Oliver and Company

So many reasons why I enjoy this Disney movie.  It's based (very loosely) on one of my favorite Charles Dickens novels, and I also have a love for the musical Oliver!, which obviously involves similar characters and plot lines.  It came out in 1988, the year of my birth.  It's got Billy Joel.  And there's an adorable kitten in it.  What's not to love?

Okay, well, I'll admit that there were a few things that bring this movie down a little - after all, it never quite reached the popularity of some of the films that came right after it.  The first thing that is just a bit odd is that the animation just doesn't look like it's "Disney."  I don't really know how to describe it other than that.  For the longest time I didn't even think this was a Disney movie!  Also, there are a lot of different characters with a lot of personalities, but we don't really get to know any of them all that well.

The whole Georgette and Tito relationship is pretty funny.  The ending of this movie was pretty ridiculous, but in a good way.  Totally not believable, but fun and entertaining. I was actually surprised that none of the good characters got killed or extremely injured.  I was expecting Dodger to save everyone at the last minute but in doing so fall to his death or something, but then have it turn out that he actually lived.  But I guess that most of the earlier movies avoided death in the actual movie, at least until The Lion King.

The Music
There is one really excellent song in this movie, and it's Billy Joel singing "Why Should I Worry?"  The only other one that stands out is the simple and sweet "Good Company," sung by Jenny as she is practicing piano.  Georgette has a song as well, though that one is pretty over the top.  Overall there is one really good song from this movie, and a few others that are okay.

The Villain
Sykes is the main bad guy here, and he's a pretty stereotypical villain.  He's dark and shady, conducting some sort of evil business in a creepy place.  He doesn't have much of a unique personality though, making him less interesting than some other Disney villains.  We also don't see too much of him throughout the movie until the end, which means that although evil is a presence throughout the film, it's not neccesarily related back to him all that well.

The WDW Connection
There are really no connections to Oliver and Company in Disney World that I know of.  Let me know if you find any!

Becky's rating:  8 out of 10
Jason's rating:  7.5 out of 10