Movie Info
Movie Name: One Hundred and One Dalmatians
Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Genre(s): Animated/Family
Release Date(s): January 25, 1961
MPAA Rating: G
Just chillin’ with the TV
Pongo and Perdita (voiced by Rod Taylor and Cate Bauer) are the proudest parents possible. With a litter of fifteen puppies, the Dalmatians are finding their new lives perfect. When the puppies are stolen by Horace and Jasper to create a fur coat for Cruella De Vil (voiced by Betty Lou Gerson), Pogo and Perdita must send out the Twilight Bark to find their missing puppies. When the puppies along with another eight-four puppies are found at a countryside barn, Pogo and Perdita must save them from Cruella and her men and get back to the safety of London.
Like you could keep 99 puppies quiet, cat…
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wolfgang Reitherman, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (often written as 101 Dalmatians) was the seventeenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classic series. Following Sleeping Beauty in 1959, One Hundred and One Dalmatians adapts the 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians (or The Great Dog Robbery) by Dodie Smith. The movie received moderate reviews but became a huge moneymaker for Disney. It was released multiple times and remade as a live action film in 1996. The movie received an official sequel in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure in 2003 and a cartoon series in 1997.
One of the best DIsney songs (and villains) Cruella De Vil…
One Hundred and One Dalmatians is a classic in animation but showed a big change in Disney’s style. After Sleeping Beauty, Disney had to fire a lot of their animators and took to a Xerox style of art. It allowed for easier art and the nightmare of animating the Dalmatians’ spots would be awful. I admit that the style does provide consistency, but it also provides a real detachment of the characters from the background environment…if they are going to interact with the environment, the item they are going to interact with just doesn’t match up.
The next problem I have with One Hundred and One Dalmatians is the story. The whole plot of the story seems a bit ridiculous and it is often pointed out by critics as inspiring people to run out and buy Dalmatians…which are challenging dogs to down due to their high energy level. Regardless of the negative real world effects of the movie, I never felt like the story moved very much. The idea of the coat of Dalmatians is pretty sick and twisted.
…and one of the worst Disney songs “Dalmatian Plantation”
The movie did provide one of the great all-time Disney villains in the insane Cruella. Unlike many Disney movies to this point, there was usually a lot of music involved. One Hundred and One Dalmatians really only has the memorable “Cruella De Vil”. With the song and creepy art design of the chain-smoking villainous Cruella, One Hundred and One Dalmatians did leave viewers with a great character.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians is a fun Disney film, but not my favorite. I’m not a huge fan of the animation quality fall from previous Disney films, and I think the story needs a little work. It doesn’t make me want to run out and start a Dalmatian Plantation (one of Disney’s worst songs). One Hundred and One Dalmatians was followed in 1963 by The Sword in the Stone.
