One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
Directed by Clyde Geronimi
When a litter of dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of Cruella De Vil, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement.
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What critics compared One Hundred and One Dalmatians to
The other, of course, is Cruella de Vil, played by Emma Stone with enough seething, over the top vengefulness to almost make one forget Glenn Close’s memorable Cruella in “101 Dalmatians” (1996) and “102 Dalmatians” (2000), both live-action sequels to Disney’s beloved 1961 animated classic, which is paid brief homage at the end of the new film.
Cruella , with its shoe-horned attempts at referencing 101 Dalmatians , proves just how thrilling but also limiting the exercise can be.
Opening in the UK and US on May 28, while simultaneously becoming available on Disney+, the film radiates a punk-ish spirit that caters to younger viewers who may not know the live-action 101 Dalmatians films which starred Glenn Close about 25 years ago — to say nothing of the 1961 animated original.
Her take on Cruella de Vil, in Disney’s live-action adaptation of its 1961 animated classic 101 Dalmatians , has, for a long time, felt positively definitive.
As a prequel to the 1961 animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians and the 1996 live-action movie 101 Dalmatians , Cruella focuses on the early days of the studio’s most despicable villain outside of Mary Poppins.
Written by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara and set in 1970s London, the live-action comedy is based on the “101 Dalmatians” movies and the Dodie Smith novel that preceded them.
So, yes, there are familiar elements here -- from children's-lit and children's-film classics as varied as 101 Dalmatians, Stuart Little, and Winnie the Pooh, but there's also a broad-and-bizarre stroke of Monty Python-style absurdity and more than a few welcome, modernized-yet-classical touches like a calypso band, D Lime, acting as a chorus to the film's urban adventuring.
The plot is all predictable, broad-strokes stuff — I mean, it’s basically Mary Poppins meets E.T. meets 101 Dalmatians, but with a talking bear — but the inspired comic setpieces set the movie apart.
In the interest of galvanizing the narrative and amping up the peril, King and McColl have devised a cheerfully silly, action-heavy chase plot that cribs heavily from “101 Dalmatians,” complete with its own Cruella de Vil: bleach-bobbed taxidermist Millicent Clyde ( Nicole Kidman ), who’s determined to nab one particular Peruvian breed of bear for her collection.
The hand-me-down story line borrows from "101 Dalmatians," "Toy Story 2" and the animal pound interlude of "Lady and the Tramp."
She is compared to Cruela DeVille in "101 Dalmatians."
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"Ratatouille" may just be the most fully expressed animated family movie to come around since "101 Dalmatians" (1961).
Some of its flagship animation studio’s most popular films are all about dogs, from Lady and the Tramp to 101 Dalmatians.
That 1997 movie was the first time many American filmgoers entered Miyazaki’s world of myth, magic and lyrical, finely detailed imagery; happily, there are now generations of children who have grown up cherishing such Miyazaki classics as “ My Neighbor Totoro ,” “ Kiki’s Delivery Service ,” “ Spirited Away ” and “ Howl’s Moving Castle ” the way their parents played and re-played “ Snow White ,” “ 101 Dalmatians ” and “ The Aristocats .”
Honda and Hayao Miyazaki , Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, and a host of post-apocalyptic anime favorites (Akira comes easily to mind) make Anderson’s second stop-motion animation outing a veritable game of spot-the-allusion.
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The visual pleasures feature cartoons have given us in the past, like the beautiful pastel shots of London in "101 Dalmatians," would be considered pretty tepid stuff nowadays.
Put-upon parents who've just finished paying off the "101 Dalmatians" clothes, toys and bedsheets had better hide their wallets.