Animation Celebration Saturday - Oliver & Company

Disney, 1988
Voices of Billy Joel, Joey Lawrence, Dom DeLouise, and Cheech Martin
Directed by George Scribner
Music by various

The Walt Disney Company had a bumpy go of things in the 1980's. Their ambitious animated sword-and-sorcery adventure The Black Cauldron was a huge flop in 1984. The Great Mouse Detective did better two years later, enough for Disney to go ahead with another animal-themed project. Oliver & Company was seen as Disney's attempt to get "hip" with an up-to-date cast, rock (and briefly, rap) music, and a comic action story. How does this 80's spin on the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist look now? Let's head to the streets of New York City to find out...

The Story: Oliver (Lawrence) is an orphaned kitten making his way on the streets of New York City. He helps scruffy Dodger (Joel) get hot dogs and follows him home when he won't share. Dodger lives in a run-down shack with five other dogs and Fagin (DeLouise), a pickpocket who is in hock to ruthless businessman Sykes (Robert Loggia). Oliver gets in trouble on his first assignment with the gang and ends up in the care of Jenny (Natalie Gregory), a lonely little rich girl. The other dogs want Oliver back, though, and Jenny's pampered poodle Georgette (Bette Midler) is jealous. When Jenny goes after the dogs, she's the one who gets into trouble. It'll take all the effort of Fagin and his pooch friends to save the little girl and their cat buddy.

The Animation: While it retains the sketchy style of the 60's and 70's entries, there's clearly more care put into it. The detailed backgrounds ably shows New York's upper echelons and grimy side with equal vigor. The characters are cartoonier, with the dogs looking at least something like their respective breeds. Real streets were shot, then animated to give a dog's eye view of the city, and some of them were even done in early CGI.

The Song and Dance: Occasionally charming and often very funny, this is one of Disney's more unusual films. Despite the inclusion of several songs and two rock singers in the cast, the emphasis here is on the gags with the dogs trying to steal various odd bits for Fagin and the action, especially in that heart-pounding ending on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Favorite Number: Things kick off well with another rock singer, Huey Lewis, performing "Once Upon a Time In New York City" over a montage of how Oliver started out with other orphan kittens to be given away and ended up in a thunderstorm. Joel's "Why Should I Worry?" was the big one, and is probably still the best-known number from this film today. Dodger takes Oliver on a merry, musical chase over taxi cabs and down city streets as the kitten tries to get his breakfast back. Ralph (dubbed by another rock star, Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters) sings of New York's "Streets of Gold" to Oliver right as he's about to go on his first attempt to pick pockets. Midler is tailor-made for the preening "Perfect Isn't Easy" as Georgette dresses up and sings to her admirers.

Trivia: This was the first fully-animated Disney movie made under the supervision of Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzeburg.

When first pitched in 1985, the film was much darker and grittier, beginning with Sykes' dobermans killing Oliver's parents. Oliver originally wanted revenge, not a family.

What I Don't Like: Most of the movie is one big cliche. Oliver's not terribly interesting beyond his involvement with Jenny and the gang. Jenny is too cutesy and sweet. No wonder Georgette wanted Oliver out. Her big ballad "Good Company" is enough to give you cavities. The action finale is a little too dark for a story that mostly leaned on comedy up until that point. The emphasis on making the story as hip as possible results in a movie that has dated rather badly.

The Big Finale: Not Disney's best by a long-shot, but it has its virtues, including a good cast and some decent songs. Watch with older kids who enjoyed other talking animal tales like Zootopia.

Home Media: This is another late-comer to home video that's now easy to find on disc and streaming.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime