SPOTLESS! (102 Dalmatians (DVD))

Member Name: Mush

Product:	102 Dalmatians (DVD)
Date:	24/12/00 (118 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Puppies, easy viewing, puppies, cute, puppies, puppies, puppies, puppies.....

Disadvantages: ...puppies, puppies, puppies, puppies...may need a sick bag if you can't handle too much 'cute'. Limited storyline.

I get to see a lot of movies. Most involve action, explosions, aliens, monsters, guns, fighting, or alternatively lavatorial humour and cheap laughs. So what was I doing in front of the big screen about to watch 102 Dalmatians?!

I was there with the missis, of course. Every so often she manages to persuade me (usually involving a cup of tea, bag of sweets, or some gratuitous act I do not care to mention) to go and see some movie which is either a girly romance or cutie pie kids film. Invariably they will contain Jennifer Aniston or Hugh Grant or have a title such as ‘Maybe Baby’ (ick!). This one had puppes...lots of them.

What do you want me to tell you about this movie that you don’t already know? It’s a Disney! Same old formula, with a different sugar coating - or in this case, not so different a coating - spots a second time around. Cruella de Ville gets out of jail, kidnaps a big bag of puppies to make a coat of their fur, gang of animals save the day. That’s it.

Glenn Close returns as Cruella, and have never seen such an extreme overload of OTT ham acting. She makes a top baddie, and I wouldn’t mind seeing how she could do in something more grown up like the Matrix, as well as this big screen panto. Gerard Depardieu (the poopies! haah! please say it again you crazy Frenchman!...poopies! haha!...oh...) and Tim McInnery (Blackadder’s Darling) are the fall guys, acting upon Cruella’s behest to be dropped from great heights, break bones and generally get beaten up in the name of a fur coat. They are as Disney camp as a row of Mickey Mouse tents, and although they were good as well, they probably didn’t have to exert their powers of acting very much.

Alice Evans and Iaon Gruffudd are the good guy dog owners, and are fine - they fill the roles adequately, and look good, but probably didn’t have to stretch much.

The real show stealers are the animals, of c
ourse. Dalmatians, Chihuahuas, Boxers, mongrels and a plethora of other dogs, parrots, cats and more dogs practically become humans trapped in animal bodies as they out think and out perform the real people time and again. Every little doe-eyed look and puppy yip are perfectly placed to ensure the highest possible slush factor, and some members of the audience did not stop saying ‘ahhhh’ throughout the movie (my missis’ sister included, and she’s 26!). The animals are great, and really did perform well - kudos to whoever trained them! Two of the animals, however, were almost completely computer generated - I won’t say which, but while one is obvious, the other is probably the mutt you expect the least should you see the film.

I could take the opportunity to get on a soap box and harp on about the evils of anthropomorphising animals being an act of daemonification, which will result in all those who go to see this movie burning in the Inferno for eternity. But I won’t, because:

a) I would just be doing it to entertain myself, and I don’t really believe it, because
b) It’s just a cute, harmless, entertaining (in it’s own way) movie.
c) Although it would spark off an interesting debate, I can’t be bothered, because
d) I haven’t the first clue about the theological evils of anthropomorphising.
e) I think I’m going soft
f) I can’t think of an f)
g) It’s almost Christmas, and I can smell brandy butter (better finish this op quickly!)

102 Dalmatians is one for the kids and the girlfriends, but it is a nice movie to go see anyway. The cute factor is layered on with a shovel, but there are quite a few good laughs to be had by any viewer. Although it surprises me to say this, I would recommend it to all but the hardiest people out there. My only criticism might be the complete lack of storyline, but that is a relatively minor gri
pe on behalf of the adults...knackers, this is a kids movie! Maybe I’m just too used to cerebral films like 12 Monkeys! Storyline be damned! Bring on more puppies!

And for the first movie I’ve seen in ages, no-one exploded.

Summary: