Oliver and Company (1988)
Painfully average or a cult classic?
Brief Backstory
The second half 1980s were far better for Disney than the years of 1980-1985 given the redemption through The Little Mermaid and The Great Mouse Detective. However in between those two another movie was created and sent out to audiences in 1988 (the very same year that Judas Priest’s Ram it Down and Slayer’s South of Heaven albums were released), Oliver and Company. Released the same day as The Land Before Time, Oliver and Company would face off against Don Bluth again, this time with Land Before Time.
Story
Orphaned in New York City, Oliver ends up belonging to two places: A poor man named Fagin under the thumb of Sykes and his dogs who teach him the life of crime, and a cute girl in a nice home who treats him well. Sykes demands a payment from Fagin within three days or else.
Random Facts
According to my 7th grade yearbook, my middle school put Oliver and Company as one of the best movies of the 80s – no mention of Indiana Jones (Hell if it was JUST Temple of Doom I wouldn’t give too much flack) or Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi. Not even the 1970s movies section shows Star Wars, and no James Bond movies (Not even 101 Dalmatians or The Jungle Book) showed up on the 1960s movies section!
During “Why Should I Worry?” you can see Pongo from 101 Dalmatians and Jock from Lady and the Tramp.
Unlike Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, the original World Trade Center area (twin towers) was never removed in later home video releases after September 11th, 2001. Presumably the core reason for not removing them is due to having to completely redoing the backgrounds where as the scenes in Home Alone 2 could easily be removed.
Jenny is similar in looks to Penny from The Rescuers. Coincidentally Dodger resembles Tramp from Lady and the Tramp, both of which I believe were some of my mother’s favorite animated movies from the 1960s and 1970s.
Before I was born, my parents had a black Labrador Retriever named Oliver, but I believe this was before the movie came out and even then they’ve always been dog lovers. Paternal grandparents always had a dog on guard around their property and my mother has been seen in a few photos from 1962 with a dog, and their home state (Missouri) is often very high on the list of states with the most dog owners.
Bette Midler appeared in The Simpsons a few years later in Krusty Gets Cancelled.
Oliver and Company is the final Disney movie to be done without the CAPS animation system. The Little Mermaid only used it for a few minutes.
They could’ve at least put The Fox and the Hound or An American Tail on there instead.
Random Opinions
So apparently Dodger’s a Jack Russell. The facial hair doesn’t seem to line up with that.
1988 is the only time Don Bluth had the upper edge with Land Before Time.
Oliver ain’t no Tiger from An American Tail.
Pros
- Several decent song numbers.
- Robert Loggia voices Sykes. That’s R as in Robert Loggia. O as in “Oh my god – it’s Robert Loggia.” B as in…
- Billy Joel only animated voice work is top notch.
- Jenny and Oliver’s relationship is loveable.
- Some funny lines, particularly from Tito.
- As you would expect from my other Disney reviews, the animation is phenomenal.
Cons
- Billy Joel, Bette Midler, Ruth Pointer, Cheech Marin, etc. – seriously, do we really need that many famous people all over this movie? For god’s sake, The Jungle Book only had Phil Harris and Louis Prima – that’s enough!
- Unnecessary amount of song numbers in this one. Cut the Georgette song number and Streets of Gold.
- The plot is all over the place and somewhat confusing.
- Sykes isn’t that memorable of a villain. He can be scary and his voice is great, but he didn’t have really anything sticking out that made him one of Disney’s best villains. Much better than Edgar or Shan Yu though.
Rating: 5/10 – Average
Seems like Disney had this whole “bed goes up bed goes down” trend throughout the decade. It’s not bad by all means, but it hasn’t aged well. The characters aren’t as memorable nor do I care much for them that much, and I think the last time I saw this I had trouble figuring out the plot.
The fact that my idiot middle school preferred this over Empire Strikes Back or Raiders of the Lost Ark still baffles me after nearly 20 years. Obviously I wouldn’t expect to see Die Hard or Predator on there, but come the hell on there were way better choices. The rating’s not affected by a school yearbook, if anyone’s asking.
Leave a Reply