[Movie 311 / Day 333]
In this average live-action remake of the classic Disney cartoon, Jeff Daniels plays Roger, a struggling computer games designer who is unsuccessfully trying to market a game featuring his Dalmatian, Pongo. He bumps into fashion designer Anita (Joely Richardson) and her dog Purdy, and promptly fall in love. Before long, the dogs have a litter and the humans are expecting one.
Shortly afterwards Anita’s boss, Cruella De Vil (Glenn Close in a magnificently over the top turn) shows up on her doorstep to look over some new designs and spots the dogs (excuse the pun). She immediately decides that their fur would make an amazing coat and, after failing to buy them, sets about stealing them. Luckily for the dogs, they are intelligent and capable of rational thought – easily out-thinking the bumbling idiots she hires to snatch the animals (Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams providing the butt for the abundant slapstick gags). Obviously, crime doesn’t pay, and while Roger and Anita are searching for their pets with the help of the local police, the dogs are busy serving up their own brand of justice to Cruella and her sidekicks.
This being a Disney flick, the violence is slapstick and the humour gentle, and although a few of the crazy-eyed shots of Glenn Close in full-on Cruella mode are quite freaky, there’s never any fear that the dogs are actually going to get cut up for De Vil’s latest fashion and never any doubt that the story won’t be resolved with a happy ending eventually. The kids found it enjoyable enough, but I found it an average family flick with nothing to really lift it to the next level and at several points felt the story was dragging a touch.
If your kids like dogs and slapstick (and let’s face it, most do), they’ll likely like 101 DALMATIANS – and it’s bound to be shown on one of the Disney channels over the Christmas period.
My Rating: 
[ IMDB rating: 5.4 / 10 | IMDB link | Running time: 103 mins | Buy DVD ]
