Oliver & Company (1988) review

(6/10)

This was one of the most-watched movies for me in my childhood years, but it doesn't stand up to the feeling I had then after re-watching it.

PLOT:Oliver (Joey Lawrence) is a stray, orange cat with no home in the middle of loud New York City. Oliver is struggling to survive until he meets a street-smart dog named Dodger (Billy Joel), whom he follows home after helping him get food from a vendor. There, Oliver meets the likes of Tito (Cheech Marin), Frances (Roscoe Lee Brown), Einstein (Richard Mulligan), and Rita (Cheryl Lee Ralph), along with their owner, Fagin (Dom DeLuise), who is in the hole a lot of money and has three days to come up with it. The gang devises a plan to get some cash, but Oliver is caught and taken to live with the family of a rich, sweet young girl named Jenny, and their pampered dog, Georgette (Bette Midler). The gang must find Oliver and try to come up with the money for Fagin so he don't get in big trouble. It's a good plot executed decently.



VOICES:The voice acting was pretty good for this movie. Joey Lawrence was no big deal in here, as true for any of the child actors here. The real lead performance in here was by Billy Joel as Dodger. He did well, but it wasn't an extremely good performance. The other shiners were Cheech Marin as Tito, Dom DeLuise as Fagin, Bette Midler as Georgette, William Glover as Winston, and Robert Loggia as Sykes. Not a lot of the voices were outstanding, but they weren't horrible either.

SCORE:The score was somewhat questionable. The instrumental score was pretty good and nice to hear, but the songs were pretty much hit-or-miss. The songs came from the likes of Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, Bette Midler, and many others, but not all of them were real good.

ANIMATION:The animation had to have been the worst thing about the movie. Nearly all of Disney's works have had really good animation, but this one failed to live up to that standard. The animation was messy and rushed to the point of looking really poor and unfinished. Some say it goes with the feel of the movie, but it's frustrating for 74 minutes.



OTHER CONTENT:I used to really love this movie when I was younger, but over the years, my interest has really faded in it. Aside from the sloppy animation and the hit-or-miss music, the movie was thoroughly predictable and pretty much a flop in the canon of Disney movies. However, this movie still holds a place in my heart due to the voices, my memories, and the sentimental feeling about pets I get from this movie. It's not completely terrible, but it isn't really good either.

OVERALL,an ok animated movie with a decent plot, pretty good voices, good score, and a good sentimental feeling, but the animation is messy and unfinished-like, the songs are hit-or-miss, and it's very predictable.