Movie - Disney's 27th animated classic, Oliver & Company, was released to theaters in 1988 without too much fanfare. Oliver was the fourth major Disney animated release of the decade, and all were considered to be relative disappointments. It wasn't until the following year that Disney released The Little Mermaid, which salvaged the 80's for animation, and paved the way for a number of grand successes to follow. But to lump Oliver & Company with the other non-Mermaid '80s animated films and label it "mediocre" would be wrong. On the contrary, Oliver is a pleasant film adaptation of Dickens' Oliver Twist and a celebration of New York City. (Interestingly enough, the 1988 holiday season brought Scrooged, another Dickens adaptation set in Manhattan.) Oliver (voiced by Joey Lawrence, just a few years before he blew up in popularity, and a few more before he fell out of the spotlight) is a little kitten who is without parents and when he is not adopted, without a home. All alone in the big city, Oliver is overwhelmed and confused until he runs into Dodger (voice of Billy Joel), a slick, scamming, self-confident dog. Oliver winds up with Dodger and his mischievous gang of outlaw dogs. During one of the gang's scams, Oliver meets young Jenny (voice of Natalie Gregory) who embraces the little orphan cat as her new pet. Everything seems great in the new home until Dodger's gang "rescues" Oliver and he becomes pawn in a scheme. Clocking in at just 73 minutes, Oliver is genial lightweight entertainment. Characters hold your attention (even though just about every line out of Cheech Marin's character is grating), and there's some fun (if not memorable) songs. Not epic in scope, with its contemporary and familiar urban settings playing backdrop to ordinary actions, Oliver isn't the home run that Aladdin and Lion King were...but it doesn't try to be. It succeeds at being an upbeat,entertaining retelling of Dickens' tale in the Disney tradition.
Video - Oliver & Company is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.66:1. It is enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions. It is certainly nice to have the movie released in its proper ratio, and not suffer the fate of many a live-action Disney film. However, the video is not flawless. Picture quality seems overly soft for the most part and the colors just don't leap off the screen as it seems they were supposed to. The animation quality is not what it is today, but the New York city locations are nicely composed, and computers were used to augment the traditional cell animation in the scenes of street traffic. Overall, the picture quality is not unlike the movie, in that it is pleasant enough, but won't really amaze you. (And no, the Twin Towers were certainly not edited out of this film.) Audio - The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not overly active, but audio is clear and crisp. The score and dialogue are mostly relegated to the front speakers, with infrequent surround activity. The soundtrack is faithful to the original stereo mix and while there isn't too much going on, there's not too much to complain about. Fidelity is clear and all dialogue sounds natural. An adequate sound mix.
Extras
- Having broken tradition with the "Gold
Collection" label, Disney calls Oliver &
Company a "Special Edition." Well, there
isn't much of a difference in terms of content, but Oliver
does have a decent amount of supplements. The animated
menus are a nice touch, and it's nice to see Disney
embrace something other than the static menus the Gold
Collection seemed to have a great fondness for. The main
menu features a collection of a scenes in each corner of
the screen that take turns playing, while the score plays
over it all. Other menu screens like Bonus Features, are
static after the transition, but the score gives life to
them.
Closing Thoughts - Disney has put together a nice disc for one of their lesser-known animated classics. Video and audio, while not mind-blowing, are quality and there's a handful of extras, as well. Definitely a recommended purchase for anyone who's a fan of this film and worth a rental for the Disney fan who hasn't seen this yet. Click here to purchase this DVD The Ultimate Guide to Disney DVD Home |
