The Damn Dirty DVD Review: Disney's 101 Dalmatians

Posted by Ron Martin on 11.01.2008

Back in 1996, Disney thought it would be a good idea to remake the classic animated film 101 Dalmatians into a live action movie with real dogs. Lots of dogs. Lots of dogs barking a lot. Oh yeah, Glenn Close was in it as the only actress that could pull off Cruella De Vil.

Written By: John Hughes
Directed By: Stephen Herek

Glen Close…..Cruella De Vil
Jeff Daniels…..Roger
Joely Richardson…..Anita
Joan Plowright…..Nanny
Hugh Laurie…..Jasper
Mark Williams…..Horace
John Shrapnel…..Skinner



There are certain things I’ve come to expect out of Disney movies. Sure, the target audience is pre-teen and the overall feel of the movie “cute,” but there are other very enjoyable aspects of Disney movies even for adults. There is almost always a good storyline with interesting characters that can be appreciated at any age. A lot of time Disney even throws in a little nugget of humor just for the grown ups. As with most Disney flicks, I popped in the 1996 live action remake of 101 Dalmatians expecting some mix of the above mentioned qualities.

What I got was something completely different.

Let’s tear this puppy (I’ll let you decide if the pun was intended) down, shall we? First,
Roger is an American video game designer living in London with a Dalmatian. Why? We don’t know. We’re never told. He meets Anita, who lives in London with a Dalmatian. Literally within ten minutes of meeting each other on the screen, the two are married and pregnant. Unfortunately, I am not making that up.

Cruella De Vil, who employs Anita, has a thing for furs. Her new thing (thanks to Anita) is Dalmatian fur. When she can’t buy Roger and Anita’s fifteen Dalmatian puppies, she sends some goons out to steal them. Many barks and many Home Alone gags later, the puppies are saved. That’s the plot.



The time elapse is never really explained. Did Roger and Anita really get married an hour after meeting? If so, then how did Pongo get Perdita pregnant and have the pups so quickly? If the time elapse is meant to be weeks or even months, how come Cruella acts so surprised that Anita has a man or why hasn’t she already started the Dalmatian design she was so crazy about?

I hope you like barking because there is a lot of it. The movies goes tens of minutes sometimes with just barking, no dialogue. With the acting we were getting out of everyone save Close, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The human characters (save Cruella) are pretty much cardboard cutouts, meant to be the background to the dogs. Outside of the most ardent dog lovers, most people get tired of looking and listening to dogs after a few minutes, let alone 100.



Close does her best and pulls off the best Cruella this movie will allow. With pig farts, high fiving raccoons and men getting their private parts electrocuted on an electric fence the movies doesn’t allow here a whole lot. The movie suffers from an identity crisis. Does it want to be a vehicle for Close, letting her run the show and use her performance to boost the others? Does it want to be a commercial for owning a Dalmatian? Does it want to be sickeningly cute with dog poses and humans posing as if they are getting ready for the covers of The New Yorker? Does is want to be a mildy funny adolescent comedy in the vane of Home Alone? Does it want to be an over the top cutesy digitally animated animal adventure that is basically a live action cartoon? Yes. It wants to be all these things, but accomplishes none of them because the script is too scattered.

Close is relegated to a lot of yelling; the animated animals come off silly looking and unnatural; and the alleged jokes might make a six year old laugh the first time, but wouldn’t hold their attention for more than a few minutes. The “cuteness” of the Dalmatians wore off for me after about three minutes. I’m sure a child would stick around a little bit longer than me, but it’s just too much even for them.

You may recognize one of the inept baddies as TV's Dr. House. You may also recognize both baddies as being blatant ripoffs of the two baddies in Home Alone. You may recognize that this movie borrow heavily from Home Alons. Coincidence? Nope. You may also recognize that both movies were written by John Hughes. It pains me to think this is the same man that wrote The Breakfast Club.

101 Dalmatians is an exercise in willpower just to get through it. The movie failed to recapture the mood and magic of the 1961 animated classic. A rare total miss from Disney who usually provides quality entertainment in large projects.

I know the makers of the film don't want you to think...at all, but I have to. If all the animals could communicate to save Pongo and Perdita's 15 Dalmatians, then why wouldn't they also communicate to the other 84 Dalmatians parents?


The Video
Widescreen 2.35:1 – Enhanced for 16x9 televisions. There – are you happy? Is that what you wanted to hear?

The Audio
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Did you expect anything else?

The Extras
Oh, did you think that there were extras? There’s not. Unless you count multiple previews for other DVDs that are coming out soon. I don’t. There’s already a ton of previews before the DVD even starts, we don’t need more. Seriously, there’s nothing in this new edition.

The 411: Unless you are a Disney completist, really, really love farting pigs or are Jeff Daniels mom, this movie is entirably passable. It's way too long, the story is scattered and none of the characters (animal or human) endear themselves to you. My advice to you is to watch the original 1961 animated version. Disney puts out a lot of good stuff -- this isn't a good example. The extra features do not exist and the film may actually hurt your brain.

Final Score:  4.5   [ Poor ]