Oliver & Company

I know it sounds weird because this movie was made when I was a child, you'd think I would've seen it at an earlier age. But I never did and my friend had the movie, I was curious and wondering why I never had the chance to see it. But I'm glad that I just got to see this movie, it was so much fun and I just missed the old time animation. It had great music by the awesome Billy Joel and the animals were just so adorable.

Basically, Oliver is an orphan kitten the big city of New York and meets a smooth street smart dog, Dodger. When Oliver follows Dodger to his layer of other dogs who are led by a homeless man, Fagin, they decide to keep Oliver. But when Oliver is learning the street smarts, a little girl sees him and takes him home where he gets a nice loving place to stay, not to mention extremely wealthy. But the guys want him back and kidnap him to pay back the mean Mr. Sykes.

I thought this was a great introduction of Charles Dicken's immortal classic for the kids. Not to mention that it was clever and witty, the music is memorable and there are some very funny moments that both kids and adults could get a kick out of. Believe me, this movie is good fun, but I'm still trying to find out why I didn't see it sooner.

8/10

When I was a little boy this animation replaced my entire Cable TV regimen and Toy Story all together (until the VHS broke and I chose to do something else) . This movie was a fun film to watch. I loved the characters and the drama. But is it well balanced? We'll find out.

-PLOT/STORY- Oliver and company is losely based on the Charles Dicken's novel "Oliver Twist". I saw the musical when I was 9 and let me tell you. It is nothing like that. Honestly I could say that knowing Disney they could have easily gone with the watered down version of a British novel. But as lose as it is it still gets the general outline of the novel down. A Kitten named Oliver is out in the large brooding New York City (the most cliche place in film) who gets discovered by a cool talking dog named Dodger. Dodger leads Oliver to a stray pack of dogs who are actually owned by a homeless man on a dock named Fagan. Fagan, is apparently owes money to a scaryass loneshark named Sykes. So the only way to get back money is not by raising it or getting anyone to help but to steal... Now I must stop right there but what is this teaching anyone? Nothing. I cannot tell if this is being ironic or not but teaching kids to steal is not the way okay? What a bare bones lesson. Anyway, Oliver gets adopted by a wealthy little girl who's daddy is gone and he is loved. Sykes discovers this and kidnaps the little girl. Now Fagan and his gang must save her. This leads to a violent chase scene. This leads to one of the most traumatic Disney death's of my childhood right next Mufasa dying (which I didn't care for) but it wasn't Syke's death but rather his two Doberman and I love Doberman. This is graphic for the kids. I mean Gaston's death was just and like no one cared but holy crap dude. 1980's Disney has edge! So it ends up in happiness as the gang forget the climactic chase and eat birthday cake ending up in song and dance and plenty of fourth wall breaks. If that part in the climax wasn't with the 2 dogs death this movie would be a perfect 10.

-CHARACTERS- The characters in Oliver and company are cute and lovable but they are mostly archetypes and stereotypes. Oliver- a shy little kitten who must grow to be confident. Dodger- The coolest Jack Russle you'll ever see in this side of NYC. Fagan- Based off Fagan from the original movie. Fagan is a dirty frantic yet caring homeless man. Rita- A Saluki personified as a foxy black chick who wants to help Oliver grow. Penny- A young rich girl who has talent and loves animals. She is the American in this 3 cheese slice of a schmaltzy film. Has daddy issues Tito- A wise cracking Chihuahua voiced by Cheech Marin. He is the funniest and is better than any actual Chihuahua you'll ever see. Georgette- The most stereotypical poodle character you'd probably seen 100 times in any Looney Toons short. Many uppity girls will relate to her.

There are forgettable ones like

Francis- A snobby Bulldog. Einstein- A dopey Great Dane

And the worst one of all Sykes-A bruding protagonist that you'll love to hate. Has the balls to threaten a little girl and a homeless man. A lone shark mafioso who smokes a cigar and has two Dobermans.

There are some Cameos you'll see.

The characters are stereotypes but still good and likable.

-ART/ANIMATION- This was before Disney's grand renaissance of the 1990's and it shows. The characters aren't realistic, they feel more like out of a Loony Tunes cartoon lacking anatomy in someways and feel too tooned up on some of them but still very cute. But that isn't the problem really, no. The character alone are good. What the problem is that the line work feels very sketchy and Xeroxed. But the physics and overall animation make up for this as they are quite detailed.

But what's even more unbalanced is that this was the first animated film to ever use cel shaded CGI on automobiles and environments. Now I can forgive this if it was the 1960's and this was rotoscoped like in 101 Dalmatians. But this simply looks out of place. The cars have way too much perspective, physics and fluidity than the 2D characters themselves. It feels video gamey. As if they took 2D sprites and layed them over a 3D backdrop in a Nintendo Gamecube game. Just flickey neon cardboard in an otherwise realistic fluid world.

The backgrounds don't try too hard. They are nice pleasent yet sketchy images of New York City set in watercolor. They are filled with product placement which to a negative think makes them think this is just a cashgrab but to me (a positive thinker) it makes it look more grounded in reality.

Some locations look more realistic than others but your stupid kid brain can't tell the difference.

Overall though, it is a pleasent to look at movie.

-MUSIC/VOICE ACTING- Since this is a musical. It's going to have to have good music and boy does it deliver. In my opinion, Oliver and company has the best music of all time in a Disney film. Hand in hand it has good voice actors. First off you have Billy Joel singing Why Should I Worry. Which is a fun soundtrack filled. Streets of Gold- Sung by Ruth Pointer as Rita Huey Luis doing his Once upon a time in New York City which sets the sad mood of Oliver's orphan experience. Penny's Good Company sung by someone who no one knows With this kind of Talent singing pop songs (better than Zootopia trash By Shakira) Overall I love it. Lots of other soundtracks to set the mood. The music for some will trigger nostalgia to kids and tweens of that time. But to adults it may not. Because some of them who where in their 20's probably didn't even like those artists of that genre.

Oliver and Company's fun can only last son long. But do to it's inconsistent mood, strange take on a classic tale, bad climax, somewhat outdated . It will turn off some viewers and scare little kids. But over all, pretty charming. And that's all I need to say.

Curiously endearing Disney animated feature inspired by "Oliver Twist", transposing the Dickensian favorite fairly successfully to a modern-day New York setting - with the villainous Bill Sykes as a mobster (flanked by a couple of vicious mastiffs). Stylistically, it lies somewhere between LADY AND THE TRAMP (1955) and the adult-oriented films of Ralph Bakshi (without the sex and violence, naturally); as such, it stands oddly alongside the studio's usual fare from this rather lame era - and its vitality can now be seen to have foreshadowed the renaissance in quality (and critical appraisal) which they witnessed soon after, beginning with THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989). The anthropomorphic characters (which generally swamp the humans - Fagin is very much a good guy here, if still pitiful) are quite nicely fitted to class stereotypes: hence, we get a Hispanic chihauha (with an eye for the ladies) and a posh bulldog, among others, while Dodger is basically an updated version of Tramp and Oliver himself a cute but very brave kitten. The familiar and involved plot is all but jettisoned (especially in its second half) in favor of boisterous action and character comedy, with a bouncy score and rapid pace to match. In the end, it proved surprisingly good - and, at just 74 minutes, short enough not to overstay its welcome.

OK, first things first. I am not sure what Charles Dickens would say if he found his best book "Oliver Twist" has inspired an animation. I hate to say this, but surprisingly the project worked quite nicely, if a little predictable and uneven at times. The animation isn't bad at all, actually very clean and smooth mostly, and neither is the story, both of which are the redeeming merits of an enjoyable movie like this one. The characters were also well done in general. My favourite was Georgette, what a genius the casting director was to cast Bette Midler. Jenny and Oliver- who was adorable- were appealing also, but Sikes at times was a bit frightening, and Fagin's part was quite poorly written. Now the script was the letdown, very uneven at times, and unintentionally funny, and this marred the well-told narrative. Some of the characters were uninspiredly written, and Tito was a little hard to understand. On a positive note, I loved the songs, especially "Why Should I worry?" which is delightfully catchy. May I also say that Billy Joel did a great job with Dodger, who was one of the better characters. And it has a wonderful contemporary atmosphere. All in all, an enjoyable and well-told film, that was let down by the script. 8/10. Bethany Cox

This movie has an unmistakable 1980s vibe that gives it a certain charm. Viewers familiar with "Oliver Twist" will find it interesting how Dickens's story is adapted around dogs and their owners in modern-day New York City.

Billy Joel impresses as the voice of Dodger, a mutt with New York attitude. He's joined in the cast by Cheech Marin, Bette Midler, and Dom DeLuise (as a derelict Fagin).

The best character, in my mind, is the city itself. This is definitely a New York City movie, tapping into the city's personality and capturing many of the landmarks in the animation.

The movie has a visual aesthetic that is not quite like the style of other Disney films, which is kind of cool. There's some great character animation, such as with the imposing villain Sykes (Robert Loggia). CGI framework is used effectively throughout the film to animate cars and things.

OLIVER & COMPANY is definitely a product of its time: the late 1980s. The movie is dated by the clothing worn by the humans, the models of the cars, the music (smooth and synthesizery, with the main title song sung by Huey Lewis), the gritty urban look, and even the character designs (see the hot dog vendor or the hairspray-loving canine Rita).

In a superficial way, OLIVER & COMPANY reminds me of THE RESCUERS. Both have a unique aesthetic "feel" that strays from the classic Disney style and seems to capture the sensibilities of the times. OLIVER is as quintessentially 1988 as THE RESCUERS is 1977. (Both films also portray contemporary New York City, involve animals helping a cute little girl, and explore some dark and emotional territory.) OLIVER & COMPANY is dated, but gloriously so.

The next animated film released by Disney would be THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989), which launched the company's 1990s renaissance of timeless masterpieces, shaped by Alan Menken's Broadway-influenced musical direction. It's interesting to see the quaint, contemporary style of OLIVER, knowing that Disney would soon go off in a different direction.

With no nostalgic ties to this film, I can say that it's a decent flick, although it wouldn't crack even my top 20 Disney movies. Love the NYC stuff. Joel's "Why Should I Worry?" is a musical highlight. The story has a surprising emotional impact and the climax is both dark and exciting.