101 Dalmatians (1996)

Well it's still March so let's continue remake month with 101 Dalmatians. It based on the book The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. Let us begin the review.







The movie starts in London with a video game designer named Roger Dearly (Jeff Daniels)and his pet dalmatian Pongo. One day Roger and Pongo go for a walk in the park. While in the park, Pongo sees another Dalmatian named Perdy who Pongo falls in love with. Pongo chases after Perdy and accidentally tosses Roger in the pond. Pongo finally catches up to Perdy and Perdy's owner Anita Campbell-Green. Roger catches up with Pongo but Perdy tosses Anita in the pond. So Roger takes Anita to his house. They realize that they are in love and they get married. Pongo and Perdy also get married. Anita is inspired by the dalmatians. So when she goes to her job as a fashion designer she draws a sketch of a spotted dress and her boss named Cruella de Vil (Glenn Close) likes the dress. Cruella likes the dress so much that she even is interested in making it out of real dalmatian fur.

Cruella learns that Perdy just gave birth to 15 puppies. She offers Roger and Anita  a decent price for the puppies. They say no and Cruella say she will get even. So she hires two thugs named Jasper (Hugh Laurie) and Horace (Mark Williams). The thieves kidnap all 15 of the puppies and take them to an old mansion. So Pongo and Perdy spread the word of the missing puppies and it eventually reaches some farm animals who think they saw the puppies. So two of the dogs go into the mansion and the rest of the animals sabotage the thieves' car. Meanwhile the message of where the puppies are comes back to Pongo and Perdy so they set off to find the puppies. Meanwhile back at the mansion it turns out that there are a bunch of other dalmatians there too.



              ***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

 The sheep dog helps the puppies escape and for the next several minuets it is just unfunny slapstick. It is hard to explain why it's unfunny without a visual aid but I will do my best. Well it's more disturbing then unfunny. For example: The two Thieves are trying to climb over an electric fence but they slip and end up sitting on it. It is funny in a cartoon or other live action movie but not in this because the cartoons reaction is so over the top. In this movie we rarely get an cartoonish over the top reaction. Anyway the dalmatians make it out of the mansion and the thieves and Cruella chase after them. Pongo and Perdy catch up to all 99 puppies in a barn in a village. Pongo Perdy and the puppies escape Cruella and the farm animals knock Cruella into a vat of molasses. The police come in and arrest Cruella. The dalmatians get back home. But Roger and Anita realize that they can't raise 101 dalmatians in a small house in London. So they move to a large house in the country. The End.

                                            ***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

This movie is not that good. The slapstick is not that funny. I know your supposed to hate the villains but the wild animals catch the thieves car on fire and drop Cruella into a vat of molasses. I think the writer went a little overboard when making the villains get their defeat. But I do like how they tried to tell the story more visually by making the dogs silent. The best part is probably Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil; she plays the part so insane that it is very enjoyable. Overall I do not recommend the movie.

Changes From Original: It is live action obviously. None of the animals talk. There is a sub plot involving one of the dalmatians getting left at the mansion and trying to catch up. But it only exists so that they can have a character say "Make that 101 dalmatians sir". Roger is a video game designer instead of a musician. They added a character named Skinner who is one of Cruella's crazy henchman. He probably could have been cut out and no one would have noticed. Cruella also has a butler named Alonzo who also is kind of pointless. that's about it for changes.

Which is Better: The original does have some flaws but it is the better movie. The original is just more interesting with much better characters and it doesn't have unnecessary sub plots or unnecessary characters. I do think the Cruella in this version is better just because she is more crazy. But  overall the original is much better.

ATOP THE HEAD OF MR. BAGALOO