cinephile-27690 Many prefer the 1961 version, but I prefer this. Glenn Close kills it as Cruella! I grew up seeing this on TV, and then having the VHS-which I still do! I wish I had a DVD of it. If you have sen the original, you know what this is about. However, since it was written by John Hughes, it has a Home Alone slapstick section, which is a lot of fun. Roger Ebert gave this thumbs down for that reason but I like it fine. I mentioned Closes's performance. Another compliment his her evil laugh after the puppies are stolen. Best. Laugh. Ever. This is a fun movie everyone in the family can enjoy and should be seen when the chance comes!

AwokeEnrightened Disney plumbs the depths of their overrated animation and creates a one hundred minute commercial for their dalmatian products.Glenn Close perfectly embodies Cruella DeVil. She is the fashion designing boss of Anita (Joely Richardson). Roger (Jeff Daniels) has a dalmatian, like Anita, but he is unsuccessful as a video game designer- living in that hotbed of video game designing- London.Anita and Roger meet overly cute, and their dogs Pongo (his) and Perdy (hers) fall in love, too. Anita and Roger marry, and get pregnant. Pongo and Perdy marry, and get pregnant. Poor Perdy squeezes out fifteen puppies, under the watchful, slumming eye of Joan Plowright, playing Nanny.Cruella returns and offers to buy the puppies. She was inspired by one of Anita's designs and plans to make a giant fur coat out of dalmatian puppies. She and her henchmen have been collecting puppies, and these final fifteen will give her her frock. Anita and Roger do not sell.The puppies are dognapped by henchmen Jasper (Hugh Laurie) and Horace (Mark Williams), who look exactly like their animated counterparts from the better Disney film. The very long finale is one giant rescue scene, as the puppies are helped by other animals to escape, with Cruella, the henchmen, and a psychotic mute taxidermist named Skinner (John Shrapnel) on their collective tails.Screenwriter John Hughes apes his "Home Alone" ingredient of having grown men injured by cute creatures so often, I though I was watching an unofficial sequel. Director Stephen Herek is no Chris Columbus, however. While Columbus can direct (usually), Herek is all over the place, not quite sure what he should be capturing in order to double over the audience with laughter. The scene where Anita and Roger meet after wrecking their bikes thanks to their runaway dogs is milked for all it is worth and runs way too long. The editing is not tight, as Herek switches back and forth between multiple cameras, and capturing extreme close-ups of "funny business" instead of just letting the actors be funny.Daniels and Richardson get lost in the shuffle, making no impression on the audience whatsoever. Glenn Close is just right for the part, with some amazing costumes and hair, but she seems reined in as well. The film makers cannot decide if their audience is innocent children or their tired parents. Some of the dialogue is harsh, like the villains' plans for the puppies, but that is offset by sugar coating too many scenes (including the finale).There are also a couple of clips from other Disney films in the movie, but this does not seem like an inside joke so much as free advertising for other Disney videos.In the end, "101 Dalmatians" fails to deliver on its intent. Close almost breaks free from the shackles of marketing mediocrity, but the real loser here is the audience. The puppies are adorable as hell, though.

TheBlueHairedLawyer I can remember clear as day when I was eight and my sister and I begged my dad to buy this on VHS for us. We were in a "puppies are so cute" phase, which long ago faded (I now hate dogs and think they're disgusting, dirty animals). Nevertheless, we watched it and were both shocked at how bad it was! Don't get me wrong, the actors were amazing despite the pathetic storyline. Glenn Close provides an outstanding performance as the antagonistic businesswoman who thrives on conspicuous consumption and adores wearing a variety of fur coats. The soundtrack wasn't bad. But the plot was terrible, it was like watching a twisted romance film, and the crude humor was gross and unnecessary (dogs peeing on magazines, etc). The names of the characters are sort of clever but still unoriginal and it's Disney, so of course it's that hokey "puppy love" garbage.As I got older and checked out the movie online, I was surprised to discover that the dogs used in the movie were not treated in compliance with the animal cruelty prevention laws set in place at the time of filming. That's Disney for ya, too cheap to take care of its live animals on-set but rich enough to pay people to shut up.I highly recommend you avoid this one, it's incredibly lame and dorky, not to mention inappropriate for younger children at times. If you're into dog movies, try Beethoven, it's dopey but at least it's funny most of the time.

lisafordeay I have seen this so many times on TV and every time its on I have to watch it again and here is why.101 Dalmatians is a live action Disney movie based on the animated version. The movie is about two Dalmatians who meet in a park along with their owners who both fall for each other and they have 15 puppies. Anita(Joey Richardson) is a fashion designer who works for the evil Cruella De Vil(played by the brilliant Glenn Close who is sporting a Sharon Osbourne do)steals Anita's puppies along with other Dalmatian puppies to make a spotted coat. She hires two dim-witted burglars who helps her get the puppies with hilarious cauos along the way with the other animals that save the puppies from the evil Cruella.I liked this film as it was cute and adorable how we see two Dalmatians falling in love even though they have different owners(Jeff Daniels from the hilarious Dumb & Dumber flick and the late Natasha Richardson's sister Joey Richardson who play the owners who decide to marry so that there dogs could be together). Its kinda hard to explain this film as its all about animals been kidnapped by an evil woman who wants to make a Dalmatian coat.Anyway if you like animals then check it out. Its a really nice film as well as a very funny one too.