All Critics (34)
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Top Critics (5)
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Fresh (17)
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Rotten (21)
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DVD (15)
The animation is fairly unexciting though serviceable, and the overall mystification of class difference would probably have made Dickens shudder, but kids should find this tolerable enough.
Even as a cartoon poodle, Bette Midler stops the show.
The film offers a fanciful, lush urban setting, unusual for Disney animated features, and a couple of good songs.
Despite three screenwriters and 13 names credited for the story, the script quickly sinks into a predictable 'girl-meets-pet, girl-loses-pet, girl-and -pet-reunite' sap-trap.
Can't compete with Disney classics, but still fun.
Can't compete with Disney classics, but still fun.
Quite insipid and wretchedly unengaging.
The computer-assisted animation is relatively stiff and inexpressive.
Lacks the classic Disney charm that works for adults as well as kids
The general quality of the animation and script would disappoint more sophisticated viewers.
The last gasp of Disney Animation's post-Walt malaise before the 1990s Disney renaissance … retains Dickens's seamy milieu, but not his morality-play tableau.
Far from classic but it is interesting to watch for its take on the pre-Disnified New York landscape following the company's real estate foray into the iconic downtown core.
The animation is clumsy, the songs are forgettable, the attempts at late-80s relevance now come across as dated and slightly embarrassing.
Billy Joel sang it best: "Why should I care?"
I guess I can cut the Mouse House a little slack when it comes to paint-by-numbers mediocrities like Oliver & Company.
A better movie than people give it credit for, though when you compare it to The Little Mermaid which followed, it really pales.
Extras on the disc include a pair of animated short films, "Lend a Paw" and "Puss Café", plus a making-of featurette.
More notable for what it isn't than what it is, it's one of the gangly middle children of the Disney animation family, not quite sure how to fit in, or even if it's valued.
Surely one of Disney's weakest full-length animated features, Oliver and Company features terrible, badly dated songs and some shoddy, patchwork animation with precious few dazzling moments.
Much cornball adventure ensues, punctuated by healthy helpings of singing, dancing and general merriment.
Animated Dickens makes for a surprisingly successful translation, and in my book Billy Joel can do very little wrong.
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