The film is unmistakably a product of its time, with cultural references and music by Billy Joel, Bette Midler, and Huey Lewis planting the film’s very identity in the 1980s. The nostalgic appeal of Oliver & Company is not so much for its own story and characters, but of the era that it captures in its music and attitude. On top of Disney’s previous failures of rendering realistic animal characters with blank vacuous faces, what makes Oliver and Company unfit for a new remake is the same thing that makes it a classic. The film follows the tradition of Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians in exploring the secret life of pets (no relation) in a contemporary human setting. Oliver ( Joey Lawrence) is now an orphaned kitten trying to survive the mean streets of New York City when he is taken in by a family of canine con artists. These remakes may look more real, but don’t feel as genuine as the classics that generations have grown up with.ĭisney Animation’s Oliver & Company retells Charles Dickens's immortal classic Oliver Twist with its own unique spin. Animation strives for believability, while live-action aims for realism. Animation is an entirely different method of filmmaking than live-action and everything that makes the animation distinctly expressive is lost in the translation to real sets and actors. Regardless of overall quality or creative direction, each of these films takes on the Herculean challenge of giving their classic tales the same appeal and likability in live-action as they had in animation. At worst, they are derivative regurgitations void of even half the heart of the originals, like The Lion King and Mulan.
At best, they are modernized reinventions of familiar stories and characters, like The Jungle Bookand Cruella. 2019 alone saw the release of five adaptations/spin-offs of their animated classics with each their own legion of fans and critics. Disney’s onslaught of live-action remakes sure has been gaining momentum in recent years.
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