Oliver & Company

A brief background, this movie is a contemporary retelling of the classic Oliver Twist tale by Charles Dickens published in 1838. When the movie begins, and we are greeted with beautifully detailed, painted scenes of New York City. They got me excited to see the animation. But then the people appeared, and I got instantly turned off. They look off and lack the charm of previous disney animated movies. Even The Black Cauldron had better character design. The main human characters and all the cats and dogs were a vast improvement, however, and I wish that the care could have been extended to the background characters. I was part of an Oliver Twist musical when I was in sixth grade (and I also read the original novel which this movie takes heavy liberties with). I admit the songs in Oliver & Company were very catchy and wonderfully 80s (definitely reflecting the time period of the movie). But they heavily date the film, sacrificing the timeless quality of most Disney films for a quick cash grab that, unfortunately, was successful. The transplantation of the Victorian era story of Oliver Twist into contemporary New York City does not work. It is a shame that Disney decided to make such a drastic change when they had just done a wonderful rendition of a Sherlock Holmes inspired story in, The Great Mouse Detective, only two years prior. Perhaps that is why they wanted to do a change, but I would have preferred they wait to do Oliver Twist justice.

Final Rating: 4/10