Review - 101 Dalmatians (1996)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. As many of us know, Disney has been retelling many of their animated classics as live-action films. And, we're getting three more in the years to come with both Snow White and Lilo & Stitch next year, and Moana in 2026. But, did you know that there were two live-action Disney remakes back in the '90s? It's true. And, one of them was written and produced by the one and only John Hughes. Today, we'll be taking a look at that particular Disney remake: 1996's 101 Dalmatians starring Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson, Hugh Laurie, Mark Williams, Joan Plowright, Tim McInnerny, and John Shrapnel. As mentioned before, this movie was written and produced by John Hughes, and directed by The Mighty Ducks director Stephen Herek. 

        So, the movie tells the story of Roger and Anita, as well as their respective Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita. Roger is a struggling video game designer, who is looking to make a successful video game with a Dalmatian as the player character. Anita, meanwhile, works in the field of fashion design, and is currently employed as a designer at the House of de Vil, a fashion firm run by, of course, Cruella de Vil. One day, while in St. James Park, Pongo spots Perdita, and leads Roger on a crazy route, sending him flying off of his bicycle into a pond. Perdita also does the same to Anita, whoops. Anyway, Roger and Pongo take Anita and Perdita back to their home, and Roger and Anita realize their dogs are in love. And, of course, Roger proposes to Anita, she accepts, and they get married. 

       Anyway, Cruella meets with Anita and Roger, and two things are revealed: Anita's having a baby, and Perdita is having puppies. Cruella is interested in the puppies, as a Dalmatian's fur is much finer when they're puppies, and she wants them to make a spotted coat. And, of course, her evil deeds are carried out by her two bumbling henchmen Jasper and Horace, along with a dangerous man named Skinner, who handles the skinning of animal fur. 

         The day finally arrives, and Perdita has a total of fifteen puppies: Lucky, Dipstick, Fidget, Whizzer, and so forth. Anyway, Cruella offers a lot of money for the puppies, but Roger and Anita decline her offer, and Anita loses her job at the House of de Vil. Unwilling to let things go, Cruella sends Jasper and Horace to take the puppies, right under the nose of the family's nanny, and bring them to her estate in the country: De Vil Mansion. Upon delivering Pongo and Perdita's puppies, along with several other Dalmatian puppies for a total of ninety-nine, Cruella calls in Skinner to skinning the puppies to begin making the coat. 

       Roger and Anita, of course, file a report with the police in regards to the stolen puppies, and both Pongo and Perdita, with help from other dogs and animals across London and the British countryside, begin Work towards locating and rescuing the puppies. What follows is a combination of Home Alone levels of slapstick, with Jasper and Horace, Skinner, and Cruella all getting knocked around, beat up, frozen, electrocuted, covered in molasses, and eventually arrested and sent to prison. As for the Dalmatians? Pongo, Perdita, and their fifteen puppies are returned, but as no one claimed the other puppies, the police give Roger and Anita two choices: take the puppies in, or the puppies will be taken to the pound. Of course, as Pongo and Perdita are already attached to the puppies, they are all taken in, and thus there are a total of one-hundred-and-one Dalmatians in Roger and Anita's home. 

         Roger, taking inspiration from the recent events, decides to make Cruella the villain of his new video game, and the kid who was testing his games approved of the game. Roger and Anita, along with their baby and ALL of the Dalmatians move into a much larger home in the country. 

         Something noteworthy about this movie is that, unlike the original animated film, the animals don't speak. And, honestly, it kinda works. Verbal speech can make it easy to convey thoughts and feelings, but using an animal's body language to convey those same thoughts and emotions without the use of verbal communication creates a very different way of reading the scene, and thus creates a different perspective. And, since the technology wasn't there at the time to make animals talk in a realistic way, it's perfectly fine to not have them talk. Heck, even with some of Disney's more recent remakes like 2019's The Lion King, it's still off-putting to see photorealistic animals speaking without the facial ticks to convey proper emotion. If I had to have a live-action movie with animals front and center, I'd rather NOT have the animals be able to talk. 

         However, the human cast was absolutely fantastic. Both Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams were hilarious as Jasper and Horace. Both Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson as Roger and Anita were fantastic, as was Joan Plowright as Nanny. But, easily the best part of the movie was Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. All of her mannerisms, her over the top cackling, and her almost constantly chewing the scenery. Everything about Glenn Close's performance is absolutely spot on to Cruella de Vil. Between the animated original, Glenn Close in this movie, and, more recently, Emma Stone in Cruella, it's not hard to imagine why Cruella de Vil is my all-time favorite Disney villain. 

        Aside from the dialogue, the slapstick, and the alterations to time setting and situations, the live-action 101 Dalmatians is pretty spot-on (no pun intended) to the original animated classic. I think that writers John Hughes and Ricardo Mestres, as well as director Stephen Herek, made a really fun movie that, if I may be so bold, is a far better example of a live-action Disney remake by comparison of the recent deluge of Disney live-action remakes. So, even if you're sick of how many of these damn things there have been for the past decade and a half, give the 1996 version of 101 Dalmatians a watch, because it's definitely worth it. Plus, it's got arguably one of the best covers of the song "Cruella de Vil," performed by the incomparable Dr. John, which is awesome. I'm giving this movie a rating of 4.85/5. 

       Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time. Oh, and there was a sequel to this film that Disney released called 102 Dalmatians, but I'm most likely going to cover that film in January.