Oliver and Company

Oliver and Company was the final film to be released before Disney began it's lengthy renaissance run. In some ways it does feel like it set us up for this new period by bringing back a more musical oriented feeling to the Disney films. One of the most immediately notable things about this film is that the inclusion of the twin towers in New York city gives it not only a modern day setting, but also dates it as a pre-9/11 film. This is a rather odd departure not only from olden day settings, but also moves away from an animal story being set largely in a forested area. Also, before you go into this any further there will be spoilers of sorts all through this.

Oliver and Company follows the super adorable kitten, Oliver, as he crosses paths with street-wise Dodger, a crook dog, and his canine gang. In turn, the gang acts as family and helps support a down-on-his-luck man named Fagin. Man I hope I managed to spell that name right, because seriously? Of ALL the names you could give him, you go with -that?- Anyway's. Oliver winds up being bad at gang-life and is soon taken in by a little girl named Jenny. Toss in a loan shark villain who is out to get his money back at any cost, and you've got this film.

Now. Surprisingly this film is a bit dark at times, primarily when the villain is around. In the past I used to not care much about this film, or the villain and yet looking at it years later I find a new appreciation for it. In one scene, the villain is actually giving someone tips on how to drown a man, and then of course we have the entire chase scene at the end. This chase scene is surprisingly violent and shows two of the villains dogs fall onto the electrified train tracks with a yelp, not to mention the villain himself being blow up because he got hit by a train. I repeat. His car was rammed into by a train. Complete with explosion. This...is Disney right?

Right. So happier topics? Songs! We have lots of great songs in here. "Why Should I Worry" and "Perfect Isn't Easy" are easily two of the stand out songs from this film, the first being performed by Billy Joel, while the latter is performed by Better Middler. Both of whom voice their respective characters as well. While we're on that note,  the third voice actor I want to point out is Dom Deluise who is awesome as usual, in the role of Fagin.

So. The animation is actually rather interesting. It's not quite up there in the "Amazing" category, but it's still pretty good and our characters mesh better with the backgrounds instead of popping out and being obvious cels. The film has a lot of fun scenes, especially the "Why Should I Worry?" number, and even the opening "Once Upon A Time In New York City."

As far as characters go there is one who really stood out for me and that is Dodger. For whatever reason I just love the character, and I think a fair part of it is his design. The two other characters who I really enjoyed were Georgette, voiced by Bette Middler, and the villain Sykes. While I've already talked about Sykes up above, Georgette is a spoiled show dog who spends a lot of time in the shady grey area. She isn't nice to our hero, but at the same time she doesn't really go out of her way to harm him either. Instead she's just a bit selfish and wants him out of her way, even if it means letting Dodger and his gang invade her home for a while to 'rescue' him.

Certainly one of Disney's overlooked films, Oliver and Company is worth a watch, or five.  3 1/2 /5

Edit: Updated the rating.