#27 Oliver & Company

Title: Oliver & Company

Release Date: November 18th, 1988

Voice Cast: Billy Joel, Joey Lawrence, Dom DeLuise, Natalie Gregory, Cheech Marin

Recap: A stray cat, Oliver, meets a group of dogs living with a homeless man on a 1980s Manhattan pier. The homeless man, Fagin, is struggling to pay off a powerful loan shark. Every day, the dogs go out to find items or money to help Fagin pay off the loan shark. On one of these days, Oliver ends up on his way to a wealthy home with a little girl and a spoiled show dog. He becomes happy there, but Fagin's gang rescues him, and Oliver becomes a ransom item for the pitiful Fagin.

Review: When I was very young, I remember that Oliver & Company was one of my absolute favorite Disney movies. I don't even remember why; in fact, I didn't remember much of the film before watching it yesterday. Here's what I knew: there was a cat, there was a dirty hobo, there was a girl with a piano, and it was set in 1980s New York. So watching it some 10 years later, it was almost a brand new film to me.

No doubt my favorite thing about this film now is it's setting. I'm making a quick conclusion here that this film is the only Disney classic to have a completely urban setting. Singularity is always a plus for Disney movies. The great thing about the setting is how much it affects the soundtrack. These are Disney tunes like you've never heard 'em before, sprouting out 80s jazz, pop, and rock in the best possible way. Having Billy Joel as a lead certainly didn't hurt, and he takes the cake with the fantastically built-up "Why Should I Worry?".

My complaints are equal. This is the first Disney movie I've seen in a true while that didn't move as fast as I'd have liked it to. It drags on A LOT, working to define irrelevant moments in the plot. It just doesn't work. The end product is a slow-moving story that just can't catch the runtime of 70+ minutes.

This is probably the first review that I've struggled to give a rating on. If there was a rating between the two ratings I was considering, it would belong there. But I suppose I have to go by the universal rule: round up.

Under the Sea (Darling, It's Better!)