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(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from One Hundred and One Dalmatians)

Doug (vo): Well, I hope you like Dalmatians or you're really not gonna like this movie. Well, okay, I shouldn't be that mean to it, but let's just be honest: It's a bunch of Dalmatians. They walk around, they look cute, they talk, they bark, they...I don't know, just do cutesy stuff. If you like that, you're gonna love this film. If not, it's a bit of a bore.

Story and review

Doug (vo): I guess there are a few things that stand out about it, like the villain, Cruella de Vil, which, ever since the live-action version [A poster of the 1996 live-action adaptation is shown], has become one of the most infamous villains of all time. And she is a lot of fun. It's just a great design. Sort of this weak, fragile woman under this gigantic, hairy, monstrous fur coat. She's both glamorous and hideous at the same time. It actually is a pretty cool design. And the character's a lot of fun, too, constantly screaming, constantly yelling, but always trying to look fabulous while doing it. Her motivation is to get as many Dalmatian puppies as she can to make a bajillion fur coats, and once 15 puppies of our main characters get abducted...which somehow makes the front pages for some reason...the search is on to go and find them.

[Several characters are shown, but mostly focusing on the cat, Sgt. Tibs]

Doug (vo): The rest of the characters are not bad, they're just kind of phoned-in. The husband and wife are a typical nice husband and wife, the side characters are typical sort of dopey side characters. I think the only one I ever really got into was the cat, because there was just this feeling he would never give up. I mean, yeah, he's constantly screaming, he's constantly running, but he's always sticking with the puppies. [A clip of the cat, Sgt. Tibs, protecting the puppies as they are cornered by the villains is shown] Look at that. They're about to bash their brains out, and he's still there trying to protect them. It's awesome! Go, kitty!

[Various other clips are shown before showing the climax of the movie]

Doug (vo): I guess part of the joke in the movie is how seriously they're treating the dogs, like how the husband is just as paranoid about the birth of the puppies as, well, the dog is, or how when the puppies are kidnapped, the maid goes out screaming into the streets and, like I said, it makes front page papers. I don't know. For me, I never found it that funny, so I guess it never got many laughs. I guess the climax is kind of fun. It is rare that you see a car chase in a Disney film, especially with Cruella behind the wheel, and I do enjoy how the car continues to get stripped down and almost starts to turn into just as big a monster as she is.

Final thought

Doug (vo): But aside from that, I don't think it has the charm as something like Lady and the Tramp had or even the animation for it, although I guess it was sort of groundbreaking, in that they were testing rotoscope and copying and so forth and how many puppies they can show. But I don't know if that makes it one of the better Disney films. If you're a dog fan or a Dalmatian fan, you'll probably like it fine, but if not, it's not horrible, it's just not that engaging. Take it for what it's worth. Not one of my personal faves.

[The film's final scene, showing the husband and wife and all of their Dalmatians, both the adults and the 99 puppies, celebrating in their house, is shown]

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