Oliver & Company (1988)

Oliver & Company is Disney’s spin on the classic story Oliver Twist: A homeless kitten named Oliver (voiced by Joey Lawrence) roams the streets of New York and is taken in by a gang of homeless dogs, including Dodger (Billy Joel), who survive by stealing from others. Meanwhile, their human friend, a vagabond named Fagin (Dom DeLuise), is constantly trying to avoid the evil mobster Sykes (Robert Loggia), to whom he owes a large amount of money.

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)

Other criticisms:

• 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.

Bottom line? Oliver & Company doesn’t hold up in terms of pacing, character development, or child-friendliness. But I guess it’s always darkest before the dawn: Disney’s next three films would be The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and The Lion King.

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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