Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars the voices of Rod Taylor, Betty Lou Gerson, Cate Bauer,
Lisa Daniels, Ben Wright, Frederick Worlock, Lisa Davis,
Martha Wentworth, J Pat O'Malley
Written by Dodie Smith & Bill Peet
UK certification U | UK RRP £21.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 76 minutes
Directed by Clyde Geronimi & Hamilton Luske
Until I watched this recently (for review purposes, of course) I always thought I'd seen the original 101 Dalmatians. But I realised I hadn't; I had only seen the live-action remake starring Glenn Close. And you know what? Yes, as always, the orginal animated version is so much better.
It comes from the era of classic Disney animation — the era of Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp and The Jungle Book. But 101 Dalmatians was the most modern of them all, actually being set in the time period of its release. Like almost all the Disney animated films, it has a very simple storyline. It's the story of Pongo and Perdita, a pair of dalmatians who meet in London's Regents Park. Pretty soon they (and their owners, Roger and Anita) are happily married (well, this is 1961) and the house is overrun with 15 playful pups. So yes, it's all hugs and puppies until an old pal of Anita's turns up — Cruella de Vil, probably the greatest villain of the Disney canon. Cruella wants to buy all the pups, but she's no dog-lover; oh no, she wants to skin the little tykes and make a fur coat (had she once dated Monty Burns?) . Of course, Roger and Anita refuse to sell them, so Cruella hires a couple of bumbling lowlifes to kidnap them. And thus sets the scene for some fantastic search, chase and rescue with lots of slapstick and over-the-top carryings on from the villains. Needless to say it all ends well, but the family gets a little bit of a boost when it rescues the pups only to find that Cruella has also managed to get her hands on another 84 dalmatians...
101 Dalmatians only runs for 76 minutes, but it's lighthearted, easy-going and chock full of laughs, action and really cute puppies. There's also a few scary scenes, and Cruella is quite the monster — at one point she advises her henchmen to kill the puppies by drowning them or bashing their heads in, which may upset younger viewers (as well as dog lovers everywhere). And purists may also be disappointed that this remastered edition is still in the 1:33:1 format and hasn't been converted to widescreen. But that's a minor quibble. It's a terrific film and a worthwhile addition to your Disney collection.
EXTRAS **** I'm tempted to say that there are 101 extras here. I won't, because there aren't, but as is usual with these Disney reissues, there's an awful lot of stuff. The best of the bunch is the half-hour featurette Redefining the Line: The Making of 101 Dalmatians. Not only do we get a bnch of modern animators giving their view of the film, we also learn that to save money (after the expensive Sleeping Beauty flopped) the Disney studio began using a Xerox copying process for its animation, which made it faster and cheaper to produce the cels. As one historian puts it, 101 Dalmatians was a crossroads where technology met art, and it didn't change again until the computer started being used. Other features include: a Puppy Profiler; a Fun With Language game; a featurette about villian Cruella de Vil (Drawn To Be Bad); a featurette called Sincerely Yours Walt Disney, detailing the correspondence between Disney himself and Dodie Smith, who wrote the original story on which the film is based; art galleries, trailers, radio and Tv ads; a new music video of the song Cruella de Vil, performed by someone named Selena Gomez (no, I don't know who she is, either); and 101 Pop-Up Trivia Facts that you can switch on during the film itself.