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Glenn Close is
perfect as Cruella De Vil in the 1996 live action
version of Walt Disney's "101 Dalmatians." I only wish
the movie surrounding her was better.
"101 Dalmatians" is again available on DVD.
The original 1961 animated movie was enjoyable. Not one
of the best Walt Disney produced animated features, "101
Dalmatians" was nonetheless an easy movie to enjoy. The
canine puppies had all the charm of human children with
their innocence and fears. The voice talent was well
cast. And Cruella De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson) was the
epitome of classic villains. Scary and yet humorous, De
Vil was worth the price of admission. The formula worked
for 35 years as Disney re-released the movie in
theaters, and then the studio had a lot of success by
releasing the movie on home video with success.
So why did Disney mess with success by making a
live-action version? In theory, the idea could've worked
quite well. With the casting of Glenn Close as Cruella
De Vil, Disney automatically had star power and someone
who filled the role nicely. But the film surrounds her
with dogs who don't talk and humans who are fairly dull
in comparison. This is not to say that Jeff Daniels and
Joely Richardson are bad in this movie, because they're
not. But their characters aren't very interesting.
The dogs, and who could resist Dalmatians, are cute but
look like any professionally trained film animal. Their
personalities seem like they're based on an off-camera
trainer. It's probably not a fair comparison to the
animated version because animators can make animals do
whatever they want. I'm charmed by real dogs, trained or
not. Dogs are cool! But the live action version doesn't
feel right.
The live-action version follows the original film fairly
closely. Pongo and Perdita have a litter of puppies and
Cruella wants them for their fur. She hires two bumbling
crooks (Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams) to steal the
puppies and mayhem ensues.
Close is wonderfully over the top as De Vil. She
captures Gerson's portrayal with her persona, then makes
it her own. Perhaps the movie could've been called
"Cruella De Vil," but that's about the only time the
movie picks up pace.
The movie did respectable box office when it was
released in 1996, and children seem to still enjoy it
now on DVD, even though the dogs don't talk like they
did in the original. Disney "purists" like myself find
the whole idea of remaking a classic, especially when
the original was animated, film robbery. What was the
point in trying to remake something that was good to
begin with?
Bill Kallay
Special thanks to Click Communications
Photos: © WDHE. All rights reserved.
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