Oliver and Company (1988)

IMDb plot summary: A lost and alone kitten joins a gang of dogs engaged in petty larceny in New York City.

Directed by George Scribner. Starring Joey Lawrence, Billy Joel, and Cheech Marin.

Oliver and Company is a Disney animated film that is a loose adaptation of Oliver Twist, with animals. Oliver is an abandoned kitten who gets taken in by a pack of thieving dogs. But then a human child finds Oliver and takes him in, and he finds his loyalty tested between his two groups of new friends. The songs are by far the best part of this weirdly short movie. The primary narrative arc, of Oliver having to choose between his two sets of new friends, would make a lot more sense if we spent more than the length of a single song showing Oliver bonding with his animal friends. As it is, it seems absolutely ludicrous that they would feel in any way betrayed by his wanting to be adopted by a rich girl and live in a mansion. That being said, the musical numbers in this are great -- not only written well but also animated very dynamically, so that the visuals really highlight the musical strengths. This is a fun series of animated music videos but sloppy as a full movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Oliver and Company < Can't Hardly Wait

Oliver and Company < On the Waterfront

Oliver and Company > The Internship

Oliver and Company > Charlie Wilson's War

Oliver and Company > Au bonheur des dames

Oliver and Company < Ivan the Terrible, Part One

Oliver and Company > You Only Live Once

Oliver and Company > What's Up, Tiger Lily?

Oliver and Company > Who's That Knocking At My Door

Oliver and Company > She's All That

Oliver and Company > Queen Margot

Final spot: #3076 out of 4016, or 23%.