I was on Spring Break last week, and during the middle of the week my
friend and I decided to take a trek to the mall and its adjoining dollar
theater. I'm a sucker for anything Disney and she loves dalmatians, so
it was pretty easy to agree on 102 Dalmatians. I was quite
impressed with the live-action remake of the animated Disney classic,
and I wondered how this one would hold up. Disney did, after all, give
us The Rescuers Down Under, Simba's Pride, and Toy Story 2.
But when it comes to live-action, most of their recent attempts at
sequels have been rather weak (as opposed to sequels to early movies,
such as The Absent-Minded Professor, The Shaggy Dog, and The Love Bug). I went expecting a decent but not outstanding movie, and that's what I got.
The movie begins in the prison wherein Cruella DeVil (Glenn Close) is
housed. After undergoing an experimental treatment, she seems to be
cured of her despicable nature. When she returns home after her release
from prison, Cruella (or "Ella" as she now prefers to be called) insists
upon having all of her furs locked away because she now cannot bear the
thought of harming an animal. She is now ready to re-enter society as a
productive citizen.
Her parole officer, Chloe (Alice Evans),
is not convinced, and she is very suspicious when Cruella takes over the
Second Chance dog shelter, about to be shut down due to lack of
funding. While keeping tabs on Cruella and another client who works with
the dogs, she meets Kevin (Ioan Gruffudd), who happens to be quite a
dapper gent, in my opinion. He has four "dogs" -- one is actually a
parrot named Waddlesworth (Eric Idle) who insists he is a rottweiler. A
romance begins to blossom between the two of them, and the dog shelter
flourishes. It seems that the biggest worry at the moment is helping
Oddball -- daughter of Chloe's dog, Dipstick, who appeared as a pup in
the first film -- deal with the fact that she has no spots.
But disaster strikes when the resounding chimes of Big Ben cause Cruella
to revert back to her old cruel self. Determined once more to get her
dalmatian coat despite the judge's stipulation that a repeat offense
would lead to the transferral of her entire fortune to the dog shelter,
Cruella drags her butler Alonso into the task of kidnapping the puppies.
She also employs a French furrier, Le Pelt, to aid her in the creation
of her wonder garment. And how does she get away with it? Why, Kevin, of
course. The perfect motive: he wanted her money for the shelter. Kevin
is framed and thrown in jail, and Cruella prepares to steal Dipstick's
pups, which will provide the hood of her coat.
The rest of the
movie is, obviously, a race against time to try to keep Cruella from
doing her dire deed. This is Oddball's chance to shine, and she proves
that the greatness of a dalmatian is not determined by the number of her
spots.
There are a couple of twists and turns in this movie,
but it's not as entertaining or endearing as the original. Alonso the
Butler, who I pitied from my first sight of him in the original, has his
moment in the sun in this movie, and I was glad to see that. But the
focus in this film is first on Cruella, then on Chloe and Kevin, who
weren't even in the original. Their prolonged courtship does strike me
as more realistic than Roger and Anita's instant marriage, but I thought
there was too much focus on the humans. The dogs have a much lesser
role in this film, and I think that's a shame.
Also, there are
a couple of little things I don't quite get. How could Cruella not have
heard Big Ben all that time? What police department allows a guy to
take his pets into prison with him? And how could Kevin just get off
scot-free after escaping? Granted, I wanted him to, but I don't think it
would work that way.
Still, it's a good movie, and well worth
seeing at the dollar theater or renting. I wouldn't go out of my way to
buy it, but I'd say it'd be entertaining for at least a couple
viewings.
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