DVDizzy Forum

Oliver & Company:

VHS (US):


VHS (UK):


Special Edition DVD:


Blu-ray:

My favorite is the Blu-ray cover, but I really like that UK VHS cover, too. I actually think all these are decent, surprisingly.

Hey! It's a day early for Oliver & Co! And I haven't even chimed in about Great Mouse Detective...

First though, since people are talking about Disney movies' international titles... in Latin America, most Disney movies get direct translations of the title. One exception was 101 Dalmatians, which all through the 20th Century was known as "La noche de las narices frias", which translates to "The night of cold noses". A very odd choice, but I guess it refers to the rescue mission in the snow, and how dog's would have had cold, wet noses. I actually find it kinda charming. Around 2000 they changed it back to 101 Dalmatians.

So, about Great Mouse.... I actually think most of the covers are kinda cute. They match the playful tone of the movie. Im not a huge fan of this movie.... it's not terrible, but it sort of feels like a saturday morning cartoon with high quality animation. So.... ON to the covers:

1) VHS1: Good poses and composition. I Like the hinted London skyline. Characters are very well drawn, even though not super on model (for Basil at least). The minus: Ratigan. The expression doesn't really match his character, and his whole little area there looks almost like a ghost appearing out of nowhere.

2) VHS2: LOVE the pose and expression, very Sherlock Holmes. Correct colors. My only gripe is that it feels more like a magazine cover more than a VHS cover. And the linework isn't very visible... makes the whole thing look like it's lacking definition.

3) Dvd: I like the idea here with the magnifying glass, but not super well executed. I mean... the m. glass should be placed differently for this to remotely work. I like the perspective of the background, but I have seen this cover up close, and the characters are not very well drawn, specially the little girl.

4) Blu ray: This one is not very good. Girl looks terrible. The magnifying glass is blocking Basil's left arm, so we can't see he is holding a lantern (I have seen an alternate image where you DO see his arm).... we just see what might be a lantern floating on the upper right corner. And Basil's pose looks.... um.... like a drag queen about to snap her fingers and say "guuuuuurl"? Yay for Dawson/Watson being well drawn.

I like that UK VHS cover a lot. Never seen it before and I think it's an improvement over the US VHS cover. The covers in general are just decent but nothing mindblowing. Oliver is at least consistently cute in all of them.

Love the Blu-ray one best. Awesome looking, all the placement of the characters, like the big Oliver-rescuing dog (don't know his name...) busting out in front with Oliver and the rest in the backgorund, and I really love the colors, lighting, and shading. I also love the UK VHS second best, like a lot of you guys, it's just great and I had never seen it before. But I never saw the Blu-ray before, either.

Marce82 wrote: First though, since people are talking about Disney movies' international titles... in Latin America, most Disney movies get direct translations of the title. One exception was 101 Dalmatians, which all through the 20th Century was known as "La noche de las narices frias", which translates to "The night of cold noses". A very odd choice, but I guess it refers to the rescue mission in the snow, and how dog's would have had cold, wet noses. I actually find it kinda charming. Around 2000 they changed it back to 101 Dalmatians.

How incredibly strange.

I like that the UK video has both Einstein and Winston, so that's my favorite, but they all are pretty good!

I like all the covers, to be honest. The characters are on model, the colors and shading are beautiful, and the general composition is awesome. It would be kinda hard for me to pick a favourite.

All the covers of Oliver and company are really great.

And I am so glad that Disney has never thought about or bothered to edit out the two World Trade center towers from the movie. Despite the controversy after 2001.

My favorites
1. VHS UK
This is the cover I had on my Swedish VHS as a child. It is a fun, bright cover. And wins big time because all of the dogs (especially Einstein) from Oliver's gang is included on the cover. The city in the background looks better than the US VHS.

2. 25th anniversary Blu-ray and 20th anniversary DVD
Nice colors, and Oliver is so cute here. Maybe his feet looks a bit weird and I would have liked more details on his collor necklace as in the other covers, but it is still great.

3. US VHS
Great with the city and "Taxi" car as in the UK VHS. I think Oliver is worst drawn on this cover compared to the rest but he is still cute.

4. Special Edition DVD, VHS
On the bottom because I don't get that "this is a fun movie with a big cast" feeling from the cover. But it is well drawn and great to have Jenny on a cover. Dodger looks really sweet too.
And Tito in the logo is great even if the artwork of him is recycled from the US VHS. They only changed the pupils in his eyes to look down.

By the way
I think Oliver is so cute (maybe even cutest) on this cover artwork.
https://www.paperbackswap.com/Oliver-Co ... 590420496/

DisneyBluLife wrote: By the way
I think Oliver is so cute (maybe even cutest) on this cover artwork.
https://www.paperbackswap.com/Oliver-Co ... 590420496/

I love how that cover shows so much of the city.

blackcauldron85 wrote:I like that the UK video has both Einstein and Winston, so that's my favorite, but they all are pretty good!

I wish the Blu-ray cover had Einstein's head popping up out of the dumpster or something, then it would've had all the group, too.

Although the Blu-ray is my favorite, the UK VHS definitely gets the "vibe" of the film the best (plus it includes Georgette prominently and she's one of the main things I remember from this one). But now I'm looking at it again, that taxi sure is tiny.

Marce82 wrote:First though, since people are talking about Disney movies' international titles... in Latin America, most Disney movies get direct translations of the title. One exception was 101 Dalmatians, which all through the 20th Century was known as "La noche de las narices frias", which translates to "The night of cold noses". A very odd choice, but I guess it refers to the rescue mission in the snow, and how dog's would have had cold, wet noses. I actually find it kinda charming. Around 2000 they changed it back to 101 Dalmatians.

That's a really curious title. I had heard it before, but I didn't know they changed it back to 101 Dalmatians. It's curious that here in Spain we didn't get the same title as Latin America sometimes even though we used to share the same dubbing. Beauty and the Beast was the first film to have its own dubbing here.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I remember discussing the change between the title "The Frog Princess" (which I preferred) to "The Princess and the Frog" (which is alright, but a mouthful), and some suggested the film be called "Tiana." I just didn't think that was a name that could carry a story like "Cinderella" or "Rapunzel," personally, and that's the way I feel about some of these.

The name Tiana is actually in the Spanish title. The film is called Tiana y el Sapo (Tiana and the Frog) here, probably to avoid having the word princess in the title.

Disney's Divinity wrote:But now I'm looking at it again, that taxi sure is tiny.

Yes, the proportions are way off in that cover. Not only is the car too small, but also Francis and Tito, compared to the other characters.

Unlike the majority, I don't really like any of these covers too much. This is my ranking:

1. UK VHS: It's the one we had in Spain too. Despite the problem with the proportions, I think it's my favorite because I like the idea and the composition and, like you said Disney's Divinity, it represents the movie quite well.

2. Blu-ray: Objectively speaking, it's probably the best one, but I've never liked it much personally. I don't know if it's the colors or the lighting or what, but it doesn't seem to fit with the look of the actual film. Also, Oliver doesn't look very accurate.

3. US VHS: The proportions are better here than in the UK VHS and the characters are more or less well drawn, but it looks as if Dodger was the protagonist instead of Oliver. Plus I'm not sure what some of the characters in the back are on.

4. Special Edition DVD: I feel bad for putting this one last, it's nice and the characters are more or less on-model, but I agree with DisneyBluLife that it doesn't represent the movie too well. There should be more characters from Oliver's "company" on it.

Oliver and company.

French DVD
https://www.amazon.com/Oliver-Compagnie/dp/B00005NYXR

UK Blu-ray and DVD "Heroes" cover (No "Villains" cover exists for this movie.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oliver-Company ... B001NN4126

Hey D82: yeah, that is weird about 101 Dalmatians. And on the rare occasion, Spanish titles will be different from Latin America's... (like "Merlin el encantador" and .... ugh..."Zafarrancho en el rancho"... ugh. But we can discuss that one when we get to it )

So... I actually don't love the Oliver and Co covers... I think Great Mouse got a better batch. None are terrible either. But oh well, here we go:

1) UK VHS: I pick this one with reluctance. I give it credit cause it shows off the characters and 80s icons from the film... All characters mostly on-model (except for the bulldog), and some the the character's eyes are uneven. THe cab looks ridiculously tiny.

2) Blu ray: I like many things about this cover: the size relations, the perspective, the characters are on-model. I also like that it's in an alley, not on a regular street, which better reflects the movie. The minuses: the city in the background is actually a photograph with some filter on it, not a drawing. It's a bit of a cheat. The lighting is a little overly dramatic, and Dodger's face isn't well drawn: like the snout is "facing"the camera more than the rest of his head.

3) American VHS: similar to the UK one, but it REALLY looks like Dodger is the main character. Sad, cause the characters here are VERY on model (moreso than the UK one). Minus for jamming Sykes in there. Really doesn't fit.

4) Dvd: meh. Very bland... doesn't really capture the spirit of the movie. I like that they included Jenny in this one. It's just kind of a boring cover...

Why isnt Fagin in any of the covers?? He is a pretty big character!


And oooooh boy... here comes Little Mermaid... ooooh boy!

DisneyBluLife wrote:French DVD
https://www.amazon.com/Oliver-Compagnie/dp/B00005NYXR

That one is like the UK VHS, but they got rid of Rita and Einstein on it.

Marce82 wrote:Hey D82: yeah, that is weird about 101 Dalmatians. And on the rare occasion, Spanish titles will be different from Latin America's... (like "Merlin el encantador" and .... ugh..."Zafarrancho en el rancho"... ugh. But we can discuss that one when we get to it )

Yes, that last Spanish title is a funny one, though the Latin American title for that movie is also different from the original. We'll discuss it when we'll get to it, as you say.

Ok, since no one is commenting on covers right now... D82, let's get into it:

Neither Vacas Vaqueras ("cowboy cows" in Latin America) nor Zafarrancho en el Rancho ("A mess at the Ranch" for Spain) accurately translate the original title, which is fine to me. I think "Home on the Range" is supposed to evoke a tone and setting, more than it is to be taken as a literal reading.

My only concern with the Spaniard title is the word "Zafarrancho"... it's a little too colloquial. Same reason I hate the word "Groove" in "The Emperor's new groove". These films are supposed to be trying to be timeless... a heavily colloquial word in the title seems off to me.

Yeah but those films are so...un-timeless...un-Disney.

Maybe so... but they still have to fit on the same shelf. "Groove" and "zafarrancho" are WAY too colloquial and in-your-face non disney.

If you've ever seen the documentary The Sweatbox, you can see the moment where they tell Sting the title change from "Empire of the Sun" to "The emperor's new groove"... he let's out a perfect groan that shows a mix of disappointment and disgust.

In Sweden "Home on the range" is called "Kogänget" (The cow gang) and "The emperor's new groove" is called "Kejsarens nya stil" (The emperor's new style), we don't have a Swedish word exactly for "groove" so it translates for the most part to "style".

In Hebrew, "Home on the Range" is called "The Animal's Rebellion" and "The Emperor's New Groove" is called "The Emperor fell on the head" (Fell on the head is supposed to be slang for "went crazy").

It's interesting that these two films have different titles in other countries too. Apart from the difficulty of translating the word "groove" in some languages, another reason for the title changes in these two cases may have to do with the fact that the things the original titles reference are probably not well-known in other cultures. The Emperor's New Groove is a play on words with Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Emperor's New Clothes. In Spain, for example, I don't think that story is very well-known and probably in some other countries it isn't either. And I didn't know it before, but I've googled Home on the Range, and I learned it's also the title of a classic western folk song. So that reference would be also lost in other territories. Come to think of it, the song at the beginning of the film, "(You Ain't) Home On The Range", is maybe a parody of that classic song.

Marce82 wrote:Neither Vacas Vaqueras ("cowboy cows" in Latin America) nor Zafarrancho en el Rancho ("A mess at the Ranch" for Spain) accurately translate the original title, which is fine to me. I think "Home on the Range" is supposed to evoke a tone and setting, more than it is to be taken as a literal reading.

My only concern with the Spaniard title is the word "Zafarrancho"... it's a little too colloquial. Same reason I hate the word "Groove" in "The Emperor's new groove". These films are supposed to be trying to be timeless... a heavily colloquial word in the title seems off to me.

I actually don't mind that these words are too colloquial. In my opinion, both fit with their respective films, which as Disney Duster pointed out, don't try to be timeless either. But I understand why you don't like them. I guess they chose "zafarrancho" for the Spanish title because it rhymes with "rancho". I actually prefer Vacas Vaqueras, in my opinion it's not a bad title and fits better with the movie than the title for Spain.

The Emperor's New Groove is titled El Emperador y sus locuras (The Emperor and his madnesses) in Spain. Is it the Latin-American title as well?