Disney's 102 Dalmatians

Reviewer: Alyice Edrich

The Movie

102 Dalmatians, 2000

Starring

Glenn Close, Eric Idle, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Evans, Gerard Depardieu, Tim McInnern, and more.

Plot

Cruella De Vil’s back and she is not as reformed as everyone thinks. After a few weeks of trying to conform and give up her love of fur coats, Cruella’s snapped. Not only is she determined to get her coveted Dalmatian fur, but she’s set her eyes on an escape goat.

Review

In this version of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, the only characters to return are Dipstick, a grown-up Dalmatian, from the first film and Cruella De Vil who spent three years in an institution for the criminally insane, instead of behind bars. Her institution, however, was somewhat questionable as Dr. Pavlov's Behavior Modification Clinic had yet to be proven effective.

Cruella’s released from the institution and assigned a case worker named Chloe who just happens to have a litter of Dalmatian puppies, herself. Fearful of Cruella’s intentions, she’s a bit leery of letting Cruella near the puppies—or any dog for that matter. But part of Cruella’s probation is to have her work with animals so the case worker must set aside her own reservations.

During one of her probation visits, Cruella comes across a paper for Second Changes animal shelter and immediately heads down to the shelter to lend a helping hand. When she arrives, the owner of the building is trying to close down the shelter so he can sell the building. Cruella snaps up the building and turns it into a snazzy, schmancy spa-like shelter, leaving the original owner of the shelter, Kevin, in charge of running things.

Cruella then goes on a media blitz to show the world that she’s changed. She even changes her name to Ella. But she doesn’t stay changed forever, there’s a glitch with the good doctor’s behavioral treatment. When the town clock strikes twelve, Cruella is transformed to her old self and once again devices a plan to make her coveted Dalmatian fur. But this time, hoping to take suspicion off herself she sets up Kevin to take the fall.

And thus the adventure begins. From here on out it’s about Kevin and Chloe trying to save the Dalmatians from being turned into a fur coat, with Oddball, one of the Dalmatian pups, leading the way.

To be honest, I actually thought I’d hate the film; especially with the bad rap it received over the years. I don’t think I heard one good review about the film and I recall hearing a lot of comments about Disney selling out to make a quick buck instead of taking the time to do things right—to be original. Then there’s the fact that the plot is pretty much the same: set out to slaughter 101 Dalmatians and turn them into a luxurious fur coat.

But I was pleasantly surprised.

It was far better than I anticipated. It was funnier than the original live-action version. Glenn Close was fantastic as usual and although, I must admit that I’ve never met a bird that could talk and think so much like a human, the talking macaw was brilliant. In my opinion, he’s what made 102 Dalmatians so great!

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