Video - Oliver & Company is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.66:1. It is enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions. It is certainly nice to have the movie released in its proper ratio, and not suffer the fate of many a live-action Disney film. However, the video is not flawless. Picture quality seems overly soft for the most part and the colors just don't leap off the screen as it seems they were supposed to. The animation quality is not what it is today, but the New York city locations are nicely composed, and computers were used to augment the traditional cell animation in the scenes of street traffic. Overall, the picture quality is not unlike the movie, in that it is pleasant enough, but won't really amaze you. (And no, the Twin Towers were certainly not edited out of this film.)

Audio - The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not overly active, but audio is clear and crisp. The score and dialogue are mostly relegated to the front speakers, with infrequent surround activity. The soundtrack is faithful to the original stereo mix and while there isn't too much going on, there's not too much to complain about. Fidelity is clear and all dialogue sounds natural. An adequate sound mix.

Extras - Having broken tradition with the "Gold Collection" label, Disney calls Oliver & Company a "Special Edition." Well, there isn't much of a difference in terms of content, but Oliver does have a decent amount of supplements. The animated menus are a nice touch, and it's nice to see Disney embrace something other than the static menus the Gold Collection seemed to have a great fondness for. The main menu features a collection of a scenes in each corner of the screen that take turns playing, while the score plays over it all. Other menu screens like Bonus Features, are static after the transition, but the score gives life to them.
The first and most significant extra is The Making of Oliver & Company, which despite what it implies, is really just a 5 minute, 30 second featurette that fits the definition of "fluff piece" as the cast is praised and the voice-over man convinces us that the movie is in successful Disney tradition while remaining hip and all-American, even though it is based on a classic English novel. The featurette briefly touches upon the computer-generated imagery used in the animation, but for the most part, is pure hype and quite disappointing.
Disney's Animated Animals: A Look at the History of Animals in Disney Films is a 90-second featurette that briefly skims the surface of animal characters in Disney's animated films, focusing on Oliver. Basically, this featurette is as long as it takes to read the full title of it.
The Oliver & Company Scrapbook is a 14-page gallery with conceptual art, character and story development sketches, behind the scenes photos of the artists and voice actors, and publicity and merchandise artwork. You can browse the cropped thumbnails or move individually through the full-sized still images.
There are 2 Sing-Alongs, for the film's most memorable tune, "Why Should I Worry?" (2:55) and for "Streets of Gold" (2:50). Both are in fullscreen, with 2.0 Surround audio.
The Publicity Materials section fortunately provides us with a handful of trailers. (Several recent Disney DVDs, such as The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Hunchback of Notre Dame have been noticeably missing their trailers.) Contained within this section are a 35-second TV spot, the original trailer (1:35), the re-release trailer (1:41) and a re-release promotional spot (1:59) which is mostly self-congratulatory in tone, and tries to hammer home the fact that Oliver started a new realistic animation trend that Little Mermaid, etc. followed.
Fun Film Facts is a set of nine screens worth of information on the production and design of the movie. These notes range from the obvious to the interesting.
Finally there are two animated shorts: "Lend a Paw" (1941 Best Animated Short Oscar winner) (8 min, 5 sec) and "Puss Cafe" (1949) (7 min, 7 sec). Both feature feline characters and an agitated Pluto, and both are presented in 1.33:1 fullscreen with mono sound.
Also present are 8 Sneak Peeks for Beauty and the Beast, Lilo & Stitch, Snow Dogs, Return to Never Land, Max Keeble's Big Move, Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch, Monsters, Inc., and "Teamo Supremo." The first three play upon loading the disc, and can be skipped.

Closing Thoughts - Disney has put together a nice disc for one of their lesser-known animated classics. Video and audio, while not mind-blowing, are quality and there's a handful of extras, as well. Definitely a recommended purchase for anyone who's a fan of this film and worth a rental for the Disney fan who hasn't seen this yet.

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