Movie Marathon: ‘101 Dalmatians’

Movie Marathon: '101 Dalmatians'

Yeah, bet you thought we'd given up on this one marathon...but we're back. We just needed a break after The Black Cauldron.

For those just joining us, this is a movie marathon with a twist. Myself (cranky 40 year old blogger), my son Josh (10 year old Nintendo obsessive) and my daughter Amelia (drama llama 8 year old princess) are watching Disney movies in a random order and ranking them. We hope to see interesting differences in how we organise our lists.

Released: 1961

Director: Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wolfgang Reitherman

Cast: Rod Taylor, Cate Bauer, Betty Lou Gerson, Ben Wright, Bill Lee, Lisa Davis

Plot: A couple of dalmatian dogs have their litter of 15 puppies stolen by Cruella de Vil, a cruel heiress determined to collect enough to make a fur coat. Parents Pongo and Perdita set out to rescue their lost children.

Review: Ok, let's cut to the chase. There's one key reason this is considered a classic, and that's Cruella de Vil (Gerson). The original live action remake expanded this character and brought her to the forefront of the title, whilst the more recent adaptation went whole hog and cut the entire dalmatian part of the story. Cruella de Vil earns her reputation in spades. She's completely unhinged and deeply narcissistic. She introduced into the film storming the Radcliffe's home and demanding their pets. By the end of the movie she is wild-eyed rampaging along country roads willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. All of this is in the pursuit of...a coat. She's determined to murder 99 puppies for a coat.

The story is actually told from the perspective of Pongo (Taylor), the dalmation who gets his 'pet' Roger (Wright) together with a nice lady who happens bring in Perdita (Bauer), a love interest for Pongo. Together the dalmatians have 15 puppies, and that brings in Antia's (Davis) old school friend Cruella. From here it's just set up for the rescue mission as Cruella's henchmen force their way into the house and kidnap the puppies, adding them to the combined horde of 99 they've already gotten their hands on. The stakes are certainly high as Cruella lists of the ways her minions could potentially off the cute little creatures in service of her fashion choices.

Unfortunately there's not much to the story, so the action jumps between Pongo and Perdita tapping into the dog communication network to find their puppies, and a trio of military minded farm animals who seek to break out the dalmations being held prisoner. As you'd expect, it is the cat who actually saves the day being the only competent character in the entire movie. Things move alone at a steady pace, with enough comedy and cuteness to keep it light while the shadow of Cruella hovers overhead.

Animation wise, this movie is serviceable. It's the result of two issues, one being a need to reduce the costs of animation and utilising Ub Iwerks' experiments in Xerox to skip over the inking process. It does leave the movie feeling a bit flat, and the scratchy outline to everything can look messy in crowded scenes. The film looks best when we're in wide, open areas, such as the snow storm sequence. Walt Disney wound up not liking the final product and demanding that the art director Ken Anderson wouldn't hold that position again. He relented The Sword in the Stone a couple of years later.

101 Dalmatians was very well received at the time and remained a low-key part of the Disney brand ever since. It's a fun, harmless adventure with an especially memorable villain.

Best Song: 'Cruella de Vil' is not only a bunch of fun, it's an early example of a dis track.

Coolest Easter Egg: It's an easy one to spot, but cool. Lady, Tramp, Peg and Jock are all present in the Twilight Bark sequence.

Weirdest Trivia: The sequel to the novel that inspired 101 Dalmatians revolves about Pongo deciding if dogs should stay on Earth for their human companions, or to flee to space to avoid nuclear war. Where's that movie?!

Rating: SEVEN out of TEN

THE RANKING ME

Yeah, it's fun. Hard not to enjoy Cruella.

Click those titles if you want to see what we said about the other movies.

AMELIA

So Amelia may have hit her limit. She's elected to put her participation on pause.

1. Raya and the Last Dragon
2. Frozen
3. Moana
4. Tangled
5. The Little Mermaid
6. The Rescuers
7. The Rescuers Down Under
8. Peter Pan
9. Emperor's New Groove
10. Zootopia
11. Lilo & Stitch
12. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
13. The Great Mouse Detective
14. Home on the Range
15. The Nightmare Before Christmas
16. Mulan
17. Hercules
18. Alice in Wonderland
19. Cinderella
20. Wreck-It Ralph
21. Bolt
22. Pocahontas
23. The Black Cauldron
24. Enchanted
25. Dinosaur
26. The Aristocats
27. The Princess and the Frog
28. Robin Hood
29. The Jungle Book
30. Fantasia 2000
31. The Lion King
32. Beauty and the Beast
33. The Three Caballeros
34. The Fox and the Hound
35. The Sword in the Stone
36. Saludos Amigos
37. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
38. Tarzan
39. Oliver & Company
40. Aladdin
41. Treasure Planet
42. Big Hero 6
43. Fun and Fancy Free
44. Sleeping Beauty
45. A Goofy Movie
46. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
47. Meet the Robinsons
48. Chicken Little
49. The Wild
50. Fantasia

JOSHUA

I guess I found it fine. I didn't really like it that much. It's the live action one I wouldn't watch, considering how creepy the dogs looked in the picture.

1. Zootopia
2. Big Hero 6
3. Raya and the Last Dragon
4. Aladdin
5. Emperor's New Groove
6. Treasure Planet
7. Moana
8. Ralph Breaks the Internet
9. The Three Caballeros
10. Saludos Amigos
11. Wreck-It Ralph
12. The Rescuers
13. Frozen
14. Mulan
15. The Princess and the Frog
16. The Lion King
17. Lilo & Stitch
18. The Jungle Book
19. Robin Hood
20. Bolt
21. The Sword in the Stone
22. Beauty and the Beast
23. Oliver & Company
24. Peter Pan
25. The Rescuers Down Under
26. Sleeping Beauty
27. Tangled
28. The Great Mouse Detective
29. Cinderella
30. 101 Dalmatios
31. The Little Mermaid
32. Meet The Robinsons
33. Enchanted
34. The Black Cauldron
35. The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
36. Home on the Range
37. Pocahontas
38. A Goofy Movie
39. The Aristocats
40. Fantasia
41. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
42. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
43. Fun and Fancy Free
44. The Fox and the Hound
45. Fantasia 2000
46. The Nightmare Before Christmas
47. Dinosaur
48. Hercules
49. Tarzan
50. Alice in Wonderland
51. The Wild
52. Chicken Little