the film for the first time. Professor Ratigan is a wonderful example of how a villain doesn't need magical powers or an enormous budget to be memorable. All he needs is personality, intelligence, a great design, a ridiculous plan, and a voice actor capable of making every line sound like it belongs on a theater stage. And Vincent Price was perfect.

So the next time somebody starts talking about the greatest Disney villains and forgets Professor Ratigan, do me a favor. Look them directly in the eye. Clear your throat. Adjust your imaginary Victorian waistcoat. And say: "Excuse me... but have you forgotten the Professor?"

Psycho Bob approves. Although he would like to make one final correction. Ratigan may insist that he's not a rat. But Psycho Bob says...He's definitely rat-adjacent. And frankly, that's good enough for this cat.

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