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One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) More at IMDbPro »
22 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
A new look, 15 February 2000
Author: Spleen from Canberra, Australia
A large part of Disney's triumph cannot be detected by the naked eye. His last animated film had been `Sleeping Beauty', which was the most extravagant and spectacular animated film of all time (excluding `Fantasia'). It wasn't a financial success. `101 Dalmatians', much less extravagant, was. In the two years between `Sleeping Beauty' and its successor there had been a revolution. The entire army of inkers who had carefully translated animators' pencil drawings into smooth, flowing lines were replaced by a machine that simply photocopied. This changed the character of animation so much that `Dalmatians' is almost the precise opposite of `Beauty'. Outlines are rough and black; the entire film looks decidedly drawn rather than painted, even the bits that are in fact painted; and the rich variety of colour of Disney's earlier films has been replaced with the stark white-with-black-spots coat of a dalmatian, with the occasional splash of startling red. The art directors were as determined to get the most out of the new technology as they had been to get the most out of the old technology.
And it has its own quiet extravagance. A title promising over one hundred spotted dogs was (probably still is) the kind of thing liable to make animators feel faint. It couldn't have been done without the photocopier; and even so, getting spots to stay in the right place on a featureless white background is a huge headache. None of this leaps out an audience. We simply see a hundred adorable dogs.
The story is simple, clean, civilised, and warm. It moves slowly but this doesn't matter. Preventing the film from becoming lethargic is Cruella de Vil. She can drive like a maniac through the snow, smoke a cigarette through a holder the length of a sword, wave her arms like a windmill ... yet she handles quiet determination and gritted teeth equally well. Character animation doesn't get any better than this.
18 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Loved The Artwork!, 5 April 2007
Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States
I liked this film mainly for its drawings. It was a departure from previous Disney animated films in that it had harder-edged drawings instead of the soft pastels. I found the detailed sketches of the building to be fascinating. I could actually watch this film with the sound off and just enjoy the artwork.
I actually saw this movie AFTER the 1996 live-action version with Glenn Close so I was familiar with the story. The only deviation was that there were more animals involved in the rescue of the puppies in the latter version.
The narration was very good in the beginning and film is okay, nothing super. It lags in a few parts, which is the only complaint I would have. It certainly is a nice story.
13 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Never have I loved any story like this one!, 29 January 2000
Author: Ariel-28
101 Dalmatians is, no doubt, my all-time favourite story and also one of the greatest films I have ever seen. When I was small, I never got tired to listen to or to read the story, and because of thinking especially much about Cruella de Vil I very early noticed that in fact I like wicked characters. But, of course, the unforgettable dogs are best in the film. Because of this story I have loved real Dalmatians all my life and also thought that only the names of the film's dog figures are really suitable for Dalmatians. I have also read Dodie Smith's original story, and I was really glad that it's so much like the Disney film.
14 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Vintage Disney, 28 September 2000
Author: Toonboy-3 from Newport News, Virginia
If there's any classic Disney movie that's less likely to be forgotten because of the modern Disney movies, this would be one of them. Part of the reason may be the live action version and its upcoming sequel. Skip those remakes and watch the real deal. The other part of the reason is because this movie is just so charming. Cruella De Vil is one of the more memorable Disney villains ever made. Romance abounds in this movie, and don't forget those adorable puppies. This may not have the animation or the big fancy songs of the moderns, but all that fanciness usually distracts from the story. Classic Disney always rocks, and this is no exception.
12 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
101 Instances of Entertainment, 24 August 2006
Author: Safari-1969 from Northeastern United States
Of all of the last films Disney personally overlooked, One Hundred and One Dalmatians is an excellent movie for that time and even now. Released all the way back in 1961, this is possibly one of the best Disney animated classics.
The film opens with a catchy, yet mixed up opening, from flying spots to animations of the dogs running. I have to say, the animation is excellent, keeping all the spots accurate on each dalmatian, considering the fact that there are 101 of them. There are very few songs in the movie, just the catchy "Cruella De Vil" and the ending song "Dalmatian Plantation." The story is about Pongo, a bachelor dog with his bachelor owner, Roger. At the park, Pongo meets a female dalmatian named Perdita and Roger meets her owner, Anita, and they become married. But then the bad things happen, once Cruella De Vil, an old schoolmate of Anita, finds out that 15 puppies are to be born, she wants their fur to make coats.
But Roger is defiant and Cruella decides to have her henchmen, Jasper and Horace Badun, to steal the 15 puppies, and they do, along with 84 other puppies. Pongo and Perdita must find the puppies before anything happens.
Entertaining it is, this film had great animation for its time. THe songs are memorable, and the film is just a classic. An excellent Disney film like most of their classics.
15 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
This film is in my top 10 of Disney, 13 November 2005
Author: Jessica Kolk from Brazil
One of the most lovely films of all,1001 dalmatians is one of the classics from Disney that all people should watch. I was surprised to know that it was made in 1961,because I watched it for the first time in 1993 (I was 7) and it looked a modern cartoon for me,such as Lion King.
Pongo and Perdita (a couple of dalmatians) and their owners Roger and Anita, are living happily and peacefully in their new home,until Perdita give birth to some puppies: Cruela,the evil friend of Anita, wants to do a new coat,using the little dalmatian's fur. She kidnaps them,and now Perdita and Pongo needs to save their puppies,before being too late.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
101% entertainment, 14 February 2007
Author: dbdumonteil
"One Hundred and One Dalmatians" is among my Mouse House's favorites.And Cruella is second only to Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent ,as far as the villains are concerned.Cruella's character is so vile that my wife gave that nickname to her wicked headmistress (who really looks the part)! Pongo,Perdita,their offspring and all the rest have a long way to go before tasting the quiet joys of home.Very good scene in the park when the two dogs fall in love and make their masters do the same.And during the long walk across the snow ,aren't they nice all these puppies? I did not like the remake (and its abominable follow-up) Cruella is a cartoon character and even a superior actress such Glenn Close was bound to fail.
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
This is the movie that introduced me to dalmatians, 19 August 2007
Author: Atreyu_II from The world of artists
The 17th animated Disney classic is a less ambitious film comparing to earlier top Disney classics, but it is enjoyable enough anyway.
"Sleeping Beauty" nearly bankrupted the Disney studio. Perhaps because of this and also because other extremely expensive Disney classics were initially a failure, the Disney studio needed to make cheaper animated films in a try to recover financial costs. This one is cheaper and more simple in everything: story, designs, sceneries/backgrounds, colors, picture quality, characters, etc...
It certainly doesn't have "that" magic and attention to detail which makes Disney so legendary, but it doesn't deserve to be judged too hardly. It isn't Disney at its worst, very far from that! The animation is great as usual on Disney and this one also has lots of fun, entertainment, danger, adventure, darkness, classic humor and even some touching and depressing moments. The happy ending is another sign that it follows the Disney tradition.
Although the artwork is way cheaper-looking than in the most artistic Disney tales, is still in a good and acceptable level in many ways. It is basically the same artstyle we see in "The Sword in the Stone" and "The Jungle Book", for example. Simple and not extraordinary, but not as poor-looking as in "Oliver & Company". Just for the record, I consider "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" a better movie than "Oliver & Company", "The Jungle Book" and "The Sword in the Stone".
However, there is one thing which the artwork of this movie is brilliant: a brief scene which we can see the sparkling stars at night, with an impressing resemblance to the fabulous artwork of the best Disney classic ever, "Pinocchio".
The characters are very enjoyable in general. The most enjoyable are Roger, the Colonel, Sargent Tibs, Pongo, Perdita and those adorable 99 dalmatian puppies. All of the puppies are adorable.
By the way, the first time I saw dalmatians was in this movie. I didn't know that dog breed before, but ever since then they became one of my favorite dog breeds. They're such cute spotty dogs! I love dalmatians since I was a kid.
Returning to the conversation about the characters, Cruella DeVil isn't one of my favorite Disney villains and I personally don't consider her one of Disney's best villains, but she's one of the most eccentric and original. I like her red car, nevertheless. She's got a beautiful and fine automobile! Jasper and Horace are Cruella's sidekicks and they are funny in many moments. They are just as cruel and heartless as Cruella, but more comical. There are several hilarious moments with these two guys. It's so funny how the dalmatians (with the help of other animals) make their lives miserable, considering that they definitely deserve it. This only accents the comical effect.
Pongo, Roger, the Colonel and Sargent Tibs are equally humorous characters. In fact, Sargent Tibs (the cat) has always been one of my favorite characters from this movie. He's funny, smart, clever, well-mannered and cool.
This movie takes place in England. It takes us not only to London, but also to other places that must be not very far from London... or maybe they are. But wherever they are, those are all nice places, at least judging by the movie's perspective.
About the soundtrack, it is generally great too. "Cruella DeVil" is a delightful song (a perfect song for Cruella DeVil, describing her in perfection). "Dalmatian Plantation" is a catchy one. "Kanine Kruchies Jingle" is a lovely and cute song.
"One Hundred and One Dalmatians" had a "remake" in 1996, but as a live-action version. The live-action version/remake has amazing similarities to the animated version, being very faithful to it. Although the live-action version is okay, I rather the animated version with its simple and old-fashioned charm.
Overall, a charming Disney classic which might not be their best, but deserves its attention too. It also features the voice talents of many well-known Disney artists.
This should definitely be on Top 250.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
101 is the magic number, 4 August 2006
Author: Peter Rhydon from Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
One of Dodie Smith's friends once looked at the novelist's dalmatians and said: "Those dogs would make a lovely fur coat!" It's this single phrase that inspired Mrs. Smith and led her to write what was about to become her most popular and influential novel: "The Hundred and One Dalmatians". I don't know who was this friend and what was he/she doing for living and what was his/her name. But whoever this person is, he/she inadvertently changed popular culture forever. This shows at which point the simplest sentences can become monumental.
Smith's novel was adapted by none other than Mr. Americana himself, Walt Disney. "101 Dalmatians" was Disney's first work of the '60s, the last decade of his life, but it doesn't mean that old age slowed him anyway.
It is Disney's 17th animated-feature film and 7th focusing on furry animal characters. It's the story of Pongo and Perdita, a dalmatian couple, whose puppies have been kidnapped by Cruella De Vil, one of the most cruel and diabolical characters portrayed by Disney and his crew. Cruella collected every dalmatian she could, so she would be able to make a fur coat from them. But Cruella didn't plan that Pongo, Perdita and a whole network of animal companions would unite their efforts in order to win back the puppies and get home safely.
As previously said, Cruella is by far the most interesting character of the lot. We never know how Perdita's mistress Anita became friend with Cruella, but we guess that Cruella's not interested in Anita: she only wants the dalmatian. Cruella has a scary look. She looks like an old witch. She doesn't respect anyone and she's only interested in her desires. That's what makes Cruella one of the creepiest and most interesting villains of Disney's universe.
But my predilection goes to the puppies themselves, which are absolutely adorable and charming. My favorite scenes are those where Pongo, Perdita and their 15 puppies watch a western on TV.
We don't get to know each one of the 15 puppies, but some are highlighted. There's Patch, who is probably the group rebel, with his black spot on his eyes and his love for hard words; there's Rolly, whose favorite phrase is: "I'm hungry" and there's Lucky who looks like the precursor of Generation X, because he always got the nose on the TV.
The viewer is also introduced to the dogs' own communication system: the "twilight bark", which looks like a large-scale Chinese whispers game. This is wildly imaginative and it's one of the most fascinating aspects of the dogs' own world.
Outside of the dalmatians, my favorite animal characters are the "military shed": a horse called Captain, a sheepdog called Colonel and, last but not least, Sgt. Tibbs, a courageous cat who is assigned to save the puppies from their countryside prison.
Cruella is sided by two stupid and running-gag henchmen, Jasper and Horace. These two foolish guys provide most of the film's laughs and they're not too overshadowed by their horrible boss.
Animation, even if it doesn't break any ground, is excellent, but not perfect. Victorian houses of London are well pictured, but it's not exceptional. It's the animals who are the best drawn. The dalmatians weren't easy to draw, because they don't have a uniform fur. Artists had to draw them white and then adding the black spots over and over, during 70 minutes of screen time. It must have been a monumental task.
Every classical Disney aspect is here: drama (the main plot), comedy (Horace & Jasper and some secondary/tertiary events), fearsome elements (Cruella), suspense (Sgt. Tibbs' puppies rescue) and action (the climatic car chase). And let's not forget some potentially symbolic images, such as the dalmatians' long walk in the blizzard and the puppies watching TV.
Also a thumbs-up for the music, and especially for the Cruella's title song. The soundtrack is mainly made from jazzy parts and it's very adequate.
Another feature, another classic. Walt Disney never deceives us. After this film, we became more familiar with two elements, both from the title. First, the number 101, when heard, is almost instinctively associated with this movie, and so is the dalmatian dog itself. It's another success that both parents and children will like for generations to come.
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
One of my favorites, 28 March 2004
Author: Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois
Lion King has always been my favorite Disney movie. But One Hundred and One Dalmations is on my top 5. The movie is filled with so many laughs, you have to love it.
Pongo is a lonely pup with his lonely musical master, Roger. When he spots two lovely women(one being a dog of course), he sets Roger up to meet the woman. They hit it off immediatly as well does Pongo with his new mate, Perdita. When Perdita has puppies, Perdita's(her master) old friend, Cruella DeVille wants to buy them from her. But only to make the puppies into a new fur coat. When Roger refuses, Cruella kidnaps the puppies. Pongo and Perdita go out to save the puppies. And the rest is left for you to see for yourself.
8/10
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