101 Dalmatians (Two-Disc Platinum Edition)
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Movie Reviews of 101 Dalmatians (Two-Disc Platinum Edition)
Movie Review: A Newer Shinier Dalmatian
Summary: 5 Stars
It's been years since I last watched 101 Dalmatians and I had begun to think of it as a slightly lesser Disney film. Watching the 2-disc Platinum edition today I was truly impressed with the artistry, character, animation and style of this completely charming film. Within minutes I had a smile on my face and was chuckling along with the zaniness. It has a timeless contemporary feeling that will surely keep children of today just as entertained as their parents were when they saw it first. And of course there's Cruella De'Vil. One of the all-time great screen villainess, animated or not. It's amazing how charming she can be while being so terribly evil. I couldn't take my eyes off her.
The film has been completely digitally restored and looks marvelous. Colors are bright and lines are sharp. It's presented in a full screen (1.33:1) aspect ratio that is ruffling a few Disney-fan feathers but to my eye this framing looks like the perfect choice for this film.
The bonus features are equally divided for adults and children so there is something for everyone. My favorite is "Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney" which has actors reading letters of correspondence between Walt Disney and Dodie Smith, the author of the book the film is based on. Through these letters you get a real sense of the time they lived in (especially what else was going on at the studio during production) as well as their personalities. It's a huge thrill for any fan of Walt Disney the man. Also very interesting is the documentary of the making of the film which gives many insights and describes the new Xerox process used for the first time on this film.
One curious addition on this release is a Public Service Ad about the dangers of smoking that appears before the main menu comes up. I guess someone at Disney was worried that children would see Cruella DeVil and want to emulate her. Strange. I thought villains were supposed to do bad things. Maybe there should be ads telling us how bad it is to drive like a maniac, treat people badly and skin puppies to make coats too.
Aside from that short sighted decision and not including a commentary on the feature (though two sets of pop up facts are included - one for kids, the other for adults) this 2 disc set has something to offer for everyone. This is Disney filmmaking at it's finest. A sublime movie that makes a perfect addition to any families collection.
Movie Review: Marvelous restoration of a Disney classic
Summary: 5 Stars
This new Platinum Edition of Disney's 101 DALMATIANS is a great DVD set, but let me start off with an ongoing beef I have with the Disney Company. Will you guys stop putting the previews at the beginning of all your DVDs?! It is irritating even the first time you watch the DVD, but it gets inconceivably tiresome the 30th or 40th time your kid watches the disc.
Here is what I had to go through to avoid seeing these intrusive and unwelcome previews: first I kept hitting a combo of skip to the next chapter and hitting the menu button. Once I finally got to the main menu, it is essential NOT to hit the option to play the movie. That will just kick you back to the previews. What you have to do is go to the chapter menu and select the opening credits. That is apparently the only way to avoid all the commercials . . . uh, I mean previews.
Apart from that one failure, this is a great pair of discs. The restoration is incredible. When my daughter was younger we had this on VHS, but the difference in quality between that and this is eye popping. The sound is also pristine and pure. Let me add that if you have pets, this will definitely get a reaction. In the scene where Pongo barks to notify the Great Dane about his missing puppies, barking for a few minutes follows. My cats were actually, truly alarmed. I can only imagine the reaction of a dog.
101 DALMATIANS is a lovely film, but to be honest, it is more a film for kids than for grown ups. There really are three kinds of animated films: 1) those that primarily appeal to children, 2) those that appeal to children and adults, and 3) those that appeal mainly to adults. Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY is a great example of 2, while Satoshi Kon's PARANOIA AGENT is an example of 3. 101 DALMATIANS is an example of 1. For adults, this is going to be more enjoyable watching it with a child than watching it either alone or with other adults. Having said that, this is an incredibly good movie for kids. My daughter was a huge fan during the VHS era and we even had a sizable collection of the various dogs. I know she had a Pongo and a Lucky, and I believe we had one or two others as well.
For me the real joy of the set is the second disc. There are a host of wonderful special features that add a great deal to appreciating the particular achievement of the film. For instance, I was fascinated to learn that this was the first film to use the Xerox process. Sadly, it was also the first film to dispense with Disney's army of pencillers and colorists and there is no question that for a couple of decades Disney films simply were not as lovely. This film actually looks a lot better than several that followed, like the truly ugly ROBIN HOOD. The features explain that the switch to the Xerox process, while in many ways lamentable, was also inevitable. It meant that they could make animated films that were still high quality, but with a considerably smaller budget. The only other option would have been to stop making animated films entirely. I was also interested to learn -- something I should have known but didn't -- that this was the first Disney film not set in a fantasy setting, but instead set in a contemporary time and place. Even though "contemporary" here means the early 1960s, it retains that feeling of being "now" rather than "once upon a time."
I also love the credit that the various features give to the great Bill Peet. I've been very conscious of his contribution to the major Disney films for quite some time, but too often other individuals at the Disney Company seem to have received more attention. I think the features here will help correct that some. As one commentator points out, today a Disney movie will have up to 15 people working on the story. Bill Peet did the same thing all by himself. And he was instrumental in character design. They offer many shots of storyboards Peet produced and it is clear that a great deal of his vision was transferred to the screen. One person points out that his storyboards were hardly deviated from through the entire film. You need only see his drawings of Cruella De Vil to appreciate how crucial he was to the production. Three others were listed as director, but Peet was clearly the heart of the film.
There are also some games that I'm sure small children will find fascinating. My daughter loved computer programs that would allow her to adopt and care for a pet and that is one of the games included here.
I do have one complaint. For us adults, I would have enjoyed a commentary. There are some pop ups you can look at if you rewatch the film, but I would have appreciated something going into more depth. One last thing. The film was originally made in the standard 1.33:1 ratio, but matted for widescreen in theaters. I do not have a widescreen television, but one non-widescreen TVs this should appear as a "full screen" DVD.
All in all, this is a terrific new release. I would have liked a commentary track and would have been ecstatic if they had decided not to force those commercials on us, but overall it does a good job of providing a highly entertaining movie for kids while providing some additional features that will interest adults. And if you have kids, this would definitely fall into the "must get" category.
Movie Review: Dalmations Platinum Edition: Home Run!
Summary: 5 Stars
101 Dalmatians never looked so good! The film absolutely leaps off the screen with its colors. A dazzling restoration job...which is one of my few gripes. It would have been nice to have a short featurette with before/after and how they go about restoring the picture.
The plot is familiar to most Disney enthusiasts: Pongo is the dalmatian of Roger Racliffe, a single song writer. Pongo helps him meet Anita, who also owns a dalmatian, Perdita. Roger & Anita and Pongo & Perdita fall in love (of course). Shortly after Roger & Anita get married, Perdita gives birth to 15 puppies...which attracts a psychotic over the top former school chum of Anita's to visit--Cruella De Vil. She wants to buy the puppies to make a coat for herself, but Roger tells her "no." Unable to accept that, she hires two bumbling fools, Jasper & Horace, to steal the puppies. It is up to Pongo and Perdita to find the puppies with the help of some animal friends.
"Dalmatians" is known as the first Disney film to break away from the traditional "romantic" style of animation that Disney was known for. The studio was suffering financial setbacks from the expense and lack of revenue of "Sleeping Beauty," so it was imperative that "Dalmatians" cut a few corners where possible. Un Iwerks came up with the idea of Xerox the drawings directly onto the cels, thus cutting out the expensive step of having the drawings re-inked. Xerox captured all the imperfections of the original drawings, which is why this film has such a hand-drawn quality to it. You will learn on this DVD that Walt actually didn't like it at first, and it took many years for him to accept this new style, as he was definitely partial to the perfected romantic stylings of "Snow White," "Sleeping Beauty," and "Cinderella." You will also learn that this Xerox process was tested in one of the sequences from "Sleeping Beauty." There are many who will curse Disney for releasing this DVD in full-frame and not widescreen; the truth is that this was originally a full-frame aspect ratio film. Therefore, you are getting the film as it was originally seen in the theater.
Review of the Extras: on Disc 1, you can watch the movie the regular way or choose 2 options for pop-up trivia facts. One version is for The Family, the other is geared for "The Fan." I truly enjoyed watching with these pop-ups; they really aren't very invasive and give lots of fun and interesting info which enhances the viewing of the film. Example: you will learn that several characters from "Lady and the Tramp" were used in cameo roles in this movie. There is a new music video by Selena Gomez (from "Hannah Montana") for the song "Cruella De Vil." I could have done without this, but it probably will be appealing to teens, as it is definitely aiimed at them. The other extra on this disc is the 101 Dalmatians Fun with Language Games. These are somewhat pitiful; to have a game that you play with a virtual dog seems lame. You can choose between "play dead," "rollover," "show love," etc. for your dog. Just made me feel like instead of playing this, a kid should go play with a real dog. Maybe very young children would enjoy it. The Fun with Language Game was the worst; whoever the narrator was sounded like she was drugged. She spoke in such a slow drawn-out manner that I couldn't even finish both of the games. Again, learning the words "sandwich" and "teapot" would definitely appeal to an extremely young audience.
Disc 2 extras are geared more towards the adults, and they really are fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed the "Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney" featurette. This documents the correspondence between the author of the book that this film was based upon, Dodie Smith, and Walt Disney. Unlike the often adversarial relationship with Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers, Dodie and Walt shared a mutual respect and admiration for each other that continued even after the film was released. Although there were a few interesting bumps along the way, the two were able to iron out their differences. The reenactments depicting Walt & Dodie are very well done.
"Cruella De Vil: Drawn to be Bad" is truly a tribute to the genius of animator Marc Davis. See how he was able to take Bill Peet's storyboards (which were genius themselves) and give life to this top Disney Villain. He made her evil, loveable, funny, over-the-top, and extremely memorable. From the moment she slams the door open and is breathing green cigarette smoke from pink cigarettes, she becomes a legend. You will also see the original production photographs of Mary Wickes acting out the role for Davis to use for his drawings. The voice was done by yet another actress, Betty Lou Gerson. Davis was able to blend all of these elements together to create perfection. Archival interviews with Davis and recent ones with his widow Alice are enlightening.
"Redefining The Line: The Making of One Hundred And One Dalmatians" is an excellent documentary. Concentrating on the revolutionary new style of animation (mentioned previously here in the references to the Xerox of the original art), you will get an inside peak into the makings of the film from archival interviews of the people involved, as well as present day critiques and appreciation from some of the top Disney/Pixar animators of this generation. Pre-dating computer animation, Disney animators had 3D models built of Cruella's car in white, outlined the shape in black, and used the camera/xerox to capture the movement to astonishing effect. Lisa Davis, the voice of Anita, gives many touching memories of the making of the film and her contributions. It is also touching to see Ken Anderson's interviews discussing his art direction of the film and its backgrounds, and how Walt's displeasure with the style deeply affected him.
Plenty of theatrical trailers on board; the original trailer, one formatted for Cinemascope, and one for TV. Interesting to see that the TV trailer has not a frame of Cruella, and the original one only has a second glimpse of her in a car. Of course now her character is credited with much of the success of the film. Plenty of re-release trailers and radio audio spots, too.
LOTS of art, from concept, to storyboard, to backgrounds, to production photographs, and more. Some of the character styling sheets are difficult to see due to the amount of characters on one photo, however, the backgrounds are a treat. Seeing the color treatments of Bill Anderson married with the details of artist Walt Peregoy...sheer magic. Anderson did a great job of matching the new animation style with his backgrounds, creating a seamless visual feast.
The deleted songs are somewhat interesting, but as usual, it is easy to see why they weren't used. The ones here on this DVD set were either replaced by better songs or cut because they slowed the story down. There are also some interesting alternate takes and rehearsal recordings of Bill Lee, who dubbed the singing for Ben Wright (Roger). Bill Lee also did the dubbing for Christopher Plummer in "The Sound of Music."
Overall, this one is definitely a 5-Star Set. Excellent movie and interesting extras. Add it to your collection now!
Movie Review: Classic Disney Animation
Summary: 5 Stars
101 Dalmatians is one of the best Disney animated films ever made. The classic story of Pongo and Perdita, the two dalmatians who somehow manage to have one hundred and one puppies is well known around the world. As is the film's evil villain, Cruella De Vil. In the film, she decides that she wants to use the precious puppies to make an exquisite fur coat. However, when Roger and Anita - Pongo and Perdita's owners - refuse to give them up, she chooses to steal them instead. The adventure which ensues will captivate the whole family and unite those young and old in appreciation for this often unmentioned classic.Movie Review: 1.33:1??
Summary: 1 Stars
No sale. With all the technical tweaks available today it's a pity we have to deal with 1.33:1 AR videos. That element alone makes this DVD a 'no purchase' for my collection...