Oliver & Company is a sleep Disney movie for how much they really put into the film. It stars Billy Joel, Cheech Marrin, Bette Middler and a young Joey Lawrence. In addition to a song by Billy Joel, it also has a song by blockbuster crooner Huey Lewis. It had adorably sad animals and a lonely girl. It maximizes the musical format. It takes a classic story and mixes it with a bit of "Annie" to make this story that should be a hit. It recouped its $4 million dollar budget in the opening weekend but I would argue that this film is forgettable for most. They aren't selling Oliver or Dodger plushes at Walt Disney World and no one is lining up for a meet and greet.
I think that Oliver & Company takes all of the previous conventions and tries to add them together to make the perfect movie that turns into a bit of a failure. It borrows a little bit from each of it's previous movies so much so that it adds up to be a little too much. The cameos of other Disney dogs, the cute red head girl that looks too much like the little girl from The Rescuers, the villain that looks too much like several other Disney villains, and the over reliance on New York City as the setting to carry the movie. In the end, the movie is fun but it doesn't hold the relatable values of the blockbusters that follow it (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast). It is just a cute happy ending about a kitty getting a home.
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