Powerful

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The acting in this movie is really good.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This film is a live-action that repeats and updates the story of "101 Dalmatians", an animated film that Disney launched in the early sixties. The plot has some minor changes and is brought to our time, but its virtually the same in both films. One of the most drastic changes, however, is that the animals in this film don't speak, even though they demonstrate intelligence and know how to face danger. The human cast has Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson, Joan Plowright and Hugh Fraser, very experienced British and American actors, but its Glenn Close who stands out, in the iconic role of the villain, Cruella De Vil, giving us one of the most remarkable performances of her career so far, and the best interpretation of what, for many, is Disney's biggest villain. Remarkable! The team that created the costumes of this character also deserves congratulations, combining charm and good taste with Cruella's sinister attraction by genuine fur (of course, in the film they weren't real fur). Situational jokes are the strongest part of the film, thanks to Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams, who brought to life the two absolutely stupid thugs who were supposed to keep the dogs under control. They're the main comic element, contrasting with the sweetness of those little puppies. It's a great movie for the whole family to watch together, have a laugh and spend some quality time together.

Dodie Smith's 1956 novel "The Hundred and One Dalmatians" was made into a very successful Disney cartoon in 1961, but 35 years later the same studio clearly thought it was time for a live-action remake. The cartoon was a great favourite of mine during my childhood, so reviewing this remake, which did not appear until I was in my thirties, is something of a difficult task for me.The plot essentially follows that of the earlier film rather than that of the novel, although there are some departures from both. It restores the original surname of the Dalmatians' owners, Dearly, although Roger here becomes an American, although the film is still set in England. He is also a computer-game designer rather than a composer (as in the cartoon) or a financier (as in the novel). His wife Anita becomes a fashion designer and an employee of Cruella's company rather than her old schoolmate. (Possibly because Glenn Close is eighteen years older than Joely Richardson, so the idea of their having been at school together would have been rather implausible). As in the original, the human characters are all rather overshadowed by the dogs and other animals, with one notable exception The original Cruella de Vil was perhaps Disney's most iconic villainess- indeed, possibly their most iconic villain of either sex- so they needed someone equally charismatic here, and found her in the shape of Glenn Close. This was not her first appearance as a villain; possibly her best-known previous role had been that of the vindictive Alex Forrest in "Fatal Attraction", and she had also played the scheming Marquise de Merteuil in "Dangerous Liaisons". Those two performances, however, were very different to the one she gives here. In the two earlier films she was concerned to give a realistic psychological portrait of evil; in the case of Alex, moreover, there is an implication that she is almost as much sinned against as sinning. There is nothing psychologically realistic about Cruella. Close plays her as an over-the-top pantomime villain, hamming it up and gleefully overacting- which is exactly what the role calls for. I was surprised to learn that Glenn Close was not the first choice for the part. (That was, apparently, Sigourney Weaver).The main difference between this film and the cartoon is perhaps one of tone. In contrast to the hectic look and garish colours of some Disney cartoons, the original "101 Dalmatians" has a surprisingly restrained, elegant visual style, typified by a palette dominated by (appropriately enough) black and white, along with cool blues, greys and purples. Elegance and restraint are qualities quite alien to this remake, which is not surprising given that it was produced and written by John Hughes, a man to whom those qualities are equally alien. (He was also responsible for films like "Weird Science", "Flubber" and the "Home Alone" franchise. Enough said). As one might imagine with Hughes, the film makes great use of slapstick humour, complete with fart jokes, poo jokes, a vat of molasses joke and a skunk joke. (Yes, I know skunks are not native to the British Isles, but Hughes evidently doesn't. That is not his only zoological goof- he also introduces a raccoon to the Suffolk countryside, around 3,000 miles away from its natural habitat, and that woodpecker is of a North American, not European, species).Apart from Close, the film's big selling-point is that real Dalmatians, whether adults or puppies, are even cuter than their animated counterparts. This film, however, is never likely to replace the original in my affections. 7/10

I remember going and seeing this with my Kindergarden class when this came out and I must say I really enjoyed it. Glenn Close gave a wonderful performance as Cruella De Vil and I don't think that Disney could of casted a better actress. Joely Richardson and Jeff Daniels both gave good performances as Anita and Roger and I also thought that Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams gave good performances as Jasper and Horace. The plot was really good and seemed to live up to the original 1961 cartoon. I liked that they made Roger a video game designer and that he designed Cruella as the villain for his new video game at the end. There were lots of funny scenes from both the dogs and some other animals that appeared in the film. In all a good film that the whole family can enjoy and John Hughes did a good job writing the screenplay just like he did for some other of his films such as Home Alone. All in all 101 Dalmatians is a great family movie that anyone can love. 10 out of 10.

So I settled down on a Sunday evening to what should have been a pleasant Disney film. Boy, was I disappointed.This live action version takes the basic elements of the original, but strips out all the charm. There's no cat. There's no scene where the puppies disguise themselves as labradors.Cruella is a mean business woman, who's annoyed that one of her employees (Anita Dearly) wants to get married and have children. Because obviously, you can't mix a career and having a family. The undertones of 'career bad, motherhood good' are just unnecessary in a modern children's film. Cruella is more pantomime than actually scary.The lack of original charm isn't replaced with anything else. It's just boring and predictable.This film has an amazingly talented cast, which is completely wasted here. The jokes are just not funny. Most of the film is taken up with lame, unoriginal slapstick. Part of the first sequence has Roger Dearly accidentally trying to steal Perdy because he has mistaken her for Pongo. That's right. He loves his dog so much, he can't even recognise him. The screenwriter obviously has either never had pets or just assumes children are stupid.The dogs are cute, but have no personality. The puppies have very little screen time at all. If you liked the sequels to Home Alone, you might like this movie. If you liked the original cartoon or any recent children's films that actually have a good storyline, you'll be disappointed. I'm afraid most of the reviewers here are giving this movie a pass because 'it's a child's film and you can't expect that much'. Well I do expect better from Disney and I wouldn't subject my children to this film. Try the book instead.