Loosely based on the famous Dickens novel Oliver, this is a great story of love lost and found. Oliver is a young orphaned kitten, left in the street on his own when no one wanted to adopt him. Oliver is scared and alone but his luck changes when he meets Dodger a dog who befriends Oliver and takes him home to meet Fagan. Fagan is a small time pick pocket, who relies on petty crime to earn his living, he shares his home with lost dogs and cats and uses the orphaned animals to help him in his crimes.

Oliver is happy with his new friends but he still feels something is missing, until one day he meets Jenny a lonely little girl whose is practically ignored by her father. Jenny adopts Oliver and Oliver feels like he is the luckiest little kitten in the world. Oliver?s old gang think Oliver has been kidnapped and try to save Oliver but they soon realise that Oliver and Jenny are meant to be together.

Things take a turn for the worse when Oliver and Jenny are threatened by the evil Mr Sykes. Mr Sykes and his horrible Doberman guard dogs have kidnapped Jenny to get money from her farther. So Oliver turns to his friends Fagan, Dodger and the gang to help rescue her. With little more than street smarts the gang has to break into a deserted warehouse and try to free Jenny without Sykes and his Dobermans finding out. The plan is hatched and like any good drama things do not run smoothly. There is action a plenty as the gang fight for Jenny?s freedom.

This is a wonderful kids DVD, full of fabulous characters and the story is a clever blend of action and humour. My kids hadn?t seen this movie before and they loved it, I had 70 minutes of peace and quite whilst this movie played through. My four year old couldn?t sit still whilst the street chase was on and they all loved the ending! This is a great kids movie and in true Disney style the whole family will enjoy watching it. The animation is fabulous and despite the age of the film the story and characters haven?t dated, and are still just as appealing this time round.

Disney has this formula that is pure magic and almost guarantees success with any child, I have to say that as a family a Disney Production rarely disappoints us. I am always looking for Disney movies to add to our home collection because of their universal appeal. The picture clarity on this disc was phenomenal and the sound was the usual crisp clear Dolby brilliance we have come to expect form Disney. With a 16:9 Dual layered format, there was the usual warning of a slight pause with layer transition but we didn?t experience any pausing or problems. And of course with the inclusion of Subtitles this movie gets another tick of approval, as I just love to have the option of subtitles on everything! Oliver and Company is another Disney ?Must Have? in your home collection.

THE EXTRAS

The cover boasts the following Bonus features:

Cartoon Short: Puss-Caf? (Starring Pluto)

Oliver & Co Scrapbook

The making of Oliver & Co

Featurette: Return of a classic.

But I couldn?t get them to play on our DVD ? each menu item selected from our remote just returned the disc to the start of the movie? ? so I?m not really sure if this is a glitch in the DVD or not. Either way I am unable to rate these features, as I couldn?t access them.

CONCLUSION

Loosely based on the famous Dickens novel Oliver, this is a great story of love lost and found. Oliver is a young orphaned kitten, left in the street on his own when no one wanted to adopt him. Oliver is scared and alone but his luck changes when he meets Dodger a dog who befriends Oliver and takes him home to meet Fagan. Fagan is a small time pick pocket, who relies on petty crime to earn his living, he shares his home with lost dogs and cats and uses the orphaned animals to help him in his crimes.