Disney Guy Review - Oliver and Company

hey there everybody I'm the Disney guy and welcome to another Disney guy review today we're gonna be taking a look at one of these these coolest quadrupeds in the greatest city in the world that's right it's finally time we take a look at the last film the transitional era Oliver in company [Music] the Disney studio went over a major overhaul in 1984 when paramount executives Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg were brought onto the studio as the CEO and chairman respectively and although they had already started to make their mark on a few Disney animated productions that were already underway by 1985 it was time for the new duo to undertake their first ever animated feature film from the very beginning Eisner and Katzenberg also wanted to take the Disney animated studio in a direction that they hadn't been since the 40s and 50s and expressed their desire for the Disney studio to release one animated film per year nowadays where Studios released one or two animated films per year that request probably doesn't seem too outlandish but back in 1985 it was just that as they've gone over time and time again on this channel animated films especially those that are traditionally animated take a lot of time and cost a lot of money to make at this point they're history Disney was really singing about one animated film every three to four years so to call for a new full-length animated feature every single year was quite the tall order in order to even approach this desire for new animated films be released every year fresh new ideas especially after the disastrous release of the Black Cauldron were required prompting Eisner and Katzenberg to revive an old idea they used for pitch meetings when they were at Paramount and they invited all the Disney story men to what they called a gong show so just so we're all on the same page here the gong show was a talent show of sorts back in the 70s where various acts would go up and try to impress the judges but if an act became too unbearable then the judge could go up and get a giant gong to make it stop think of a more our cake version of America's Got Talent so in regards to Disney the gong show meeting was a chance for all the writers to get together in a room and pitch whatever ideas they wanted to make into a feature film and it's have to try to impress Eisner and Katzenberg various ideas came and went with some being outright rejected and others given a lukewarm response until it was longtime screenwriter Pete Young's turn to make a pitch Young's idea was simple Charles Dickens classic tale of Oliver Twist but in New York City instead of the Fagin character leading a ban of pickpocketing orphans here instead have a group of dogs and a cat taking the role of Oliver Katzenberg was immediately interested in the idea liking the New York City element and already being interested in bringing a modernized version of the Dickens tale to the screen having pitched a live-action adaptation of the musical Oliver while a paramount so although this Oliver idea was probably the clear-cut winner of the first gong show meeting a concept that would become an annual event at the studio over the years there were a couple of other ideas pitched in that initial meeting that did get some life of the Disney studio including an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid and taking Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and setting it in outer space turns out when you get a bunch of really creative people in a room together and turn them loose you might get a few money-making ideas following the positive reception at the gong show it was decided to move forward with the Oliver project being called Oliver in the Dodger as Disney's next full-length animated feature with work on Oliver and the Dodger underway relatively new animator George Scribner and veteran director Richard rich were named co directors of the project while Pete young the one who pitched the project in the first place was named story director the story however looked much different in its initial phases than how the final product will come to look the initial drafts had a far darker opening with Oliver's parents being killed by Sykes Dobermans prompting Oliver to seek revenge a plot point that actually stayed with the film nearly two years into its development but one of the biggest plot differences was thanks to a pitch by Roy Disney who suggested that the movie subplot featured the down as look Fagin hatching a scheme to steal a valuable panda from the zoo alternatively an idea was proposed to make Oliver a rare Asian cat which could explain why fig and kept him in his gang of dogs as a different means for him to try and pay off his debt but all these ideas were eventually shut down by Katzenberg who found to be nonsensical and prefer the story stay a bit closer to the source material this wasn't the first nor would it be the last time that Roy Disney and Jeffrey Katzenberg would butt heads so that's something to keep in mind as we move forward basically we represented the traditional way that Disney did things while Katzenberg was there to shake things up so it was almost inevitable that these two would clash from time to time but before any story elements could be shaken up the personnel in the film would begin to change dramatically in 1985 Pete young tragically passed away due to flu complications and soon after rich was fired from the company as part of their cutbacks with Richard move from the project scrub nurse was promoted to the sole director it was under his leadership that the story started to be shaped into its final form seeing Richard rich someone who'd been directing at the company since Robin Hood be released was probably pretty surprising to some but when he considered this new regime was in place to move the company in direction featuring new faces I guess it wasn't all that surprising after all if you want to read a great perspective on this time in Disney history check out Mouse in transition by Steve Hewlett now that was Steve in the company during this tumultuous period but he was one of the ones on the outs along with rich so it's a pretty interesting perspective the animation team borrowed some successful techniques from previous Disney films to bring New York City to life in Oliver like they did on 101 Dalmatians there was an effort to blend the style of the background animation with the characters on screen the painted backgrounds we've been given black outline overlays in order to both match the other animation as well as give the present-day background a more modern look and style and in order to make a more believable world for the four-legged lead characters another old trick this time from landing the was utilized artist Dan Hanson and guide deal what are New York City photographing various locations from 18 inches off the ground given the animators back in the studio a dog's eye view of the city in order to help them more accurately set the scenes for the film let me just say from experience there are a lot of strange things that happen in New York City that you don't really bat an eye to but a couple of guys lying in the ground taking pictures to turn a couple heads or I guess maybe just gotten them trampled there's a lot of people in New York City but while some of the animation techniques from the past were utilized the animation team also leapt into the future thanks to an expanded usso CGI Disney invested fifteen million dollars into the computer animated production system or caps for short and for the first time ever an exclusive CGI Department was used on an animated feature a huge step up from the occasional assets and scenes created by CGI and Disney's previous two films this time CGI was utilized to help create some of the backgrounds such as the Brooklyn Bridge in the climax as well as the majority of the vehicles throughout the city particularly Fayed scooter this liberal use of CGI enabled the animators to focus their attention more on the animation of the lead characters while also making sure that the city the film was placed in was as vibrant and lively as it could be it's gonna be interesting to keep tracking the expansion of CGI over the years because just a few years prior it was being used as more of a problem-solving tool than anything else and now it's being used to create full assets and backgrounds and fast-forward another decade and a half and it'll be used to create full-blown movies it's always fascinating the track the expansion of Technology especially for something as game-changing his computer animation to go along with the New York City setting of the film many New York City voices were added as well it was decided to first create the characters and then find voices to match the character movement a bit of a departure from the traditional way of casting child television actor Joey Lawrence was given the title role Oliver Mexican comedian Cheech Marin was cast as Tito and given free reign for improvisation in order to give more energy and life to the feisty Chihuahua Brooklyn native and voice actor veteran Dom DeLuise was cast as Fagin Long Island based singer and actress Sheryl Lee Ralph Wiggum the role of Rita and critically acclaimed actress in singer Bette Midler who also incidentally happened to be a New Yorker was cast at georgette but the real coup for the film was acquiring the popular singer-songwriter Billy Joel to play Dodger the idea that cast Joel was proposed by the director George Scribner thinking that his New York attitude and sensibilities match with Katzenberg's desire to engrave the film's more in the pop culture would make Joel the perfect fit for the film Disney was so gung-ho to cast Joel then they even allowed him to audition for the role over the phone Joe also said that part of the reason why he wanted to do the movie was because he had a young daughter at the time and wanted to do something that she could enjoy what's funny about this reason is that it was the same one given by Martin Scorsese for why he did the Academy award-nominated Hugo so I guess what I'm trying to say is for all of these actors and directors out there is don't be afraid to make something for your kids to enjoy because I might actually turn out pretty good but of course with such a musically talented cast it only made sense to also give the film strong songs for them to sing in a bit of a departure from how most is these songs were written multiple teams of songwriters as opposed to just one main one were used on the film such big-name songwriters who are brought in to work on the film for popular singer Dan Hartman Grammy nominated songwriter Dean pitchford world renowned recording artist Barry Manilow and at the suggestion of music producer David Geffen lyricist Howard Ashman helped with Once Upon a Time in New York City for his first song for Disney I love Howard Ashman so this is a pretty exciting moment for me but you might be wondering why the wildly popular singer who was cast as the lead in the movie Billy Joel didn't actually write a song for the film well Joel was approached about writing a song but he was so busy with writing his own album that he declined meaning that why should I worry is actually the first song that Billy Joel ever sung and released that he didn't write himself the film's marketing had to be handled a bit differently as well because for the first time real world advertised products such as Kodak Sony and Coke were featured in the film in to add more realism to the Manhattan setting but despite this Katzenberg insisted that the marketing for the film instead focus on the plot and the pop soundtrack as opposed to the advertiser tie-ins not wanted to give the impression that the products featured in the film or part of a product placement agreement and after a brisk two and a half years of production Oliver and company was released in the theaters on November 19 1988 guys it's just a cat so this was the first full-blown Disney Feature under the new regime so I guess the questions are is it actually feel any different and was it successful well quite frankly yes in yes I really do love this movie and there is a distinct stylistic shift in this film particularly from the last Judaism movies are seen while still feeling like it belongs in the Disney Catalog right off the bat I think this updated yet familiar feel is established in the opening sequence I love this intro as the past now stylized paintings of New York looked beautiful and would match with the underrated Once Upon a Time in New York City not much more popular sounding song than we've gotten from Disney since maybe the Jungle Book and establishes right off the bat what type of feel to expect from this movie as well as what to expect from this new era of Disney films in general as I said a little bit earlier I'd love Howard Ashman song so expect me to gush over them a little bit in the coming reviews but I do think that once upon a time in New York City is a pretty brilliant choice for an opening song in this case in features Huey Lewis a popular singer at the time and has a distinctly pop feel but the whole usage of Once Upon a Time does sort of invoke that idea of a modern fairy tale and it makes you think about the Disney of old so oh and all pretty ingenious if you ask me and that's probably the most interesting thing about this film throughout it's one of those modern Disney films I can ever remember watching and it's certainly the most modern Disney film that we've gotten to this point I mean it's set in present-day New York City for crying out loud but despite this it still doesn't feel out of place wouldn't put next to Disney's previous movies well why is that it's hard to put my finger on exactly some of it is probably the animation what is as strong as it's ever been with the CGI animation blending so seamlessly with the hand-drawn animation that it's almost hard to pick out some of it is probably the characters who are as full personality as any of our favorite Disney characters from the past and some of it is probably just a storytelling in general which hits that nice sweet spot of being fast-paced enough to get the major story and characters set up quickly but not too fast to feel as if the film is rushing all of it combines to give Oliver and company is sort of timelessness about it which is pretty impressive when you consider how distinctly 80s the movie feels as a whole that might seem a little contradictory timeless yet 80s and I guess to a point it is but what I'm getting at is yes this movies clearly set in the 80s and you can feel that throughout but the story being told and the characters telling it don't feel dated at all at least not to me so what enables you to do is despite the fact of this movie is 30 years old it doesn't feel that way and I think you can enjoy this movie in the same way now as you did back then as are the characters I want a real knock on the film this in its lead character Oliver can get a little bit lost in the shuffle he's certainly a sweet and likable character and his naivety and earnestness does come through throughout the film but he does have a tendency to get a little bit overshadowed by the other characters though the more that I think about it I don't think it's necessarily because the Oliver character is weak as much as the other characters are just so strong I love the dog game now I've distinct get fun personalities many different personalities play off each other so well it's very much a take a bunch of strong characters put them in a room and see what happens sort of thing my favourites are definitely Tito whose comedy really paces the film as a whole and has energy that's basically jumping off the screen and of course Dodger maybe it's because he's played by Billy Joel or maybe it's just because I'm a sucker for all things New York but dr. just seems like the coolest character around and even the beginning of the film when he's acting like a bit of a jerk you still get the vibe that it's because of his street smarts or street savoir-faire as he calls it and not because he's an unlikable character I don't know what it is maybe he was growing up 20 minutes outside of Manhattan maybe he was just watching Goodfellas with my dad when I was younger but something about these wiseguy characters it's always seem charming to me somehow that I think of it maybe seeing mobsters and con artists as charming isn't the best of strategies but strangely enough I think one of the most interesting characters in the whole movie is Fagin in the original story of Oliver Twist Fagin is a pretty despicable character but here faking his so buffoonish and well-meaning that even when he tries to be despicable he can't do it because he feels too bad yes Fagin is a criminal but he's so endearing and he clearly cares for the dogs and even penny later in the story so much and he can't help but to root for him even though looking at his humble abode I do wish that we knew what it was even borrowed the money from Sikes for I think a lot of the reason why I find Fagin to be such a likeable character is the amazing voice work done here by Dom DeLuise who has a voice that it's almost impossible to dislike though it isn't one of a jarring to hear him in a Disney film considering that I'm most associated Eloise with movies by Disney's biggest competitor at the time Don Bluth but in addition to the physical characters of the film there's one more very important character we see throughout and that's the city itself I love how Disney captured Manhattan here it's vibrant and full of life right from the opening moments and seeing the city from that dog's eye view gives a pretty cool and new perspective to something that's familiar to me as New York City but my favorite aspect of the sport Trey of New York City is the music a couple of times throughout the movie they referenced the rhythm of the city and that's actually prevalent in the score of the film itself every time we're in the heart of Manhattan there's just driving beat music mimicking the hustle and bustle of everyday life in the city it's a subtle thing that helps give even more life to an already lively set and helps the contrast between life on the street and life in the penthouse at the music softens considerably when were in scenes at Penny's house I've always wondered how Oliver and company plays with people not as familiar with New York City but I do think that the way the film portrays the city is strong in that even those that haven't visited can still feel it's this thing vibe and feel throughout the movie who I will say there's always been one aspect of this film then the tri-state area native is always kind of rubbed me the wrong way and that's the climactic chase scene at the end of the film first off there's not a chance and you're getting a scooter into a subway station an empty one at that at any time of night but more importantly there's no trains on the Brooklyn Bridge so ending sort of loses some believability for me great that it's kind of a strange thing to say when discussing a movie about talking dogs but here we are but no review of Oliver and company is complete without at least mentioning the songs the shift to make a pop soundtrack was definitely a good decision especially considering the modern feel the movie I already talked about my love for Once Upon a Time in New York City but streets of gold is a fun and pretty underrated song but the main event here is of course why should I worry the song is infectious in its energy and it perfectly embodies Dodgers carefree attitude making it a strong addition to Disney's library of songs and not for nothing but it really is an earworm and it just makes you want to sing it all the time all right all right easy easy maybe not all the time so all in all Oliver and company is a fun upbeat film that definitely signals Disney's willingness to leap into a new era it's modern it's high-energy but at its core it's as familiar and heartwarming as any Disney Feature before or since and it's definitely worth the watch for people and canines alike [Music] oliver and company opened to mixed reviews from the critics what the general consensus being that it was enjoyable but just not on the level of some of the older disney classics but much more important for oliver was its box office performance oliver and company was released head-to-head with Don Bluths latest animated film The Land Before Time making this already important animated feature even more important for Disney although land for time won the opening weekend making seven point five million dollars two offers four million Oliver and company overall grossed more over the life of its release fifty three million dollars to forty six million in fact our accompany had such a successful release that it became the highest-grossing animated film in its initial run that's kind of a wordy distinction but when you consider how often films and especially Disney animated films were released at the time and how popular those re-releases were in a time before Home Video and initial release is kind of an important distinction Oliver in company's bowels of the box office weren't done though as it was re-released once in 1996 this time against another Don Bluth film all dogs go to heaven too and once again triumphed over doubling up all dogs go to heaven - at the box office all told Oliver and company made seventy four million dollars at the box office and was so successful that it caused senior vice-president of animation Peter Schneider to back Katzenberg and eisenerz plan to release one Disney animated film per year when you think about it Oliver and company was one of the more important films that Disney released in quite some time sure it wasn't actually part of the Disney Renaissance but there are elements of it they were absolutely expanded in the Renaissance and its box office success allowed for that next era of Disney Animation to even take place up too shabby for Oliver Twist with dogs Oliver and company received a number of accolades as well it was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Family feature film nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song for why should I worry and want a golden real award for best sound editing and although oliver and company hasn't had a huge presence in the disney parks it did have its own parade float back around the time of the film's release so in the end oliver and company was a definite step forward for disney animation as a whole thanks to its expansive CGI its embrace of pop culture and pop music and it's proof of the long-term financial viability of animated films for disney helping set dizzy scores for the next decade and setting the stage for some of the most critically and popularly acclaimed films in their history well guys that wraps up for me this week hope y'all enjoyed and let me know what your thoughts are an online company also be sure to subscribe to the channel check out my Twitter for all updates with myself in the channel check out my patreon to find ways to improve the channel this nice new microphone that I have so hopefully you're enjoying them much cleaner sound from it thank you very much to all my patrons out there and be sure to check out one of these fine videos and playlists floating around my head right now and I will see you all real soon [Music] [Music]

Channel: Joe The Disney Guy

Views: 17,396

Rating: 4.9254079 out of 5

Keywords: Disney, Oliver and Company, Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Billy Joel, Howard Ashman, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Movie, Review, Film, History

Id: lKO9KWCOA6w

Length: 22min 27sec (1347 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 31 2018