When I was growing up, just about the only animated movies that were released were the ones made by Disney. I did get to go see many of them in the theater, some when they were returned to theaters years after their initial release like Disney use to do with their movies. I do remember seeing 101 Dalmatians in the theater.
Pongo had grown bored with the life he and his pet Roger, a songwriter, were living in London. Pongo decided it was time to find his pet a mate. He decided on a woman walking a female dalmatian and managed to drag Roger out of the house to the park where the two couples met. It wasn't long before Roger and Anita were married and living in a new house with their dogs. Pongo and Perdita were waiting for the birth of puppies when Anita's friend Cruella Da Vill showed up very interested in the puppies. She returned the night the fifteen puppies were born and tried to buy them all then, but Roger and Anita refused to sell them. Cruella was furious when she left.
A few weeks later, all the puppies had developed their own personalities. One evening when Roger and Anita took Pongo and Perdita for a walk, Horace and Jasper, two goons working for Cruella, forced their way into the house and took the puppies. When the human authorities weren’t able to find any leads, Pongo and Perdita decided to contact the Twilight Bark before setting out to find the puppies themselves.
101 Dalmatians was based on the book by Dodie Smith. I have never read the book, though I do seem to remember trying to find it years ago. I’m not sure how much was changed for the movie. I did just read about some changes and it did seem like several small things throughout the story were modified or changed for the movie. In 1996, a live action version of the movie was made featuring Glen Close as Cruella.
There wasn’t anything complicated about the plot of 101 Dalmatians, which is normal for most animated movies, especially the older ones. A bit of time was taken at the beginning of the movie to introduce Roger, Anita, Pongo and Perdita, before Cruella turned up and everything connected to her started. That aspect of the movie did add a small amount of mystery since it wasn’t clear why Cruella wanted the puppies at first. I do remember being shocked by her ultimate plans when I first saw the movie. The movie was somewhat predictable regarding how things ended, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the movie at all.
There were many dogs as well as several other animals throughout 101 Dalmatians. Pongo and Perdita received help from the Twilight Bark, a network mostly made up of dogs but also involved a horse, a cat, and a few other animals. There were times when the dogs, mostly Pongo or Perdita, moved in ways that were very much like how my own dogs have done over the years. The animals also did many things that real animals can’t do, but it worked very well for the movie. This was another of Disney’s movies were the animals could speak to each other but not to the humans. The animals just seemed to be barking or meowing to the humans since they couldn’t understand them. That has been done in many animated movies over the years.
101 Dalmatians had a different look from the animated movies Disney made before it. It was actually the first movie to use a new animation technique for the backgrounds that involved photocopying cells. The process caused the rougher look of the lines. Evidently Walt Disney didn’t care for the look of the animation done this way, but it was still done because it saved production costs. I don’t really like the rougher look either, but I still think the animation was done well overall. The process was used for most of Disney’s animated movies into the 1980's, though some of the later movies made with the process didn’t look as rough. The movie did use some music, but not as much of it as some other Disney movies. There was only the song Cruella Da Vill used during the movie as well as a bit of another song that Roger started to write at the end of the movie.
Roger and Anita were around throughout the movie even though they were rather flat characters. It was made clear that the loved each other and their dogs. Roger was a songwriter and it seemed like Anita didn’t work. Nanny was the housekeeper who worked for Roger and Anita. She seemed like a kind, sweet, woman who also loved the dogs. Pongo and Perdita as well as all the puppies received more attention than the humans. They were determined to find their puppies and set off across the countryside to do just that.
Pongo and Perdita’s fifteen puppies had different personalities but I still had trouble remembering who was who since there were so many of them. Lucky stood out because of circumstances related to when he was born. None of the other puppies that turned up were developed that much. Captain was a horse who helped with the Twilight Bark along with Sgt. Tibs, a cat. An older dog named the Colonel was supposed to be in charge there, but Tibs really did more.
Horace and Jasper were two bumbling idiots hired by Cruella to steal the puppies and then look after them for a certain amount of time. She also expected them to carry other another part of her plan. They were mostly concerned with getting paid. Cruella was a vile, nasty, evil woman. She was furious when Roger and Anita wouldn’t sell her the puppies and she didn’t let that stop her since she already was planning something. What she planned to do with the puppies was horrible. Cruella even looked evil, especially when she was flipping out and ranting at someone. There were times when she looked scary, so she may make the movie too scary for younger children. She was a wonderful villain.
Voice Talent
Cate Bauer - Perdita Lisa Davis - Anita Dave Frankham - Sgt. Tibs Betty Lou Gerson - Cruella Da Vill J. Pat O’Malley - Colonel/Jasper Thurl Ravenscroft - Captain Rod Taylor - Pongo Martha Wentworth - Nanny Fred Worlock - Horace Ben Wright - Roger
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton S. Luske, and Wolfgang Reitherman
DVD Information
101 Dalmatians was recently released as a two disc platinum edition DVD. I can’t remember if it had been released on a single disc DVD before now or not. If it was, I didn’t have it. The film has been digitally restored and it did make the colors look very bright and vibrant. There were several games, pop up trivia facts that I didn’t use, a music video for Cruella Da Vill, and things connected to the making of the movie. Redefining the Line: The Making of One Hundred and One Dalmatians was very interesting and shared information about the making of the movie. Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney shared some of the actual letter exchanged between Disney and Dodie Smith. Cruella Da Vill: Drawn to be Bad shared the inspiration for the character. There were also a few deleted songs shared.
I fell in love with 101 Dalmatians when I first saw it and I still love the movie now. People that enjoy animated movies will probably enjoy this one.
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