#58 - Oliver & Company

For those of you who have been reading these reviews every other day for the past few months, you may have noticed that there was no review yesterday. Well, I was north of Green Bay, Wisconsin in a motel with no internet. That's the way it goes. But hey, after this review I only have three more to write before I am caught up with my DVD viewing. That means that a review every other day is soon coming to an end. Maybe its time to ween you off of the teet a little bit. It's not always best to quit cold turkey. But hey, we've got a movie to talk about.

I actually learned something while watching this cartoon. I learned why they used to call the 80's the dark days of Disney. There's a nice laundry list about what is wrong with this movie. First and foremost, I'm just wondering why Disney felt the need to stray from their proven formula for making cartoons and tried to copy what Don Bluth was doing. I know Don Bluth used to work for them and all, but when he left, he went on to do his own thing. Disney should have kept doing their own thing, because it worked. Sure, there were hits like The Rats of Nimh(one of my faves from my youth), An American Tail, and Land Before Time, but that doesn't mean you try to copy it. Once you start copying someone else's style you lose what makes you unique, and you lose me. In no way does the story and style in this movie resemble any other Disney cartoon that I have ever seen. I am confused as to why it was felt this kind of thing was neccessary.

You wanna know what bothered me the most? It was the fact that there were clashing animation styles. The backgrounds of the docks, alleys and streets of NYC were well drawn, well textured, and well colored. But the lines used to draw all of the characters did not match that background. They just didn't. Usually the animated characters stand out a bit from the background, but they fit into their surroundings. Oliver, Dodger, and all the other mutts did not. And then to top it off, they have all of the vehicles. I know that this was one of the first cartoons to use computers in the animation process, but in the middle of a world with a textured background, and mismatched, yet free moving characters, there are stiff, rigid, and angular vehicles. Nothing matches with each other. Sure, you have to start the computer technology somewhere, but man, you could have done better than this.

Here's another thing...where's the memorable characters? There isn't any characters that you could see in a parade down Main Street in Disneyland. The only performance that is even mildly entertaining is Cheech Marin, and it's only just okay. And come on!!! Billy Joel? A dog with shades on? You've got to be kidding me. And hey, Dom Deluise is much better as a bird than he is a warm hearted street urchin. Shame on you Disney. You tried to do something cause you got scared that you didn't rule the cartoon world anymore, and you ended up making a big old pile of steaming crap. Thank god you've gotten it together since then.