Oliver & Company

As the 27^th Disney film, the idea for Oliver & Company was thought of after a story artist suggested that Disney do a version of Oliver Twist with dogs.  During a meeting where people from Disney discussed potential ideas for movies (like The Little Mermaid and Treasure Planet), it was decided that Oliver & Company was going to be much darker but thankfully they edited out most of the dark parts.  When Oliver & Company was released, it was a box office success, even outgrossing Don Bluth’s The Land Before Time, but it received mixed reviews from critics.  They praised the animation and music but thought the plot was too predictable and was only a movie to entertain children.  This was a “brand new” movie for me as I had actually not seen it before; but I had read the actual book Oliver Twist a long time ago and it was pretty dark, which might explain why the original movie script was much darker.  I hope you’ll check this movie out but beware that, if you’re a real Charles Dickens fan, you may not be sure what to think about this particular movie!

Oliver & Company (loosely based on the book Oliver Twist) is about a young orphan kitten, Oliver, who is taken in by a dog, Dodger, along with his pals who are homeless.  Meanwhile, the dog’s owner, Fagin, is in debt and owes Sykes, a creepy shipyard agent, lot of money.  While the crew is trying to help Fagin pay back Sykes, Oliver gets stuck in a car and ends up being adopted by Jenny, a girl from a wealthy family.  Dodger and the crew go on a quest to get Oliver back, not knowing that the little kitten is actually where he belongs.  This movie presents a good lesson or two for viewers; one such lesson is how being greedy for money can be bad, as we see what damage greed has done to Sykes.  The movie’s soundtrack is also really good in my opinion and is the best one since Robin Hood (it probably helps that Billy Joel, who voices Dodger, sings some of the songs), and most of the animals are very adorable (with the exception of a couple not so nice Dobermans).  However, despite the animation and awesome soundtrack and mostly fun characters, this movie can get violent at times (such as a scene where Sykes chases after Fagin and the gang); and there is a chihuahua, Tito, who seems to represent some stereotypes of people from Mexico.  Also, I feel like there are some plot holes in this movie.  I actually thought I was going to dislike it when I started watching it, but it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be.  I would caution parents regarding the scary scenes and the portrayal of Tito as well.  I think personally the best message that comes out of this movie is that, although Dodger and his gang and Jenny are not Oliver’s biological family (his kitten siblings were adopted at the beginning of the movie and no one knows where his parents are), they are more Oliver’s family than his biological family ever was.  Family isn’t always blood; it’s the people that love and accept you for who you are.  That is family and that is a lesson/theme that I seem to see over and over again in Disney movies!

“Why should I worry?  Why should I care?  I may not have a dime, but I’ve got street savoir-faire.”

Dodger (from Billy Joel song “Why Should I Worry”)