101 Dalmatians (1961)

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I can remember seeing this one a few times, growing up, and always enjoying it. It was a Disney movie that took time away from the magic of fairy tales and princesses who needed to find love with a prince. It's all well and good, but as far as this refresher goes, in its entirety, it's been quite a while since we've gotten away from the whole fantasy, fairy tale thing. I guess one could say there's something about this film that feels like a breath of fresh air.

A Dalmatian named Pongo (Rod Taylor) is a bachelor dog living with his bachelor owner, Roger Radcliffe (Ben Wright). For this particular film, the roles of pet and owner are reversed for the narration, which is a pretty neat way of doing things considering Pongo is our lead. Anyway, Pongo is determined to find Roger a partner in order to spice up their dull lives. Spotting a lovely woman across the street, walking her own Dalmatian, Pongo gets Roger to take him for a walk. He tracks down the woman, Anita (Lisa Davis) and her dog, Perdita (Cate Bauer) sparks happen, and everyone seemingly gets a "happy ever after" setup from the get-go; that is until Perdita gets pregnant.

Upon hearing that Perdy is having puppies, in walks one of the most detestable Disney villains of all time, Cruella De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson). Cruella's obsession is fur, and she makes attempt after attempt to buy these puppies (of which there ends up being 15), believing that everything has its price. However, Roger stands up to her, tells her off and sends her on her way. This of course leads to her arranging a dognapping, along with her bumbling henchmen, Jasper (J. Pat O'Malley) and Horace (Frederick Worlock). Pongo, Purdy, Roger, Anita and eventually most of London (or at least the pets of London) then make every effort to locate the puppies, and try to bring them back home safely.

This is one of my personal favorites of the Disney collection, if only because it does everything I already mentioned. I remember renting this one a few times, growing up. We also had a dog of our own, who we adored as a family. So there's certainly a childhood connection to it, along with that of just being a dog-owner and being able to relate. I mean, to put a morbid spin on things here, just imagine a rich and wretched woman coming to your door, offering you a sum of money to take your dog off your hands. You don't know why, but you do realize that fur is her life. I always found myself relating to Roger the most in this, as he just plain knows. Anita, in all honesty, is pretty naive when it comes down to it.

While the puppies are altogether cute, and you can't help but empathize for the family through this, oddly enough, the villains are still by far the best part of the movie. It's a neat twist on a Disney movie that most of the comedy relief actually comes from then. While the puppies make you smile, along with a few side characters, these three baddies are totally off the wall. Jasper and Horace are probably funnier in the live-action version of this, but they're a bit less dumb here and a bit more like normal henchmen. It's Cruella that really gets me in this. When she loses it, she really loses it, and you can tell that Betty Lou Gerson is having a blast doing this voice. She really lets it all hang out, and is possibly the craziest villain we've seen yet. Up until now, they've mostly just been dark. For as awful as she is, she's a lot of fun to watch.

This is a Disney classic I'd recommend to most people out there. It's just a lot of fun, and there's probably even further appeal to dog owners. There's a few dated things, perhaps, but in my opinion that's reaching just a little bit. This isn't like watching 'Peter Pan' and just feeling awkward about things when it's over. The truth is, this is one Disney classic I can keep coming back to (although I admit some of the barking can get irksome). I always have fun with it, there's some nostalgia attached to it, and once again, it just feels like a beath of fresh air. It's perhaps the most "realistic" story Disney Animation has done up until this point (as in taking place in the real world), and don't forget, '101 Dalmatians' did the Disney live action remake before it was cool - which, by the way, I also recommend for a fun time for the family.

4/5

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