There are two main reasons to keep young children away from Oliver & Company: boredom and fear. Regarding the boredom: My 2-year-old bailed after 7 minutes to play with his toy cars. My 5-year-old went the distance, but stopped watching twice – once to show me a photo album he made, and the other to let me know that “we need to buy more Scooby-Doo Band-Aids.” And it’s only a 74-minute movie.
As for the fear, the film includes:
- Lots of close-ups of growling, snarling dogs showing their sharp teeth
- Threats of death and inflicting of pain
- A phone conversation by Sykes where he says, “Don’t kill ‘em yet” and agrees with using “concrete shoes”
- Kidnapping and gunplay
- Electrocution (both comedic and fatal)
- The film is dark in both lighting and tone. No one is nice to each other for the first half of the film – which is almost totally comprised of dreary, unlit hideouts and waterfront piers.
- The musical numbers are almost nothing but disposable late-‘80s pop songs.
- The animation is iffy; at times, you wouldn’t know it’s a Disney film unless someone told you.
Rating: 1 star (out of 5).
Will your kids want to see it?
Since Disney doesn’t really mention Oliver & Company when touting their “classics,” it’s highly unlikely your little ones will know about this 20-year-old film. [UPDATE: Disney released the Oliver & Company: 20th Anniversary Edition DVD on February 3, 2009.] But if they trip across it somehow, guide them toward better Disney titles (maybe any of the three I mentioned above).Will your FilmMother want to see it?
Hopefully no, since you’ll tell her about this review. Right?Oliver & Company
Director: George Scribner
Screenwriters: Jim Cox, Timothy J. Disney, James Mangold
Stars (voices): Joey Lawrence, Billy Joel, Cheech Marin, Richard Mulligan, Dom DeLuise, Robert Loggia
MPAA Rating: G
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3 comments:
I gotta say that I don't know/remember this movie. Guess that's a good thing, eh? And don't forget to buy those Scooby-Doo Band-aids!!
XOXO
Your lovely wife sent me over here to check out your blog. This is great and I'll have to pass it on to my husband. My two boys have just recently become interested in movies and just last weekend we were online trying to find something appropriate for kids.
Cool site! I was sent over here by your wife and have to say I'm impressed with the detail of your critiques. Keep up the good work. We will be back.
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