December 5–12, 1996

movie shorts

101 DALMATIONS

Call me jaded, but having viewed 101 Dalmatians 202 times, I have to wonder what, other than money, motivated the folks at Large Rodent Studios to make a live-action version of the classic cartoon. It couldn't have been the human actors — the film drags whenever two-legged creatures are featured (except for Glenn Close's Cruella De Vil, a two-tone-coiffed, cigarette-smoking S/M queen with a fur fetish whose only joy is the evisceration of 99 puppies). The rest of the live-action humans, however, could cure insomnia (particularly Jeff Daniels, who plays the owner of Dalmatian Daddy Pongo and exudes the excitement of mayo on Wonder Bread). Ah, but when the animals take over... Animal trainer Gary Gero did an amazing job getting animals to do things animals would never do, all to the squealing delight of the little kids in the audience. Speaking of which, here is the opinion of one little kid, my 6-year-old daughter Hannah:

I liked the part when Jasper's car got on fire. I really loved the part when Cruella De Vil had mud all over her and when she went to jail and when she fell out of the window and I'm so glad Cruella De Vil did not kill the puppies.

It was a good movie.

I would watch it again.

I guess you can't argue with that.

— Howard and Hannah Altman

(AMC Andorra; AMC Wayne; AMC Orleans; Northeast; UA Cheltenham; UA Riverview; UA 69th St.)