101 Dalmatians (Animated) [G]

Relive the wonderful adventure that is 101 Dalmatians in this remastered platinum edition. When fur-worshipping villain Cruella De Vil dognaps all the Dalmatian puppies in London, including a litter of fifteen from that make up Pongo and Perdita’s family, the devastated parents embark on a heroic journey to find these poor puppies before Cruella can carry out her evil plan and make coats out of them.

After watching When In Rome last night, I was completely at a loss as to what to watch next. 101 Dalmatians was the first thing I saw so I figured why not? I hadn’t seen this movie in so long and had almost forgotten how brilliant it is. Another Disney timeless classic.

Pongo the Dalmatian lives with his “pet” Roger in a small and messy bachelor’s apartment. Finding the bachelor’s life incredibly dull, Pongo decides to find his pet a mate and discovers the perfect one in Anita and her Dalmatian Perdita. Upon the couple meeting and getting married, Perdita falls pregnant and has a litter of fifteen puppies. It’s all wonderful at first, but then fur-worshipping villain Cruella De Vil tries to buy all the puppies, and when Roger says that they’re not for sale, she resorts to more dramatic and sinister action. After Cruella dognaps their puppies, Pongo and Perdita, through the power of the “Twilight Bark”, embark on a heroic and treacherous journey to save their puppies as well as all the other stolen puppies before Cruella can carry out her dastardly plan to make coats out of them.

Up there with The Aristocats, Lady and the Tramp, and Bambi, 101 Dalmatians is a wonderful family movie with animals as our heroes. I especially love how the film is always from the animals’ perspective. When we are introduced to the heroes Pongo and Roger, Pongo is narrating and describes Roger as his “pet”. You see? I just thought it was really cute and clever to see that dogs see relationships with humans just like humans see their relation ships with animals. I mean the idea of your dog setting you up for a relationship is something that’s not ordinarily heard of, but it’s so cute.

And then we have one of the most recognisable and dramatic female villains in history. “Cruella De Vil. Cruella De Vil. If she doesn’t scare you, not evil thing will.” Clad in a huge a fur coat and possessing two-toned hair and very prominent cheekbones, she is glamorous, stylish, and incredibly insane and scary. Betty Lou Gerson provided the voice for Cruella and she was brilliant. Very dramatic and over-the-top: “Darling, I live for fur, I worship fur. After all isn’t there a woman in all this wretched world who doesn’t?” Brilliant. One of my all-time favourite villains.

Filled with adorable and heroic animals, a very clever script, and a few catchy jazz tunes, 101 Dalmatians is a timeless Disney classic that will enchant the family again and again and again.