1996 film by Stephen Herek
101 Dalmatians
is a 1996 American
adventure
comedy film
[1]
produced by
Walt Disney Pictures
and
Great Oaks Entertainment
, with distribution by
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
. It is a
live action
remake of the 1961 Disney animated film
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
, itself an adaptation of
Dodie Smith
's 1956 novel
The Hundred and One Dalmatians
. Directed by
Stephen Herek
, written by
John Hughes
and produced by Hughes and Ricardo Mestres, it stars
Glenn Close
,
Jeff Daniels
,
Joely Richardson
,
Joan Plowright
,
Hugh Laurie
,
Mark Williams
, and
John Shrapnel
. Unlike the 1961 animated film, none of the animals speak.
101 Dalmatians
was released on November 27, 1996, and grossed $320 million in theaters against a $67 million budget, making it the
sixth-highest-grossing film of 1996
. Close was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress ? Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
,
[5]
while the film was nominated for a
BAFTA Award for Best Makeup and Hair
. A sequel,
102 Dalmatians
, was released on November 22, 2000, with Glenn Close and Tim McInnerny reprising their roles while a reboot,
Cruella
, directed by
Craig Gillespie
was released on May 28, 2021.
Plot
[
edit
]
American
video game
designer Roger Dearly lives with his pet
Dalmatian
Pongo in
London
. One day, Pongo sets his eyes on Perdita, another Dalmatian. After a chase that ends in
St James's Park
, Roger discovers that Pongo likes Perdita. Her owner, Anita Campbell-Green, falls in love with Roger when they meet. When they return to Roger's home, Anita accepts his proposal. They get married along with Perdita and Pongo. Anita works as a
fashion designer
at the House of de Vil. Her boss,
Cruella de Vil
, has a deep passion for fur, going so far as to have a
taxidermist
, Mr. Skinner, skin a
white tiger
named Sue-Ling at the
London Zoo
to make her into a rug for her. Anita, inspired by her Dalmatian, designs a coat made with spotted fur. Cruella is intrigued by the idea of making garments out of actual Dalmatians, and finds it amusing that it would seem as if she was wearing Anita's dog.
Perdita gets
pregnant
, and so does Anita. Cruella visits their home and gets excited when she finds out Perdita is expecting too. Weeks later, she returns when a litter of 15 puppies are born and offers Roger and Anita £7,500 for them, but they refuse. Enraged, Cruella dismisses Anita and vows revenge against her and Roger. One winter evening, she has her henchmen, Jasper and Horace, break into their home and steal the puppies, while the couple is walking in the park with Pongo and Perdita. Along with 84 other Dalmatians that were previously stolen, they deliver them to her
country estate
, De Vil Mansion. Cruella asks Skinner to kill and skin them to create her coat.
With the family devastated at the loss of their puppies, Pongo uses the twilight bark to carry the message via the dogs and other animals of
Great Britain
, while Roger and Anita notify the
police
. Anita realizes Cruella was behind the kidnappings and confirms her suspicion when she shows Roger and Nanny her portfolio. An
Airedale Terrier
follows Jasper and Horace to the mansion, and finds all of the puppies, who he helps escape under the duo's noses. They make their way to a nearby farm, where they are later joined by Pongo and Perdita. Cruella arrives at the mansion and discovers what has happened. Angry with the thieves' failure, she decides to carry out the job herself. After several mishaps, Jasper and Horace discover nearby police looking for Cruella and hand themselves in, joining Skinner who was attacked in defence while trying to kill a puppy who have been left behind. Cruella tracks the puppies to the farm and tries killing them, but the farm animals incapacitate her. The police arrive and arrest Cruella, before sending the puppies home.
Pongo, Perdita and their puppies are reunited with Roger, Anita and Nanny. After being informed that the remaining 84 puppies have no home to go to, as they have not yet been claimed by any owners, they decide to adopt them. Roger designs a successful video game featuring dalmatian puppies as the
protagonists
and Cruella as the
villain
, with this success they move out of London to the countryside with their millions. Roger and Anita have a baby girl, while the dogs grow up with puppies of their own.
Cast
[
edit
]
Production
[
edit
]
The animatronic creatures used in the film are provided by
Jim Henson's Creature Shop
.
[6]
Producer
Edward S. Feldman
guaranteed the adoption of every puppy used in the film. Over 300 Dalmatian puppies were used over the course of filming, because "we could only use them when they were 5 or 6 weeks old and at their cutest."
[4]
Filming took place at
Shepperton Studios
in London.
John Hughes
, who wrote the film's screenplay, approached
Glenn Close
for the role of
Cruella de Vil
, but she initially turned it down. The film's costume designer
Anthony Powell
, who was working with Close on the Broadway show
Sunset Boulevard
, then convinced her to take it.
[4]
Minster Court
was used as the exterior of
Cruella de Vil
's fashion house.
[7]
Sarum Chase
was used as the exterior of her home.
[7]
Cruella's car is a modified 1976
Panther De Ville
.
[8]
Release
[
edit
]
Box office
[
edit
]
101 Dalmatians
was released in the United States on November 27, 1996. The UK premiere of the film was held on December 4, 1996, at the
Royal Albert Hall
, London, and the exterior of the Hall was lit with dalmatian spots.
It grossed $136.2 million in North America and $320.7 million worldwide.
[9]
[3]
Home media
[
edit
]
101 Dalmatians
was released on VHS for the first time on April 15, 1997,
[10]
Laserdisc in early 1997, and on DVD on April 21, 1998.
[11]
It was re-released on September 16, 2008.
Video game
[
edit
]
Reception
[
edit
]
On
Rotten Tomatoes
,
101 Dalmatians
has an approval rating of 41% and an average rating of 5.32/10, based on 37 reviews. The site's critic consensus reads: "Neat performance from Glenn Close aside,
101 Dalmatians
is a bland, pointless remake."
[12]
On
Metacritic
the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
[13]
Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore
gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
[14]
Controversy
[
edit
]
Animal rights organizations protested the film's release, saying that Dalmatian sales shot up after the premiere, fueled by impulsive purchases of puppies by parents for their children. Being ill-prepared to care for a relatively difficult breed of dog past puppy-hood, many of these new owners eventually surrendered their animals to shelters, where many dogs ended up being euthanized.
[15]
Sequel and reboot
[
edit
]
A sequel,
102 Dalmatians
, was released on November 22, 2000.
[16]
Glenn Close returned in her role.
Disney planned a live-action Cruella de Vil reboot film on the title character's origins titled
Cruella
.
Glenn Close
acted as an executive producer.
[17]
Emma Stone
played the title role.
[18]
The film was released on May 28, 2021.
[19]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"101 Dalmatians"
.
AFI Catalog of Feature Films
.
Archived
from the original on September 17, 2017
. Retrieved
September 16,
2017
.
- ^
"101 Dalmatians (1996)"
. AllMovie.
Archived
from the original on December 3, 2018
. Retrieved
December 2,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
"101 Dalmatians (1996)"
.
Box Office Mojo
.
Archived
from the original on July 14, 2019
. Retrieved
November 5,
2008
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Hollywood Flashback: Glenn Close First Brought Cruella de Vil to Life in 1996"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. May 28, 2021.
Archived
from the original on June 7, 2021
. Retrieved
June 7,
2021
.
- ^
"Golden Globes"
.
Archived
from the original on December 20, 2016
. Retrieved
March 9,
2016
.
- ^
"The Jim Henson Company's Creature Shop - Film"
.
www.creatureshop.com
. Archived from
the original
on August 27, 2013.
- ^
a
b
"101 Dalmatians filming locations"
.
Movie-Locations.com
. Archived from
the original
on April 9, 2016
. Retrieved
October 4,
2014
.
- ^
"Panther DeVille in "101 Dalmatians"
"
.
IMCDb.org
. Retrieved
July 4,
2021
.
- ^
Puig, Claudia (December 2, 1996).
"
'101 Dalmatians' Nabs Top Spot"
.
Los Angeles Times
.
Archived
from the original on November 3, 2012
. Retrieved
November 3,
2010
.
- ^
"Dalmatians with car rental"
.
Ad Age
. March 27, 1997. Archived from
the original
on March 27, 1997
. Retrieved
August 18,
2019
.
- ^
101 Dalmatians
.
ISBN
1558908374
.
- ^
"101 Dalmatians (1996)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
.
Archived
from the original on February 1, 2011
. Retrieved
January 18,
2011
.
- ^
"101 Dalmatians (1996) Reviews"
.
metacritic.com
.
Archived
from the original on September 3, 2010.
- ^
101 DALMATIANS (1996) A
Archived
February 6, 2018, at the
Wayback Machine
CinemaScore
- ^
"Activists Protest Disney Dalmations"
.
Cinema.com
. August 30, 2000.
Archived
from the original on April 3, 2016
. Retrieved
March 22,
2016
.
- ^
Scott, A. O. (November 22, 2000).
"FILM REVIEW; Woof! A Cruella De Vil Who Changes Her Spots (Published 2000)"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on May 15, 2021
. Retrieved
February 15,
2021
.
- ^
Kit, Borys (November 17, 2011).
"Disney Preps Live-Action Cruella de Vil Film (Exclusive)"
. Hollywoodreporter.com.
Archived
from the original on October 2, 2013
. Retrieved
October 2,
2013
.
- ^
Takeda, Allison (April 26, 2016).
"Emma Stone as Cruella de Vil and More Live-Action Fairy-Tale News From Disney"
. Us Magazine.
Archived
from the original on June 8, 2016
. Retrieved
June 10,
2016
.
- ^
D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 20, 2019).
"Amy Adams 'Woman In The Window' Will Now Open In Early Summer, 'Cruella' Moves To 2021"
.
Deadline Hollywood
.
Archived
from the original on August 20, 2019
. Retrieved
August 20,
2019
.
External links
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