Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Oliver & Company

I honestly have no idea what to even do with this one. Most of the films we’ve covered so far, even the really bad or uninteresting ones have at least given me something to work with. This, this just felt like an hour and a half of pure nothing with a few decent songs piped in. I can’t even rightly call it a bad movie because at least a bad movie would have something memorable about it. I can’t promise this will be a particularly long article and I doubt it’s going to be an especially interesting one but regardless, I appreciate you all joining me for Deep Dive Disney’s look at Oliver & Company anyway. Loosely adapted from the Charles Dickens novel, Oliver Twist, Oliver & Company tells the story of a stray kitten in New York City that falls in with a group of dogs who work for a good natured but down on his luck pickpocket named Fagin who owes a considerable sum of money to a ruthless crime boss. Despite some reluctance, the gang quickly come to accept little Oliver as one of their own. However, on their first job together, Oliver ends up being adopted by a little girl from a wealthy family and finds happiness with her. However, his friends take him back and try to ransom him so Fagin can finally pay his depts. I honestly just want to get this one over with so let’s dive right into, Oliver and Company.

Main Character:

What do I even say about Oliver? He barely seems to have a discernable personality outside of being a cute little kitten. He doesn’t even have much agency in the plot. I was kind of interested when he was on his own in the city at the beginning, man did this movie do a great job capturing what it feels like to be alone in New York City, but once he falls in with Dodger and the gang, he just sort of bounces around from place to place as the plot demands. He’s not a terrible character, he’s just not interesting enough for me to be invested.

Villian:

Much like Oliver, Bill Sykes is not a terribly interesting villain. He’s pretty much every evil loan shark/crime boss type that you’ve seen a million different movies. I’ll give him this, they manage to make Sykes pretty intimidating. I actually was interested in the scenes where he’s threatening Fagin and I kind of enjoyed his two Dobermans, Rosco and Desoto, and would have liked to have seen a bit more of these elements in the rest of the film. That’s Robert Loggia doing the voice of Sykes and to his credit, he does a great job with what he has to work with. In a different film, this could have been one of the great Disney villains but he’s just not given enough to do here.

Side Characters:

There actually are quite a few side characters in this movie, but only a select few of them are interesting enough to discuss in any detail. We may as well start with Dodger. He’s fine, I guess. That’s Billy Joel doing the voice and for someone who’s a musician and not an actor, he does a perfectly serviceable job. In a way, Dodger kind of reminds of Poochie from The Simpsons in that they tried so hard to make him “cool” that they forgot to give him much of a character. He’s not quite that bad, and I do like how he clearly grows to care for Oliver, but other than that, there’s not much going for him.

I actually found Fagin to be my favorite character. Dom DeLuise rarely turns in a bad performance and this is no exception. I appreciate that despite being a criminal, he’s actually a big softie with a heart of gold. He genuinely loves his dogs, he happily welcomes Oliver into the family and he’d probably give up his life of crime if he weren’t so deep in it with Sykes. I particularly appreciate the scene when Jenny shows up at the docks looking for Oliver and he can’t go through with demanding the ransom from her even though he knows Sykes will kill him if he doesn’t. It’s actually kind of sweet.

I think Tito the chihuahua is a likeable character but I’m honestly not sure if that’s the case or it’s just the talent and brilliant delivery of the always awesome Cheech Marin making an otherwise flat character seem more enjoyable.

I want to give a brief shoutout to Winston the butler, mostly just because I appreciated that despite being presented as a prim proper English servant type, he’s actually shown to be an avid wrestling fan. As a wrestling fan myself, I really appreciate any media that bucks the stereotype that all wrestling fans are dumb, screaming rednecks.

Finally, there’s Georgette, Jenny’s prize-winning show-poodle. I hated Georgette. Every second she was on screen I just wanted to kick her off the side of an overpass like Baxter from Anchorman. She feels like an amalgamation of every spoiled, pampered bratty primadonna in fiction. She’s Angelica Pickles, Beebe Bluff, Libby Chessler, Anastasia & Drizella Tremaine and Kim Kardashian all rolled into one. She’s a spoiled brat who thinks the entire fucking world revolves around her and feels threatened the mere idea of someone who isn’t her receiving attention. This is absolutely my least favorite character archetype and I have no patience for it in fiction or in real life. I guess the fact that she forms a relationship with Tito was kind of cute, but other than that, this character is as insufferable as she is useless.

Songs:

Finally, something about the film that I can legitimately praise. This film, for all its flaws, has one hell of a soundtrack featuring songs from Huey Lewis and Dodger himself, Billy Joel. Throw in George Thorogood, B.B. King and Phil Collins and this is basically “Music My Dad Listened To When I Was A Kid: The Movie” I can’t speak for Thorogood or King, but in a later film we’ll be getting all the Phil Collins we can handle but we'll talk about Tarzan when we get there. In any case, I really enjoyed the opening number, Once Upon a Time in New York City. It’s a solid tune and it actually had me invested in the story of Oliver more than anything else in the film.

However, I think we need to talk about the only truly memorable thing about this movie, the song “Why Should I Worry.” The song is just awesome. I’d expect nothing less from the Piano Man himself, Mr. Billy Joel. It’s one of those songs that fits the scene perfectly but also works on its own, something that tends to be the case with most of my favorite Disney musical numbers. I’ve been a Billy Joel fan since I was five so this song is right up my alley. It’s fun, it’s catchy, it’s upbeat, an, I say this with zero hyperbole, it's the best thing about this movie.

We're going to be skipping the Memorable Scenes section. Why? Well, frankly, there isn't a single scene in this entire movie that I feel is worth analyzing in greater detail. Let's just move on.

Story:

I got the sense that this was going for a class struggle story using dogs much in the same way as Lady & The Tramp it’s just not quite as well executed here. For as much as Lady & The Tramp had its issues, at least it allowed time for us to get invested in the characters, something I can’t really say about this film. There’s particularly irksome scene where Oliver is brought back to Fagin’s place and all he wants is to go back with Jenny and all the dogs are mad because they think Oliver thinks he’s too good for them now and it’s supposed to be this big sad moment and I’m just sitting there groaning because the film hasn’t earned this. For all the problems I had with The Jungle Book, that scene where Baloo is forced to give up Mowgli was earned. We wanted Mowgli to be able to stay with Baloo but we also knew that it was the right thing for Baloo to let him go, even though doing it destroyed him. We were invested in this story because the film took its time and allowed us to be invested. This movie tries to do the same thing but it feels like we’ve barely spent any time with these characters so it feels forced.

The Dark Disney Factor:

I guess the part where Sykes gets run over by a train is pretty dark... that's it.

Final Thoughts:

This is not a bad movie, nor is it a particularly good one. It just kind of went in one ear and out the other. It's not the worst thing you'll ever watch, but I can't really say I recommend it either. Like I said, it most just feels like and hour and a half of nothing with a few great songs peppered in. Well, our next article is significant for a number of reasons. It will be our first foray into the era of Disney Films commonly referred to as the Disney Renaissance. That's the good news. The bad news is that the film we'll be covering next also happens to be one of my most hated films of all time. Pray for me because next time Deep Dive Disney tends to some unfinished business when we look at, The Little Mermaid.