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MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... viewing day count
249 .......................... 286
__________________________
October 13th
—— 1988 ——
OLiVER
&
Company
—— animation ——
DISNEY CLASSIC no.27
The tale of Oliver Twist...
in a tail with a tiny twist...
This film works not as a fundament nor as a foreshadowing to the coming classic era – which is commonly called the Disney Renaissances by fans and critics alike – but more as a peculiar middle piece of animated perplexity. 'Oliver & Company' is yet another abnormal attempt, where the studio experiences several changes throughout to eventually upgrade the animation and hopefully prevent the degradation of a downfall of the otherwise decade-dominating Walt Disney & company. This movie is neither dominating nor decade-defining material, however, it is quite interesting and intriguing to see Disney take on an animated “search and rescue” routine; finding their way towards fame again, trying out new tactics and touching upon new aspects of animation anno "right here and now". Before Billy Joel began to bark and sing songs, Disney was dubiously dragging themselves through the traditional magical and musical movies that used to define them, but as both the audience and animation department were living witnesses to, this strategy was dying and could no longer safely secure their past popularity as a sustainable future.
This had Disney go ahead and make a movie loosely based on the timeless tale of Oliver Twist, where they chose to water down the otherwise wonderful story – which is now raining cats and dogs in New York City, apparently – opposed to the original setting in London, England, where this saying also originates from. But anyways, enough with the endless babbling – let’s start at the beginning with something that amusingly might contradict with my own colossal introductory piece here. Because, if there is one thing that works wonders for a feature film, then it’s when it knows exactly what it is from the get-go; while wanting us to know it as well, very early on. ‘Oliver & Company’ does just that, by opening on top of the clouds in New York City, complimented by a fitting musical number and continuing down onto the busy streets; all elegantly executed with equally busy animation in the vein of Wolfgang Reitermann.
Actually, I would almost call the animation a revolutionized and revised version of Reitermann, featuring some fitting and finely-tuned brush strokes, which seems to sail slightly towards a better future for the company. The combination of old pencil points and present persistency create a wild and wacky persona that is far from on-point – although I guess this kind of comes across as the actual point – at least in some weird way. I don't know if Disney knew what they were doing around-the-clock, but their part-time passive-aggressive era seemed to slowly settle down here. The musical vibe runs in the vein of current contemporary music, going with a glowing 80s pop-rock type of tune. The opening number is nice and pleasant, followed by a fun ballad of bombastic foolery and finally firmly toned down by the cuddly causality of the song 'Good Company' – a truly touching tribute to all the pet lovers out there.
Ultimately, despite being visually appealing the story is only vaguely effective because of the weak material there is to work with; a lot of it feels very by-the-numbers and narrowly avoids being absolutely awful because of its appealing exterior. But merely looking good and sounding good doesn't make a movie good, especially not if all this is laid onto a lackluster story. 'Oliver & Company' combines the story of trying to fit in with a structurally predictable crime plot – all of which continues to collide inside a big action-packed finale, with everything feeling a little bit bloated and erratically balanced, unfortunately. Everything is entertaining enough on the outside, but despite the relatively new look, the story is still awfully familiar and the film, as a whole, is frighteningly characterless as well. To be honest, you can clearly feel that this is where Disney is drawing the last few lines in the end of an era.
'Oliver & Company' creates a visual vibe and a musical modernity, which flows freely and feels relatively crazier than the catalogued contemporary classics; something that is just enough to elevate this entertainment above intellect and imagination. Overall, the atmosphere and style simply makes me surrender to an otherwise standard affair from Disney, which may be the reason for my generous rating.
-
__________________________
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... viewing day count
249 .......................... 286
__________________________
October 13th
—— 1988 ——
OLiVER
&
Company
—— animation ——
DISNEY CLASSIC no.27
The tale of Oliver Twist...
in a tail with a tiny twist...
This film works not as a fundament nor as a foreshadowing to the coming classic era – which is commonly called the Disney Renaissances by fans and critics alike – but more as a peculiar middle piece of animated perplexity. 'Oliver & Company' is yet another abnormal attempt, where the studio experiences several changes throughout to eventually upgrade the animation and hopefully prevent the degradation of a downfall of the otherwise decade-dominating Walt Disney & company. This movie is neither dominating nor decade-defining material, however, it is quite interesting and intriguing to see Disney take on an animated “search and rescue” routine; finding their way towards fame again, trying out new tactics and touching upon new aspects of animation anno "right here and now". Before Billy Joel began to bark and sing songs, Disney was dubiously dragging themselves through the traditional magical and musical movies that used to define them, but as both the audience and animation department were living witnesses to, this strategy was dying and could no longer safely secure their past popularity as a sustainable future.
This had Disney go ahead and make a movie loosely based on the timeless tale of Oliver Twist, where they chose to water down the otherwise wonderful story – which is now raining cats and dogs in New York City, apparently – opposed to the original setting in London, England, where this saying also originates from. But anyways, enough with the endless babbling – let’s start at the beginning with something that amusingly might contradict with my own colossal introductory piece here. Because, if there is one thing that works wonders for a feature film, then it’s when it knows exactly what it is from the get-go; while wanting us to know it as well, very early on. ‘Oliver & Company’ does just that, by opening on top of the clouds in New York City, complimented by a fitting musical number and continuing down onto the busy streets; all elegantly executed with equally busy animation in the vein of Wolfgang Reitermann.
Actually, I would almost call the animation a revolutionized and revised version of Reitermann, featuring some fitting and finely-tuned brush strokes, which seems to sail slightly towards a better future for the company. The combination of old pencil points and present persistency create a wild and wacky persona that is far from on-point – although I guess this kind of comes across as the actual point – at least in some weird way. I don't know if Disney knew what they were doing around-the-clock, but their part-time passive-aggressive era seemed to slowly settle down here. The musical vibe runs in the vein of current contemporary music, going with a glowing 80s pop-rock type of tune. The opening number is nice and pleasant, followed by a fun ballad of bombastic foolery and finally firmly toned down by the cuddly causality of the song 'Good Company' – a truly touching tribute to all the pet lovers out there.
Ultimately, despite being visually appealing the story is only vaguely effective because of the weak material there is to work with; a lot of it feels very by-the-numbers and narrowly avoids being absolutely awful because of its appealing exterior. But merely looking good and sounding good doesn't make a movie good, especially not if all this is laid onto a lackluster story. 'Oliver & Company' combines the story of trying to fit in with a structurally predictable crime plot – all of which continues to collide inside a big action-packed finale, with everything feeling a little bit bloated and erratically balanced, unfortunately. Everything is entertaining enough on the outside, but despite the relatively new look, the story is still awfully familiar and the film, as a whole, is frighteningly characterless as well. To be honest, you can clearly feel that this is where Disney is drawing the last few lines in the end of an era.
'Oliver & Company' creates a visual vibe and a musical modernity, which flows freely and feels relatively crazier than the catalogued contemporary classics; something that is just enough to elevate this entertainment above intellect and imagination. Overall, the atmosphere and style simply makes me surrender to an otherwise standard affair from Disney, which may be the reason for my generous rating.
-
__________________________