This Disney animated classic is based on the children's story by Dodie Smith. The story involves the canine pets of a struggling composer and his wife: Dalmatians Pongo (male) and Perdita (female). Perdita gives birth to fifteen spotted pups, cuing the entrance of the scheming Cruella De Vil. She demands that the dogs' owners sell her the pups, but she is shown the door instead. Under cover of night, Cruella arranges for the pups to be stolen. The human police are baffled, but the "dog network"
is alerted by Pongo and sent to rescue the pups. It is discovered that Cruella has been rounding up every Dalmatian she can get her hands on, hoping to use their pelts to make one spectacular fur coat. The dogs rescue the 15 pups, plus 86 others stolen by Ms. DeVil. After an eventful escape, the 101 Dalmatians make their way home--whereupon the composer pens a hit tune, "Dalmatian Plantation". 101 Dalmatians represents the Disney animation staff at its very best, and as a bonus introduces the world to Cruella De Vil, one of the greatest movie villains--cartoon or "real"--of all time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
While not as indelibly enchanting or inspired as some of the studio's most unforgettable animated endeavors, this is nonetheless a painstaking creative effort.
This was the last Disney animated feature (1961) that Uncle Walt lived to see through personally; it can't be a coincidence that it's also the last Disney animated feature of real depth and emotional authenticity.
Buena Vista's 2-Disc Platinum Edition of 101 Dalmatians stands proudly next to its predecessors in quantity and quality, serving up a feast for both children and adults.
The Platinum Edition (Mar 4, 08) has numerous bonus features, such as Virtual Dalmatians, which allows you to adopt, name, and care your own virtual puppy with 101 possibilities, and Puppy Profiler through which you can find out which do you're most like
So long as Disney's never made any bones about finding the whole female race either bland or evil, I have no trouble embracing the studio's biggest bitch of them all.
Cruella De Vil is so much a tour de force that she single-handedly snatches the movie away from any retroactive comparisons to post-classical Disney features whose sloppiness is the is their only saving grace.
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