Review: Oliver and Company

Set in New York, Oliver (voiced by Joey ‘Woah’ Lawrence) is an orphaned orange pussy who finds himself hooking up with a bunch of stray pooches, led by streetwise Dodger (voiced by Billy Joel), and who work (i.e. steal) for human Fagin (voiced by Dom DeLuise). Poor Fagin is in financial dire straits, in debt to nasty mobster Sykes (voiced by Robert Loggia). Cheech Marin (as excitable Chihuahua Tito), Roscoe Lee Browne (as melodramatic bulldog Francis), Sheryl Lee Ralph (as sassy Afghan hound Rita), and Richard Mulligan (as the ironically named Einstein, a somewhat thick Great Dane) voice the other pooches, with Bette Midler voicing Georgette, a spoiled diva poodle Oliver runs into when unwittingly adopted by a rich (but lonely) young girl.

 

Disney animation was not churning out masterpieces in the 80s the way it used to in the 40s and 50s, but this 1988 film from director George Scribner (a former animator in the only feature-length directorial gig of his career) is quite enjoyable. Scripted by Jim Cox (“The Rescuers Down Under”, “Ferngully: The Last Rainforest”) & Timothy J. Disney (The Great-Nephew of God), it’s an Americanised loose update of “Oliver Twist” with mostly animals, and it comes off better than you’d think. 80s New York is a nice setting for the story, and the voice cast is mostly excellent. Singer Billy Joel makes for an effective canine Artful Dodger substitute, and the film features scene-stealing vocal work by Cheech Marin, Bette Midler, and especially Roscoe Lee Browne. Cheech is perfect casting as a Chihuahua (possibly a bit of a racial stereotype, though) and his character serves as the comic relief sidekick used so often in Disney animated films subsequently. Like Cheech, The Divine Miss M can be an acquired taste, but as a pampered, high strung diva poodle, she’s spot-on casting. Her entrance alone is very funny, and she gets the film’s best song too. Theatre veteran Roscoe Lee Browne, however is in another league entirely. His melodramatic, Shakespeare-loving bulldog has most of the film’s best moments. Sheryl Lee Ralph and Taurean Blaque (voicing probably the only villainous animal character) are rock-solid too.

 

The title character voiced by an unrecognisable Joey Lawrence is a bit forgettable, unfortunately, and that’s true of the animation too. I love cute widdle putty tats, but Oliver is boring and overshadowed by everyone else. Disney animation during this period really didn’t stand out at all. It’s the human characters, however, that are the real problem as this Disney interpretation of “Oliver Twist” messes around with one of literature’s most important characters, Fagin. Dom DeLuise apparently enjoyed working on this film, but this version of the character is boring and toothless. He’s been re-written as a pathetic loser, and that is underwhelming. Robert Loggia fares better voicing gangster Sykes, and is well-cast, but the character isn’t especially interesting.

 

The songs are a mixed bag, though to an extent I dug the film’s 80s musical/cultural vibe, at least in theory. The opening number by Huey Lewis isn’t bad, though it could’ve been used as the theme of an 80s TV show. Aside from Midler (whose song was written by Barry Manilow of all people), the best song comes from Ruth Pointer singing for Ms. Ralph. The real surprise is iconic New Yorker Billy Joel, one of my favourite singers, who fares better in the voice acting department here. His ‘Why Should I Worry?’ is hard to get out of your head, but is somewhat disjointed melodically and far from his best work. Apparently Joel didn’t like this experience of working for Disney, and he didn’t write the song himself, but I still expected a lot better from him.

 

This is no great Disney effort, but it’s fun, and certainly unworthy of its reputation (It did OK box-office at the time, but has largely been forgotten). The voice cast alone makes it worth seeing at least once. I just wish Disney didn’t whitewash one of literature’s most well-known characters.

 

Rating: B-