She names him Oliver, and becomes very attached to him. Through a theatrical ruse, the animals stop a limousine belonging to the wealthy Foxworth family, but the attempt to rob the limo fails, and the kitten is taken by the child Jenny Foxworth, who is missing her vacationing parents and desires a companion. The next morning, Fagin goes to pawn some of his stolen goods, while the dogs and the kitten try to steal more money for him. Roscoe warns that they will try to exact revenge. Sykes' two Dobermans, Roscoe and DeSoto, harass Fagin's dogs and threaten to eat the kitten, until he scratches DeSoto's nose, earning Fagin and the dogs' respect. Sykes arrives and gives Fagin an ultimatum repay the money in three days, or suffer violence, possibly even death.
Fagin, the bargeman and petty thief who owns the dogs, is indebted to Sykes, a nefarious loan shark and criminal. The kitten accidentally falls into the barge, startling the dogs however, while they are annoyed, none of them harm him. The kitten pursues Dodger all over New York City until he eventually arrives at a barge, where he sees Dodger share his meal with a gang of poverty-stricken dogs (Tito the chihuahua, Einstein the Great Dane, Rita the Saluki, and Francis the bulldog). Dodger then reneges on the deal and flees with the hot dogs. Wandering the streets by himself in search of someone to adopt him, the kitten meets a laid-back mongrel named Dodger, who agrees to help him steal food from a hot dog vendor. All but one, an orange tabby, are adopted. On Fifth Avenue, several kittens are left in a box outside a shop. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc in 2013, commemorating its 25th anniversary. It was then released on home video later that same year, and again in 20 on DVD. The film was re-released in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on March 29, 1996.
Released on the same day as The Land Before Time (1988), Oliver & Company was a box office success, but it received mixed reviews from film critics. The pitch was quickly approved, and the film quickly went into production under the working title Oliver and the Dodger. Among other changes, the setting of the film was relocated from 19th century London to late 20th century New York City, Fagin's gang is made up of dogs (one of which is Dodger), and Sykes is a loan shark.įollowing the release of The Black Cauldron (1985), Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg held a pitch meeting with the animation staff, in which story artist Pete Young pitched the idea to adapt Oliver Twist with dogs. In the film, Oliver is a homeless kitten who joins a gang of dogs to survive in the streets. The 27th Disney animated feature film, it is loosely based on the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. Oliver & Company is a 1988 American animated musical film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released on November 18, 1988, by Walt Disney Pictures.