101 Dalmatians (Live Action) + 102 Dalmatians
(Live Action) + 101 Dalmatians II:
Patch’s London Adventure – Special Edition (Disney DVDs)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D/D/C Films: C+/C/C
The
transition from animated feature to live-action film has never been an easy
feat. With so many failed video game too
film conversions and sad attempts at making classic cartoons like The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo into passable “real life”
achievements, the thought of Disney classics becoming sufficient live-action
accomplishments is almost unforeseeable.
In 1996 Disney attempted to make one of their most beloved classics into
a “real life” story, with 101 Dalmatians. 35 years after the original classic hit
screens Disney used the talents of Glenn Close (playing Cruella De Vil), Jeff
Daniels (playing Roger), and a cast of many, many real Dalmatians to bring the
dream to life. It is sad to say,
however, that the ‘dream’ (though a financial success) turned out to be a bit
of a nightmare.
The plot
of 101 Dalmatians (Live-Action) follows
a similar path to that of the original 1961 animated film; the film starting in
present day London with computer game designer Roger (Jeff Daniels) and his
Dalmatian Pongo living a simple life, until one fateful day the pair go walking
through the park and find the loves of their lives’ when they meet Anita
Campbell-Green (Joely Richardson) and her Dalmatian Perdy. A little while later Roger and Anita get
married and life seems to be pure bliss.
Anita works for extreme fashion designer and fur connoisseur, Cruella De
Vil. After Anita creates a design for a
spotted fur coat (inspired by her love for her dogs), Cruella becomes obsessed
with making the coat a reality and Cruella De Vil’s reality is a coat made of
all Dalmatian fur. De Vil hires a duo of
absent minded misfits named Horace and Jasper to round her up enough Dalmatian
puppies to make the coat. Just as
Cruella thinks her puppy coat is in the bag, she ends up a few puppies short;
but by a stroke of luck (at least in Cruella’s book) Roger and Anita’s dog
Perdy has a litter of 15 Dalmatian puppies.
Cruella swoops in to buy up all the puppies, but Roger and Anita
absolutely refuse; putting Cruella into a wild state of rage and ends up firing
Anita on the spot. In her hysterical
rage, Cruella puts the plan into motion for Jasper and Horace to steal the
puppies and finish her dastardly evil coat.
After the puppies are kidnapped and taken to the ancient De Vil estate
in London’s countryside, a taxidermist named Mr. Skinner is brought into to
finish the job. But with the love of
their owners, help of their doggy parents, and the cunning of a few hundred
furred and feathered friends throughout London the puppies may just stand a chance
of getting home again. Escaping the
dangers of the De Vil estate and the pure insanity of Cruella herself couldn’t
be done by one puppy alone, but maybe 101 will do the trick.
After the
financial success of 101 Dalmatians
(Live-Action) in 2000 Disney opted to throw their bone back into the ring with a doggy sequel entitled 102 Dalmatians. 102
Dalmatians picks up a few years after the previous film with Cruella De Vil
(Glenn Close) now ‘rehabilitated’ from her fur/puppy obsession. Cruella is released from her incarceration
with the understanding that if she ever harms a creature again she will be
locked up and all of her fortune will be donated to a Dog Shelter. The film follows a similar path as the first
feature with De Vil at first seeming to have completely recovered, throwing out
all her furs; but not after long the sound of Big Ben’s bell twists Cruella’s
already warped mind back to her puppy spotted coat lusting self. The film then follows a Dalmatian named
Dipstick (one of the puppies from the first film; now grown) as he attempts to
save his puppies, amongst others, from the clutches of Cruella’s fashion
endeavors. In the end, the film finishes
just as the first had with Cruella defeated and the puppies saving the day once
again.
The third
and final puppy-centric film under review here is an animated feature entitled 101 Dalmatians II: Patches London Adventure
– Special Edition. The
direct-to-video sequel to the 1961 classic was released in 2003 and received
more praise than most Disney sequels (especially those that are straight to
video). The animated film features the
voice talents of Barry Bostwick, Jason Alexander, and Martin Short; and in
terms of direct-to-video sequels the animation is nicely done with a solid
talented cast. The simple plot has more
of a Saturday morning cartoon feel than a feature film, when Patch (one of the
99 puppies) gets left behind when Roger and Anita move the canine family to
London’s countryside to a Dalmatian Plantation.
Patch’s obsession with a TV doggy hero, a German Shepard named Thunderbolt,
makes him the perfect guide to city heroics when Thunderbolt (fearing getting
fired from his show) sets out to become a real hero in London. Also in this animated feature Cruella De Vil
returns, obsessed with puppies and fur coats as ever, and sets out to once
again make the perfect fur coat a reality.
With the help of her moronic crooks Jasper and Horace, Cruella sets out
to capture the sly pups that thwarted her once, but she swears will never
happen again. Meanwhile, Patch and
Thunderbolt make their may through the city and have a run in with Cruella
herself; as do the other puppies.
Thunderbolt figures it is now or never to prove himself, and the puppies
may need Thunderbolt to strike Cruella where it hurts.
After
being over inundated by puppy power, this reviewer can say that the best
incarnation of 101 Dalmatians is the
1961 classic and all sequels and reimaginings don’t hold a puppy’s hair worth
of the creativity, musical ambition, or art direction that the original
holds. The live-action and its
unnecessary sequel were only held together by the talents of Glenn Close and a
lot of money. The story was essentially
the same as the animated classic, but stripped out the talking pups and watered
down the story to a cliff-note of its former self; though it is oddly longer in
time. There is not much to criticize the
films for, but there is even less to praise.
The animated feature used the Dalmatians to push the story along, but
with the absence of the animals talking the plot was sluggishly dragged along
by the humans; who are much less likable than the puppies. The films have moments of shameless promotion
and physical comedy that will mostly only amuse small children, as it does a
lackluster job of being a weakened Home
Alone “hit-em on the head” film. The
puppies no longer have unique personalities or contribute to the film, besides
the fact that they are extremely cute.
In the end, the live-action films don’t add anything that the original
didn’t already do almost 50 years ago, but they do manage to strip away certain
elements that did make the original fantastic.
If it wasn’t for the fact that little kids love puppies (me too) and
Glenn Close is a great, versatile actress the films would be a complete loss.
The
direct-to-video 101 Dalmatians’ sequel
left this reviewer just as unfulfilled as the live-action films, lacking the
heart and soul of the original, but using what its predecessor established to
make a quick buck. 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure- Special Edition, as
previously stated, just never feels like a feature film (mainly because it
isn’t) and that being obvious detracts from the animated venture from the very
beginning. It is obvious that Disney
makes these sequels solely for children and no one else; with that art
direction, music creativity, and depth go right out the window. Children will absolutely love this film,
maybe even putting it on repeat; it has puppies for dog’s sake! Fun, cute, and colorful, but void of most
forms of deeper creativity; parents and fellow adults beware, this feature is
for the kiddies.
The
technical features on all three of these doggy dog films are about the same and
slide by as simply standard. The picture
on both 101 and 102 Dalmatian live-action films is presented in a 2.35 X 1
Anamorphic Widescreen that demonstrates a rich black and white presentation and
natural colors that are great, but could be brighter. The image overall is a crisp and clean
transfer with no spots to bog down the viewing experience. The sound on the films is a Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround that never quite takes the presentation to the next level, having a
weak bass track and never using the speakers to their fullest. The lack of ambient noise detracts from this
animal infused film, where every bark, squeak, and meow matters.
The image
on 101 Dalmatians: Patch’s London
Adventure- Special Edition is presented in a 1.66 X 1 Widescreen that has a
mostly crisp image and solid colors, though they are no where near as bright
and clean as they could be; the word dull comes to mind. The sound, though a Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround track, projects mainly from the front and falls flat much of the time
as it never utilizes the rear speakers; which brings up the question, why abandon
the DTS track from the previous release?
The
extras on 101 and 102 Dalmatians (Live-Action) are absent
with the exception of a plethora of unnecessary Disney trailers. The extras on 101 Dalmatians: Patch’s London Adventure- Special Edition are a bit
more extensive, but only mildly more exciting.
There are a few music videos, Thunderbolt:
An Inside Look featurette, Patch’s
Twilight Adventure Game, Lost in
London Game, and Behind the Scenes
Dog-umentary that brings in live dogs to tell kids how animation is
done. The extras are very kid centered
and though not too entertaining to adults, they are in no way just slapped on
as filler as kids will certainly enjoy the games and up-beat videos.
I could
watch a 101 incarnations of those loveable Dalmatians and none of them would
ever compare to the original. There is
just something about Disney classics that shouldn’t be touched; that goes for
even newer Disney/Pixar classics.
Whereas the effort is admirable and certainly a great deal of work went
into these features; they just simply don’t have the heart or paws to recreate
what the original gave the world.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
