Written by Jim Cox, Tim Disney and James Mangold. Based on Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Premiered November 18, 1988
73 minutes
Rated G
Synopsis
In New York City an orphaned kitten (Joey Lawrence) is mesmerized by the streetwise Jack Russell terrier Dodger (Billy Joel) and falls in with his gang of pickpocketing canines--fast talking Chihuahua Tito (Cheech Marin), sophisticated English bulldog Francis (Roscoe Lee Brown), sassy Afghan Hound Rita (Sheryl Lee Ralph), and a Great Dane ironically named Einstein (Richard Mulligan). The group of dogs is lead by bumbling thief Fagin (Dom Deluise). Eventually the impressionable kitten is adopted by poor little rich girl Jenny Foxworth (Natalie Gregory) and named Oliver, much to the dismay of her spoiled poodle Georgette (Bette Midler). After the gang discovers Oliver's pampered new life, Fagin decides to kidnap the kitten and hold him for ransom to pay off his various debts to cruel loan shark Sykes (Robert Loggia).
Before We Begin
My only exposure to Oliver & Company as a child was through the many previews on my many Disney VHS tapes. It looked...okay, I suppose, but not entertaining enough for me to beg my mom to rent for me. I liked the princess movies, truth be told, and Oliver & Company lacked princesses. In fact, I'm not sure if any of the previews featured Jenny--a character I could relate to, you know, with her being a little girl and all. Even my childhood obsession with kitty cats didn't spark my interest. Something about Disney's 27th animated feature just didn't interest me.
I can't recall when exactly I finally sat down and watched Oliver & Company. High school, I imagine. And by then I was a lost cause. If you don't first watch this movie in the deep throes of childhood and create warm fuzzy feelings in the process, then you're never going to like it. It is a kid's movie, through and through.
Two years ago, I had a job which allowed me to listen to audiobooks while working. I began burning through the classics and among them was Oliver Twist. Knowing the source material all the better, I kept thinking..."Wow...Oliver & Company sucks more than I even knew." Don't worry, I'm not going to do a play by play of how Disney mangles Dickens. 'Twould be a exercise in futility.
Mötley Müsings
• New York City. Something about Disney in a "contemporary" setting is just...questionable.
• Huey Lewis #80s
• Those clothes on the humans! Dated!
• Gah, this doesn't look so good. We are still in the "scratchy" Xerox era.
• Look, Disney straight up needs to make more cat movies. Look at all the internet cat videos! People love cats!
• I mean, of course we're going to feel sorry for this poor little kitty. No one wants him. It's raining. He escaped those vicious dogs. Points for Unnamed Orange Kitten.
• Yankees hat #2. We get it. The movie is set in New York City. The opening song said that about twenty times.
• Rap! Rap makes its first (and last?) appearance in a DAF. And also the first appearance of a black character? I'll check back in with you after The Rescuers, because I think there might be some African dignitaries at the UN.
• Hot dog vendor is grotesque.
• Here comes Dodger. Ew. Kissy faces at the Pekinese bitch (proper term). I am not keen on street harassment.
• Dude, I could have sworn Joey Lawrence was my age...nope, I'm mistaking him for his younger brother.
• Dogs from previous DAFs making a cameo. I choose to think of it as homage instead of plain ass laziness.
• Francis watching a production of Macbeth. Props to Disney for not just doing the "to be or not to be" scene from Hamlet.
• Tito is obnoxious.
• Here comes Fagin, voiced by Don Bluth favorite Dom Deluise. He is also grotesque looking. And unlikable. Dickens's Fagin is deplorable for using little children to steal for him. Disney's Fagin is just pathetic relying on dogs to do his dirty work.
• Sykes. In Oliver Twist, Bill Sikes is a thief. Here, he's a loan shark. So like, what did Sykes lend money to Fagin for? Since he live in a shitty boat in a sketchy harbor, I'm going to say drugs.
• Roscoe and Desoto are pretty good toadies. And by good, I mean evil and threatening.
• And Unnamed Orange Kitten scratches one of them! Go, kitty, go! Oh, and he's found a family.
• Oh no. "Streets of Gold". Sassy 80s R&B by way of the Pointer Sisters. Does this add anything? The opening sequence showed how dangerous New York can be.
• "Don't worry. I'm sure they'll be home for your birthday." "No." DAMN. Jenny is bland like Unnamed Orange Kitten, but we sympathize.
• Yes, Jenny, it seems your parents don't give a shit about you. If they're on a work trip and can't leave, they can easily afford to fly you and Winston the butler anywhere, but they choose to be selfish assholes. (And their poodle has a nicer room than you do!)
• "Perfect Isn't Easy" is pretty entertaining and absurd.
• Georgette doesn't have an equivalent in Oliver Twist.
• Unnamed Orange Kitty is finally named Oliver.
• Georgette fears Dodger will, erm, have his way with her and then is disappointed when he tells her she's "barking up the wrong tree". Ugh...
• And Tito kisses Georgette and gets smacked.
• Seeing Oliver's fancy cat collar, Fagin hatches a plan to hold the kitten for ransom until his rich owner pays up. This feels darker than it should because all that JonBenét Ramsey stuff has been on lately. :-/
• All right, the shot of Georgette eating a box of "chocolates" while watching an aerobics video is pretty funny.
• Well, obviously Oliver's "rich owner" is just a little girl with a piggy bank. Poor Jenny. But Fagin tries to do the right thing, but Sykes is having none of it and kidnaps Jenny to ransom her parents. Who are in Europe. And don't give a fuck about her.
• Oliver and company to the rescue!
• "Heigh-ho" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs makes an appearance. uhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
• And Sykes gets hit with a train and everyone lives happily ever after!
• Except Jenny's parents STILL don't return home for her birthday. It's Disney! You'd think they'd pop in to surprise her! But Winston gets a call saying they're returning tomorrow. Tomorrow doesn't matter when you're turning [rewinds tape to count Jenny's birthday candles] eight. Fuck's sake, why not just animate them walking through the door? It's not like the actors were on another project! What is this shit!?
• And they better show up soon, because if I found out my butler allowed a bum to my kid's birthday party, I'd be pissed.
• Ew. And this romance between Tito and Georgette is awkward.
Final Thoughts
Eh...what can I really say? Oliver & Company is just...unpleasant. Not unpleasant like a golf shoe to the face, but unpleasant like waiting in line at the DMV. Slightly frustrating. And for someone like me, who forces herself to watch these movies, it's necessary like standing in line at the DMV. Look, it's just trying so hard to be hip and that's never hip. In fact, it dates the movie horribly. It might even be the most dated of all the DAFs. I'll get back to you on that.
It's just so 80s. Not awesome Back to the Future, The Empire Strikes Back 80s. Not fun, campy He-Man 80's. Just embarassingly "We Are the World", shoulder pads, Small Wonder, New Coke 80's. I mean, just look at the voice cast. This is some of Disney's most shameless celebrity casting. Dodger is streetwise! Let's get Billy Joel. He has a New York accent! And Georgette, she should be flashy...ah ha! Bette Midler! And Tito the Chihuahua, he should be Mexican, of course. Who is the most famous Mexican circa 1987? Cheech Marin! No one does a bad job, per se, but...it's pandering. And not so very different from the slough of animated features in the 2000s. (I'm looking at you Shark Tale.)
Even though we have Oliver and Jenny who are circumstantially sympathetic, they don't have much else to them. Dodger and Fagin are unlikable. Sykes is intimidating, but we don't spend enough time with him to get invested. And the supporting characters are broad stereotypes which is never ideal.
So...yeah. It's not a movie one hates, but what's to like?
Favorite Character
 |
| Francis |
Favorite Moment -- I suppose I was most entertained during "Perfect Isn't Easy".
Favorite Song -- "Why Should I Worry" performed by Billy Joel
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