← Back to Reviews
in
OLIVER AND COMPANY
The Disney Studios actually went to the classics, specifically the most famous work of Charles Dickens as the inspiration for an entertaining animated diversion called Oliver and Company that takes full advantage of the lack of limitation in legitimate animated storytelling.
The Disney Studios have always had a couple of universal themes at the core of a lot of their most famous work. Either the story is either an animal's point of view in the human world or it involves two different kinds of animals who, in real life, are natural enemies and this film combines both of these themes quite effectively.
Now if you're going to update Dickens for an animated film, where else would you set it but New York City. In the middle of Manhattan we meet Oliver (voiced by Joey Lawrence), who is an orphaned kitten whose brothers and sisters were all adopted who finds himself involved in a scheme with a dog named Dodger (voiced by Billy Joel) to get something to eat. Dodger tries to g keep the food for himself but Oliver follows him where he is introduced to a rag tag group of dog thieves, including a highly intelligent bulldog named Francis (voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne) who likes educational TV, a loud-mouthed chihuahua named Tito (voiced by Cheech Marin), and a sexy Afghan hound named Rita (voiced by Sheryl Lee Ralph) who take turns stealing dinner on a daily basis.
The dogs have a human leader named Fagin (voiced by Dom De Luise), who owes a lot of money to a slick gangster named Sykes (voiced by Robert Loggia) and decides to use Oliver to get it when Oliver unexpectedly gets adopted by a little rich girl, whose pet poodle named Georgette (voiced by Bette Midler) is not feeling Oliver's presence at all and schemes to get Oliver out of the mansion.
As one might expect, it gets a bit confusing at times to remember which characters are human and which are not, but then again, it's Disney and its animation, so logic just sort of goes out the window and we just let an entertaining story flow over us. The movie features some clever songs including "Once Upon a Time in New York City", "Why Should I Worry", and the showstopping "Perfect Isn't Easy", brilliantly performed by Midler.
The voice work is quite good...can't believe Billy Joel never did anymore voice work after this, but if the truth be told, Bette Midler totally steals the show as Georgette. There was a little air of sadness of this for me as I watched as a lot of people doing the voice work here are no longer with us, but children won't be aware of that and they are the intended demographic here and, on that level, this works.
The Disney Studios actually went to the classics, specifically the most famous work of Charles Dickens as the inspiration for an entertaining animated diversion called Oliver and Company that takes full advantage of the lack of limitation in legitimate animated storytelling.
The Disney Studios have always had a couple of universal themes at the core of a lot of their most famous work. Either the story is either an animal's point of view in the human world or it involves two different kinds of animals who, in real life, are natural enemies and this film combines both of these themes quite effectively.
Now if you're going to update Dickens for an animated film, where else would you set it but New York City. In the middle of Manhattan we meet Oliver (voiced by Joey Lawrence), who is an orphaned kitten whose brothers and sisters were all adopted who finds himself involved in a scheme with a dog named Dodger (voiced by Billy Joel) to get something to eat. Dodger tries to g keep the food for himself but Oliver follows him where he is introduced to a rag tag group of dog thieves, including a highly intelligent bulldog named Francis (voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne) who likes educational TV, a loud-mouthed chihuahua named Tito (voiced by Cheech Marin), and a sexy Afghan hound named Rita (voiced by Sheryl Lee Ralph) who take turns stealing dinner on a daily basis.
The dogs have a human leader named Fagin (voiced by Dom De Luise), who owes a lot of money to a slick gangster named Sykes (voiced by Robert Loggia) and decides to use Oliver to get it when Oliver unexpectedly gets adopted by a little rich girl, whose pet poodle named Georgette (voiced by Bette Midler) is not feeling Oliver's presence at all and schemes to get Oliver out of the mansion.
As one might expect, it gets a bit confusing at times to remember which characters are human and which are not, but then again, it's Disney and its animation, so logic just sort of goes out the window and we just let an entertaining story flow over us. The movie features some clever songs including "Once Upon a Time in New York City", "Why Should I Worry", and the showstopping "Perfect Isn't Easy", brilliantly performed by Midler.
The voice work is quite good...can't believe Billy Joel never did anymore voice work after this, but if the truth be told, Bette Midler totally steals the show as Georgette. There was a little air of sadness of this for me as I watched as a lot of people doing the voice work here are no longer with us, but children won't be aware of that and they are the intended demographic here and, on that level, this works.