Review of Oliver & Company (1988) by John P — 18 Jun 2013

Widely considered - but rarely admitted out loud - as the single greatest contribution to the Disney Animated Classics series, Oliver & Company will surely go down in history as one of the very finest things the human race has ever done. Based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, Oliver & Company is comfortably the best musical about Oliver since Oliver!

A tale of the plucky underdog (or should that be undercat?) Oliver is a young kitten who finds himself abandoned on the streets of New York City after he is somehow not adopted by a single passer-by, despite being the cutest cat if not in the world then certainly in the movie. Taken begrudgingly under his wing (or should that be dog... wing?) by Dodger, Oliver learns how to be streetwise in the company of the other dogs that were named after characters in Oliver Twist I think. Living with the confusingly human Fagin (who either doesn't seem to realise that Oliver isn't a dog or think it at all weird that a cat should be hanging out with his dogs who Fagin sort of understands but not really), Oliver finds himself in a whole world of trouble when cigar-smoking crimelord Sykes takes exception to something Fagin does possibly and threatens to brutally murder him, six years before The Lion King even considered killing a character off.

Somehow good prevails over evil and Oliver is adopted by some girl that doesn't really matter other than when Sykes threatens to rape and kill her too. Oh yeah, wait I remember, Oliver is adopted by the girl and then somehow Sykes realises the girl could be used to get at Fagin so that's why he wants to rape and kill her. Regardless, Oliver gets adopted, perfectly conveying the message Dickens penned almost two centuries ago: it doesn't matter if you're poor, as long as you're cute.

Boasting such talents as Billy Joel, Bette Midler and one half of Cheech and Chong, six years before The Lion King even considered boasting such talents as one half of Cheech and Chong, Oliver and Company is so shamelessly badass that it makes Reservoir Dogs look like a scrawny little nerd with sand kicked in his eyes, while his super-hot girlfriend walks off with Oliver and Company.

This fun-for-all-the-family flick is certainly not one to show the children until you're absolutely certain they're ready to deal with the humiliation of loving a film so much they crap themselves in front of all the family.