by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
I’ve always had a soft spot for animation. More years than not, at least a couple of animated features find their way onto my top 10 list. So I’m setting out to shine a light on some films that may have passed you by. The idea here is to take a look at some underseen gems, so no Toy Story or Frozen here.
Let’s get started.
Cruella is strutting into theaters and, with a famous studio like Disney, “underseen” is a bit of a relative term. However, before the famed Disney Renaissance, in what I guess would be their version of the Dark Ages, lies a film that deserves to get a little more shine.
“What if we took this classic piece of literature, but replaced the humans with animals!” is a popular pitch line inside the halls of Disney Animated Studios, judging by their filmography. Even in the overlooked Disney catalogue, I think there are probably multiple films that qualify. For this month, I’m going with Oliver & Company, Disney’s take on the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist. (Fun fact: as the credits rolled, I realized this was the first ever feature screenplay penned by James Mangold! Blew my mind.)
In this version, Oliver is not a down on his luck orphan boy, but an adorable abandoned orange kitten trying to survive in the Big Apple. In this version, Oliver initially falls in with a ragtag group of dogs and their down-on-his-luck owner Fagin who’s in deep with a loan shark. However, after getting taken in by an affluent family, trouble finds both of them and Oliver is caught in the middle.
I was really looking forward to checking this one out on Disney+ because it was one of those films that my family never replaced after we abandoned our VHS collection. This is not one you’re really going to find on Disney XD or Freeform on repeat, so it’d probably been at least 15 years since my last watch.
Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. Whether it be catching it on my Disney Pandora station or actively searching it out on YouTube, I’ve heard “Why Should I Worry” plenty of times in the intervening years. Much like the movie as a whole, it’s an overlooked gem. Taking full advantage of the fact they had Billy Joel playing the street-smart Dodger, this song is quite the ear worm. The song also works as a story device, showing just how cool and in-tune with NYC Dodger is, especially when compared to Oliver. The song even features a cameo from Pongo of 101 Dalmatians fame. This film isn’t just a one-hit wonder, either. The entire soundtrack is fantastic. We start things off on a real uplifting note as OLIVER NEARLY DROWNS IN A TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR to the sounds of “Once Upon a Time in New York City.” “Good Company” is heartwarming, “Streets of Gold” is great take on a training montage as he learns how to hustle with the gang, and “Perfect Isn’t Easy” is the… well… perfect introduction to the peppered poodle Georgette. “Why Should I Worry” also gets a reprise to send us into the credits.
Moving on from the music, this cast in this one is an interesting mix of character actors. In addition to Joel, Cheech Marin is perfectly cast to voice a chihuahua. His manic energy is perfect for the role. Bette Midler is another standout as the aforementioned diva dog Georgette. Though there are standouts, everyone works well together. You really feel the camaraderie between our gang of dogs and the film establishes it quickly in its limited runtime. The villain Sykes, the small bit we get to see of him, is properly terrifying and the end confrontation is satisfyingly tense.
Where you can definitely tell it’s an “older” Disney film — despite coming out just one year before The Little Mermaid and being the last theatrical release before the aforementioned renaissance — there’s still a lot of good here. Style-wise, this one has much more in common with films a decade or two older than it rather the film that came 366 days after it. Especially in its opening establishing shots, it literally feels like a painting come to life.
There’s not a lot of meat on the bone here, as this one clocks in at 76 minutes. It’s incredible to think there was a time when Walt Disney Animation released a film theatrically that’s just two minutes longer than the series premiere of Star Wars: The Bad Batch released a few weeks back.
In doing a little research, I was surprised to find that this one was a box office hit when it was released in 1988. However, it came in fourth to The Land Before Time, which was released the very same week, in its opening weekend. Oliver & Company would end up grossing slightly more over its total run. It really is a mind-blowing fact, because I think Littlefoot and friends have stuck in the public consciousness more. Critically, the mixed reviews the film got are perplexing to me. Oliver & Company has a 6.7 from fans on IMDb, a 56 on Metacritic, and is “rotten” at 50% on rottentomatoes.com. I’m not here to argue that this film is better than something like Beauty and the Beast, but it’s better than its apparent reputation and it deserves more eyes than the sliver of the attention it’s gotten when compared to Disney’s more popular entries. If you look at Letterboxd, fewer than 10% of the audience that’s seen the most popular Disney animated film (The Lion King) has seen Oliver & Company. On IMDb, that portion is below 5%.
Even after all the time that had passed, popping this one back on just put me right back in my happy place. Few Disney animated features have gotten fewer eyeballs than this one, and that’s a shame. For those that have grown up in the era of Aladdin and The Lion King and haven’t taken advantage of their Disney+ subscription to check out some of the older animated features that aren’t among the “classics,” this would be a great place to start. Oh, and good luck getting “Why Should I Worry” out of your head when you do.
I’m excited to continue to geek out on some great animated work you may not have had a chance to catch and hope to give you a few new things to add to your watchlist! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you at next month’s celebration when I’ll have something new for you to try before checking out Pixar’s Luca on Disney+.
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