101 Dalmatians, 2-DVD Platinum Edition (1961/2008)

by | Mar 6, 2008 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews | 0 comments

101 Dalmatians, 2-DVD Platinum Edition (1961/2008)

The Walt Disney Original Animated Feature
Studio: Disney Studio DVD 54394
Video: 1.33:1 full screen color
Audio: English/French/Spanish DD 5.1, DD 2.0, original restored mono theatrical soundtrack
Subtitles: French, Spanish
Extras: “The Making of 101 Dalmatians” featurette, Cruella De Vil: Drawn to be Bad, Deleted Songs, New Cruella De Vil music video, Virtual Dalmatians Game, Pop-up Trivia Facts, Language games, “Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney” – Walt’s correspondence with the author of the book, Disney Fast-Play, many others
Length: 79 minutes (feature)
Rating: *****

Walt didn’t much like this complete departure from his studio’s usual colorful, fairy tale, goody-two-shoes images and stories. Its huge success with audiences worldwide may have modified his ire at his story editor Bill Peet coming up with characters that had never been seen in Disney films before – a genuinely romantic couple who touched one another, an evil sophisticated villainess who smoked all the time, dogs who watched TV, and other aspects that were part of real life rather than fantasy. Also, the whole design is a complete departure, and closer to the flat style that was being done by UPA studios with Mr. Magoo and other much more hip animation. It was the first big feature to use a newly-developed xerox technique to create the cells instead of having each one (usually 12 per second) drawn by hand.

The original 1956 book by Dodie Smith which Disney rightly thought would make a good movie had the cute twist of telling the story from the dogs’ point of view rather than the humans. (Unfortunately not done in the later live version with Glenn Close.)  The two adult Dalmatians meet in the park when the male, Pongo, tries to get his “pet” (owner) to meet the female dog’s cute owner. The two pairings work out perfectly and soon there are 15 little Dalmatian puppies.  Enter Cruella De Vil, with the intent of kidnapping all of them, plus buying every Dalmatian in all the pet stores and thus ending up with 99 Dalmatians out of which to make spotted fur coats.  After the puppies are stolen by Cruella’s bumbling henchmen, and the humans get nowhere trying to solve the abduction, the parent dogs take it into their own paws and with the help of the “twilight bark” network, seek out, find, and battle the baddies to get back home again.

The enhanced picture and sound of this new digital edition make for a bright and colorful family film which is not a bit dated-looking or sounding after 47 years. Pixar’s Brad Bird called it in the extras “contemporary animation in a classical style,” and it has been a prime influence on animators ever since its debut.  The musical score is much jazzier and more contemporary than with any previous Disney movie as well.  The enhanced surround soundtrack is most effective in the scenes with the “twilight bark,” as barking far and near erupts all around you. There are some good LFE thumps when the humorous vehicles careen and crash.  There are a couple of songs but the deleted songs section in the extras shows that there were many more which it was decided not to use – so this not really a musical. The second DVD of extras is loaded with bonus material that sets this double-DVD edition apart.  The featurette on the making of the film is fascinating  and honors the many different individuals whose talents went into various aspects of this beloved animation masterpiece. There are also ten other featurettes interviewing animators, writers, historians, producers, and story men. The games and music video are directed toward the youngsters.

 — John Sunier

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