Film Review #22: Oliver and Company

While The Great Mouse Detective did build the foundation with which the Disney Renaissance was built, it didn't exactly wow at the box office, losing out to Don Bluth's extraordinary classic, An American Tail.  Disney understood that what The Great Mouse Detective lacked was an authentically strong musical tone.  In order to craft a perfect era of animated films, they needed a musical film that could have popular songs and a well crafted story.  Oliver & Company has this in it's wings, but still didn't garner the dollars Katzenberg was hoping for.  Still, is the film good enough by today's standards?

Plot: Set in modern day New York City, an orphaned kitten (Oliver) tries to survive in the hot tempered, short patience laden Big Apple.  After meeting up with a scruffy dog named Dodger and his gang of dogs, he is given refuge and taken under Dodgers command and given a home by their owner, Fagin.  After a tense meeting with a loan shark, Sykes, Fagin sends out the dogs to find something of substance to pay back his debt.  After Oliver and Tito get into trouble with a limo's car alarm, Oliver is taken in by a little girl named Jenny and taken to her Park Avenue penthouse.  Oliver and Jenny bond quickly, and the little kitten doesn't want to leave his new home, much to the dismay of the family's champion dog show poodle, Georgette.

After Dodger and his gang take the kitten from the home and Fagin reluctantly stages a kidnapping of the kitten to get a ransom, Oliver begs to go home.  Just as he is about to be given back by a kindhearted Fagin, Sykes kidnaps Jenny in order to get a rich ransom for her return.  It's now up to Dodger and Oliver to save Jenny from the clutches of the Sykes.

What's Bad?: Especially after a powerhouse villain like Ratigan, Sykes was a disappointing edition to the Disney Villain library.  He wasn't that intimidating, and just lacked the personality to be a frightening or comic villain.

And though this criticism may be a tad unfair, The Land Before Time is still a superior film to this in almost every way.  Both opened on the exact same day, and although Company did better commercially, the legacy The Land Before Time left on was the strongest since Bambi and the strongest until The Lion King.  Company seemed more like a cash-in animated film instead of an animtated classic, cashing in on both Billy Joel and Bette Midler's roles in the movie along with the rip-roaring soundtrack.

What's Good?: That being said, the soundtrack is still pretty good.  "Why Should I Worry" is one of the catchiest songs in motion picture history and is one of the best songs the studio had produced in years.  The other songs are still pretty good.

The animation nailed New York City.  Being a lifetime New Yorker, I am still amazed by how well they animated my city.  Like 101 Dalmatians, it still is kind of surreal to see modern things in Disney films, such as boom boxes and a New York Yankees cap.

Overall: Oliver & Company is a placeholder.  It was good family entertainment, while not making adults die of boredom.  The songs are good and the animation is fantastic, but let's face it.  No matter how you look at it, Oliver is the placeholder for their next Disney film.  but more on that fish story next time around.  On it's own, the film is good.  Watch and judge for yourself.


Report Card:   

Hero:                            B
Heroine:                       B
Villain:                         C-
Side Characters:         A-
Songs:                           B+
Musical Score:             B
Animation:                  A
Special Effects:            B+
Themes:                        B
Story:                            B

Final Grade:                 B