101 Dalmatians

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.

As a very young child, I grew up on the 1961 101 Dalmatians. I loved the show, and I remember thinking that it was one of Disney's best. So when the 1996 live-action remake came out, I had my doubts that anything could be as good as the original. I was wrong. This movie is absolutely fantastic! It is beautifully written and the dogs are so cute and loveable... but I think the thing that ties it all together is the casting. The characters were brought to life in a totally believeable way--from Jeff Daniels as the Dalmatian-loving, Cruella-hating Roger Dearly, to Ms.DeVil herself, played to perfection by the unbeatable Glenn Close. All of the actors fill the shoes of their characters, the comic timing is just right, and everything about it spells a Disney masterpiece.

"101 Dalmatians" is perfectly good clean children entertainment. It's has a fun feeling and atmosphere and some great characters.

John Hughes his writing style is notable in this movie. The characters and the humor are similar to his other movies such as the well know movie "Home Alone". The humor is slapstick like at times (especially with the villains Jasper and Horace) which works very effective for a fun children movie like this one.

Of course everything is terribly predictable and nothing that happens in this movie comes as a surprise. It's simple fun and entertainment. The humor is simple but it's good and works effective.

Glenn Close is perfectly cast as über-villain Cruella De Vil and portrays a highly memorable character. She truly is the highlight of the movie and steals the show. She also seemed to had lots of fun playing the over-the-top villainous but oh so fun character. Also good are the more slapstick like, stereotypical villains Jasper and Horace played by Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams. Another fun villain role is played by John Shrapnel who is perhaps best known for his role in "Gladiator".

The fun and perhaps also a bit underrated musical score is done by Michael Kamen. It quite honestly is one of his better works.

Children will enjoy watching this movie and I can know, since I actually saw this movie back in the cinema, when I was still a child myself.

6/10

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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.

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.