101 Dalmatiner

Cute, but very silly at times, and not as good as the original.

The original 101 Dalmatians, released in 1961, was an animation classic. Adorable characters, nice story, happy ending. Mostly meant for kids but had something in it for adults too. It wasn't perfect though: after a wonderful opening act it did lose some of its charm and substance and degenerated into a caper towards the end.

This 1996 remake of 101 Dalmatians takes the same plot, almost to the letter, de-animates it and throws in more silliness. There are a few positive things added, mostly in dialogue in the first few scenes, and I thought the real dogs were quite cute, even compared to the animated ones, but most of the changes are for the worse.

One big positive of this remake, however, is Glenn Close's portrayal of Cruella De Vil. Suitably intense and menacing.

Overall, very little reason to watch this if you've seen the original. And if you haven't, then watch the original instead...

This is one of those movies that truly is - and I don't mean to use the cliché - entertaining whether you are a kid or an adult. The dalmatians and other animals are a lot of fun to watch.

Glenn Close must have had a lot of fun making this film, playing the evil "Cruela De Vil." Just as much fun, maybe more, were the two bumbling dog-nappers - Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams, I believe - idiots who were genuinely funny in their stupidity. Their dialog was hilarious.

There are nice colors in here, too, so a widescreen DVD is good to have if you enjoy this movie. I didn't find the surround sound to be much.

Speaking of clichés and such, there are some drawbacks here that were a little annoying to me, like overdoing the intelligence of the dogs, making them almost human-like with their abilities to understand English. In fact, it's taken to the absurd level level of some of the animals being smarter than humans. Please....give me a break! Also, you get the quick "film romance" in which two people (Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson) barely meet and already they are in love, getting married in no time. Please....give me a break!

Still, recommended if you want a want 103 minutes of a "cute" story and don't take any of it the least bit seriously as if anything in here could really happen.

I've noticed something about John Hughes' movies: he started out writing about adults with child-like tendencies ("Mr. Mom", "National Lampoon's Vacation"), went on to actual teenagers ("Sixteen Candles", The Breakfast Club"), devolved down to pre-teens ("Home Alone", "Dennis the Menace") and then babies ("Baby's Day Out") and now that he's exhausted all the ages of man (except the elderly - don't give him any ideas) he's moved on to the animal kingdom with "101 Dalmatians".

You know the basic storyline if you've seen the 1961 Disney animated original - Roger and Anita (Daniels and Richardson) meet and marry then their respective dalmatians Pongo and Perdita have 15 puppies which are coveted by the despicable Cruella DeVil (played con brio by Close) who will have them at any cost to make a puppy fur coat.

What's new this time around? The fact that it's all live action, for one, and the formidable assistance of computers helps create the illusion of dogs and other creatures acting with almost human precision, plus the fact that instead of precocious voices for all the animals they act out voiceless against the human baddies, especially Horace and Jasper (Williams and Laurie), as if the animal kingdom were all channeling Macaulay Culkin.

And, of course, since Hughes wrote the script, you know this won't be Shakespeare - slapstick malice is at the forefront with cute but noble good guys, ugly and dumb bad guys and lots of adorable animals.

But not just dalmatians, mind you: there are all manner of dogs - sheepdogs, bulldogs, terriers, etc. Not to mention horses, sheep, raccoons, rabbits, chickens, pigs, cows, birds and even a mouse in one instance. All of them banding together to bring the dalmatians, all 101 of them, together safely.

Director Herek brings everything together with assurance and all the actors make sure you know that this is a story that is first and foremost for the kiddies. Especially Close - complete with claws on her gloves and a different wardrobe for every scene, she not only chews the scenery but nibbles on it with every tooth in her head and savors the taste like a connoisseur. Bless her.

This isn't the kind of movie that can be successfully analyzed. You either like it or not, depending on what kind of tolerance you have for kiddie slapstick. I like that, so I liked "101 Dalmatians".

Seven stars, plus half a star for Close's diabolical work...and a half star more for the donations from the animal world.

As an animation student, I frequently cringe when they make a live action version of an animated film, as they rarely live up to their cartoon counterparts. This is not one of those films. I loved it, the Dogs, pongo and Perdy, were outstanding, and even with computer stand ins, and Hensons creature shop, you'd be hard pushed to see the joins, the exceptions being the Wood pecker at the door and the two Racoons giving each other a high five. Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson were great, Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams were brilliant as the bumbling lackeys, but the star of the show had to be Glenn Close as Cruella DeVille. I never knew animated characters could have real life twins, but Glenn Close was Cruella's, delightfully over the top, with more ham than a bacon butty. If you liked the cartoon you'll love this version as well. The only thing I wondered about in the whole film was how many takes it took them to get some of the animal shots, this certainly contradicts the old adage of not working with animals and kids.

"101 Dalmatians" is a very cute and funny movie from the original Disney cartoon classic. Glenn Close was very good in the movie, and I liked all of the dalmatians. Glenn Close did a wonderful job as "Cruella Devil", and I think she did a good job fitting the role. Overall, this is a family classic, and should be enjoyed by anybody! I give it a 9.5 out of 10!