Oliver and Company came out at a weird time when Disney wasn’t quite at their A game and the renaissance period wouldn't have even started until the next movie that came after this one. Not to mention that this movie had some pretty good celebrity stars such as Billy Joel and Bette Midler. Does this movie have what it takes to be on top with some of Disney’s finest? Let us find out.
In the streets of New York City, a feisty little cat named Oliver spends his life out on the streets when no one seemingly wants to adopt him. While searching for food, he comes across a dog named Dodger. Oliver thinks Dodger helps him in getting food from a hotdog stand but he takes the food for himself and brings it to his gang of dogs who live in a shipwreck and are seemingly owned by some hobo looking human named Fagin. Oliver follows Dodger and is then accepted into the ragtag gang of mutts by the rest of the dogs. Fagin, however, has a whole lot of trouble on his plate as he owes a lot of money to an evil loan shark named Sykes who says he has three days to repay the money or he’ll use violence. It's a race to get the money in time to pay back Sykes but while helping Fagin out, Oliver comes across a little girl named Jenny who adopts him much to Dodgers dismay.
Bottom line, I found that some elements of the story work and some of them really don’t. They set up major plot points but they don't really finish with them very smoothly. For instance, they set up that Oliver is now part of the Dodger’s gang but when Oliver finds comfort in being Jenny’s pet, Dodger reacts very angrily to the situation and thinks Oliver is betraying them. Now this would work if we actually got some more time to spend with Dodger and get to know his character more. In fact a lot of characters have major arcs that don't even get totally resolved by the end to the movie which makes the overall flow of the movie rather sloppy. There is also the plot point about Fagin getting the money to pay back Sykes but it barely makes any sense plot wise and it doesn't really leave that much of an impact in the long run. The characters are kinda a mixed bag, I do like some characters like Oliver and Jenny and sometimes Dodger, but the others can range from being forgettable to alright at best.
While the animation is far from the best thing Disney has ever done, it does still look good. After all, it is New York City. However, I wish that they actually took more of an advantage with showing the city of New York in more creative ways like getting impressive camera angles and maybe doing something creative showing off familiar New York sites. I mean come on, it’s Disney animation. The same company who did movies like Snow white and Fantasia. Surely they could have been a lot more creative with their visual style than just plain old New York. There are also songs in the movie as per usual with Disney, but with the exception of “Why Should I Worry” they don’t leave that much of an impression and they are staged so standerdally that it doesn't feel all that exciting, at least to me it doesn't. The rest of the music score is pretty standard and it does its job fine just don't expect it to be up there with the best of the best.
I know it sounds like i’ve been harsh on this movie, but really it is very harmless and to be fair, it isn’t as underwhelming as something like The Aristocats or even The Rescuers. Being Disney though, I guess I thought even if it wasn’t the best thing ever, I would at least get something that is cute and decent but it's not really even that. There were a couple of good scenes and sometimes the animation looks impressive, but other than that, there really is not that much to write home about.
(Final Grade: C)