101 Dalmatians 1961 Review

I've been trying to think of something clever to serve as an intro to this review but I really couldn't think of anything but I can say that this film isn't that good and i've got alot to say about it so here is my review of 101 Dalmatians or is it One Hundred And One Dalmatians.

Honestly I really wish I could tell you what the story was but outside of the basic premise there is no story to speak of things just happen for no reason what so ever the premise is fine but there's nothing there story wise and that for me is a huge issue because i'm expected to care for these characters but how can I care for them when I don't even no what the story is but I will say this the film does have pretty good pacing i'll admit that some scenes go on a bit two long but most of them last the right amount of time.

Starring in this film was Rod Taylor as Pongo , Cate Bauer as Perdita , Betty Lou Gerson as Cruella De Vil , Ben Wright as Roger Radcliffe , Lisa Davis as Anita Radcliffe , Martha Wentworth as Nanny and Frederick Worlock and J. Pat O'Malley as Horace and Jasper. I would list of who played the puppies but there's a alot of them and quite frankly if I did do that i'd still be here writing this review tomorrow. As for the acting in the film I thought it was honestly really good by this time Disney had gotten really good at casting his movies and here I thought that every character was cast perfectly and all the actors did the best job they could have done with what they were given.

I have to wonder if the film makers ever went to London because nobody in London  speaks like Roger he speaks like someone who has only seen London on television and not like an actual Londoner would it really have killed the makers of this movie to have spent a week with someone who's from London just so they could get who someone from that area talks.

Of course the film was animated by Walt Disney Studious and it was the companies seventeenth animated feature film and you can tell that there is a certain amount of confidence here when it comes to the animation and while the animation in this film isn't Disney at there best like in there early days it's a damn sight sight better then what's in The Jungle Book altho i'm not a big fan of the sketchy look that both this film and The Jungle Book has to me it just looks really of putting and so unlike what you thing a Disney film should look like.

Design wise the film does fair a little better since design wise the characters look great and even some of the designs have become iconic but to me some of the designs look like they belong in a Chuck Jones cartoon i'm not sure if that was intentional or not but it's true.

To be honest to me this film was so freaking boring and that's no easy for me to say because like the rest of you I really like classic Disney I was counting down the minuets because I just didn't care about the characters so if i'm bored then the film has failed because I shouldn't be bored and I feel that if the script was given a rewrite then alot of the issues that I have with the film could have been fixed.

Honestly there's not much of an interesting release history for this film it came out it was a modest hit for the company and they have continued to release the film every few years or so and honestly this is one of the few films were i'd be happy if they didn't re-release the film it's not an important film for the company and as far as I can tell the film doesn't have a big fanbase even tho it spawned an animated sequel , two live action films and an animated TV series.

I'm not usually one to talk about the opening credits in a Disney film usually because the films don't have any title credits but this film does have title credits and I hate them there so freaking bad it feels like the opening credits were an after thought for the company for me these credits go on for so long which isn't bad if your watching a near two hour film but when your film is around an hour and twenty minuets and your opening credits last near two to two and a half minuets and there not visually interesting that's not a good thing.

 This film is listed as an adventure film and I think that the adventure aspect of the film is really well done I liked the idea of the twilight bark but the adventure aspect really doesn't go on for long enough in my opinion if it started at say the forty five minuet mark then the film would have been better in my opinion.

                                                                                   

I'm not going to say what I thought about Cruella because everything that I could say about her has been said about her by other people so just read there thoughts on her. I will say that I found it freaking funny as heck that she would arrive three weeks early just to get her hands on the puppies and nobody thinks that's a bad thing about from the dogs newsflash if some one comes round to your house in a big fur coat and wants to see your puppies that are due in three weeks then chances are there evil.

To me this film is a kids film which to me goes against Disney's mission to make films for both kids and adults there's honestly nothing in there that's bad for little kids outside of the villain smoking like a chimney but you can forgive that since she's the villain I don't really think that adults will like this unless they liked it as a kid.

Like most of the classic Disney films there are songs in this film but unlike classic Disney films this one isn't a musical and there's only three songs which were written by Mel Leven I don't really think that it needs saying but in my opinion the best song in the whole movie is "Cruella de Vil" to me that song perfectly sets up the character and it could also be seen as a comedic song since it's sung by Roger who at the time is joking around.

Overall in my humble opinion this isn't a good Disney film but at the same time it's one that I can see little kids enjoying but it's a film that has so many problems and hopefully i've listed them all and so with that in my mind this film gets a 4.5 out of 10.