Product Description

UPC:786936769586
DESCRIPTION: Unleashing every ounce of Disney magic, 101 Dalmatians thrilled audiences of all ages with fast-paced adventure and comedy featuring a brilliant performance by five-time Academy Award® nominee Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil. Achieving new heights of hilarity, Disney s all-time classic puppy tale came to life as a worldwide box office sensation. In their small London flat, Dalmatians Pongo and Perdy, and their human pets Roger and Anita, are overjoyed by the arrival of 15 puppies. But when the spotted-fur-loving Ms. De Vil and her clumsy cohorts, Jasper and Horace, dognap the litter along with every other Dalmatian pup in London Pongo and Perdy must rally the town s animals to their rescue. The plan hurls them towards a thrilling climax filled with uproarious moments as the puppies attempt to outwit their captors and bring on a final showdown with Cruella!
Packed with the largest and cutest collection of puppies ever brought to film, 101 Dalmatians also features a superb cast of talented humans, including Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson and Joan Plowright. Now you can bring home Disney s live-action comedy hit, praised by critics as nothing short of phenomenal!
END

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4519 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2008-09-16
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 103 minutes

Features

• Unleashing every ounce of Disney magic, 101 DALMATIANS thrills audiences of all ages with fast-paced adventure and comedy -- featuring a brilliant performance by five-time Academy Award(R) nominee Glenn Close (including Best Actress, DANGEROUS LIASONS, 1988) as Cruella De Vil. Achieving new heights of hilarity, Disney's all-timeic puppy tale comes to life as a worldwide box office sensation. I

Amazon.com essential video
It's hard to know who thought it would be a good idea to make a live-action version of Disney's animated classic. The one bright notion anyone had was casting Glenn Close as Disney über-villainess Cruella de Vil; her flashing eyes and angular features are a perfect match and do credit to what is one of the most indelible animated characters Disney has ever created. The story remains essentially the same, focusing on Cruella's plot to kidnap the puppies of a young married couple (Jeff Daniels and Jolie Richardson) and make them into a coat. But the dreaded John Hughes, who wrote this script, fills it with sadistic slapstick and far too few genuine laughs. The human actors work hard, but to little avail; thankfully, there's a passel of puppies to regularly steal scenes when the going gets dreary--although there are only so many laughs to be had from inappropriate dog puddles. --Marshall Fine

From The New Yorker
The remake from hell. In the new live-action version, directed by Stephen Herek, the dogs no longer talk but merely cock their heads and bark, and the humans, led by Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson, go through the whole affair with a sort of dazed, disbelieving look, as well they might. In her initial scenes as Cruella DeVil, Glenn Close displays a certain scarlet relish for her own monstrosity. But by the end, the charm and delicacy of the 1961 cartoon have long been replaced by laborious gross-outs. Is this now official Disney policy? -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Glenn Close steals the show
Disney remade their classic animated film of the same name 35 years after the original, as a live-action movie in 1996. The tale is familiar to most: two Dalmatians, Pongo & Perdy, bring their owners together. Roger (Jeff Daniels) and Anita (Joely Richardson) fall in love almost at first site when they meet in the park. They get married and their Dalmatians have puppies. Sounds like a lovely romantic tale, right? It would be if it weren't for Anita's boss, the evil Cruella de Vil (Glenn Close). Cruella is a fashionista who loves fur...and her latest desire is to own a coat made of Dalmatian fur. When she learns that Anita's dog has had a litter of 15, she sets her sites on them to make her desire come true. Anita & Roger turn down her offer, so she sends her bumbling minions Jasper & Horace (Hugh Laurie & Mark Williams respectively) to steal them for her.

Does it equal the original? No, not really...but this is not a surprise. How could you top Marc Davis' animation of Cruella, one of the most memorable characters in animation history? Still, you have to give Glenn Close much credit for making Cruella her own...remove her and you have little reason to watch this film. With her fright wig and amazingly over the top costumes, Close truly comes close...she is an evil delight to watch as she barks orders (pun intended) and does everything in her power to make the fur coat a reality. Laurie (now starring in the hit series "House") and Williams are excellent as her bumbling henchman. The animals are also lots of fun to watch, as they often show that they are much smarter than their human counterparts.

Note to parents: this movie is somewhat darker than the animated versions, with a few creepy scenes with the taxidermist. Nothing major, but still parents might want to be careful as Glenn Close's characterization is more frightening and nightmare inducing than her animated namesake.

Sadly and surprisingly, there are no extras on this DVD other than a theatrical trailer. The widescreen (2:35:1) picture is excellent (enhanced for 16x9 TVs), and there is a wonderful Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround mix.

Overall, an enjoyable film that is bumped up a few notches thanks to Glenn Close's performance.

Delightful story with puppies that will steal your heart
It was a stroke of genius for the legendary Disney Studio to decide to remake their classic 1961 animated feature "101 Dalmatians", as a live action feature. Never a great fan of remakes, I feel this story is a natural for a live action version and on first viewing it totally won me over. It has so much to offer viewers of all ages, whether it be its 99 gorgeous Dalmatian puppies that would melt the heart of any dog lover, a top class production with terrific sets, locations and stunts or a wonderfully wicked villianess in the incomparable Cruella De Vil played to perfection by gifted actress Glenn Close.

The film follows closely the original story and tells the tale of London couple Roger and Anita who meet through a Dalmatian dog mixup in a London Park and fall in love, marry and find themselves the happy "parents" of 15 beautiful Dalmatian puppies when their Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita begin a family of their own. Their happiness is short lived however when Anita's boss the dastardly Cruella De Vil spots the puppies and immediately makes plans to have the puppies kidnapped so that she can turn their pelts into the extravagant spotted fur coat she has always dreamed of having. What ensures is a comical tale full of laughs, great stunts and hilarious situations of the "boo the villian, cheer the dogs" variety. The Dalmatian parents, with the aid of many assorted members of the animal kingdom from woodpeckers, squirrels, and assorted sheep pigs, and dogs not only succeed in tracking down the missing puppies in their hideout but also outwit Cruella and her incompetent accomplices at every turn. The animals revenge on Cruella and her accomplices makes for most of the humour as they find themselves being dumped through falling roofs, landing in tubs of gooey molasses and being smelled out by skunks!

No expense was spared on this production and indeed all the live action characters bare an amazing resemblance to their cartoon counterparts. Gleen Close towers over the whole production in her performance as Disney Studios most famous villianess the totally over the top Cruella De Vil. Her makeup, hair styles and clothing is everything you would imagine Cruella to be. It is to the credit of Glenn Close that she succeeds totally in bringing to life such a well known and "loved" cartoon villianess. A supremely talented actress as seen in such diverse roles as those in "Fatal Attraction", "Dangerous Liaisons", "Meeting Venus", and "Paradise Road" among others, she is a total riot as the bizzare fashion designer with an extreme fur fetish. It is she who makes "101 Dalmatians" such memorable viewing and her encounters with the animals in the second half of the film will have you laughing for ages. The sight of Cruella rising out of the tub of molasses where she has been unceremoniously dumped by the animal brigade will bring fits of laughter to the viewer. The film also boasts the great talents of Jeff Daniels and the lovely Joely Richardson as Roger and Anita the loving couple drawn to each other by their fondness for Dalmatians, and the gifted Joan Plowright as Anita's former Nanny who finds herself performing the role again but this time for the 15 puppies in the house. Much of the comedy stems from the great playing by Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams as the wacky Jasper and Horace employed by Cruella who's job it is to steal the puppies for Cruella. They receive the main brunt of the animals "revenge" to great comic effect as does John Shrapnel in the role of the sinister scarred Skinner who is employed to turn the puppies coats into Cruella's new coat. The animal stunts performed in this film will have you gasping as the animals seem top take on human personalities of their own to brilliant effect. The location photography around London and in the snow scenes at Cruella's hideaway also create a very pleasing look to the film.

I never fail to watch "101 Dalmatians" without finding a smile appearing on my face. It is a totally delightful film that is just as much for adults as it is children which is a real credit to the Disney Studios. Glenn Close really makes the film a viewing experience with her over the top playing here but if you are in anyway a dog lover you can't help but be totally captivated by these delightful 101 spotted creatures charming the audience in "101 Dalmatians". Enjoy!

Not as good as its previous incarnations
The Hundred and One Dalmatians, the book, was excellent. The animated movie Disney made out of it was very good. The live action movie, however, fell short. The storyline was, expectably, not as true. The humor is aimed more toward the lowest common denominator. The cat characters have been edited out. :(