Rewind Back to 1996: “101 Dalmatians” (30th anniversary)

My Rewind Series is back from hiatus after working on my month long America 250th review slate! This month I will be taking a look at a few family movies that are celebrating anniversary milestones - starting with the 1996 remake of “101 Dalmatians.”

Fashion designer Anita and computer game writer Roger meet, fall in love and marry along with their dalmatians Perdita and Pongo. The dog’s puppies are kidnapped by Anita’s boss Cruella De Vil, who is stealing young dalmatians to make a coat she has set her heart on.

Pongo and Perdita set out to find and rescue their puppies and end up finding many other pups that were taken from their fearsome captors.

It’s hard to believe that this live-action remake of “101 Dalmatians” is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year! Initial audiences found the 1996 remake to be a mixed bag, praising Glenn Close’s standout performance while noting the heavy use of slapstick and a weaker script. After seeing it numerous times over the years (and recently revisiting it), I still think it’s a a decent remake (even though Close’s performance could get a little scary for the younger ones).

By far the best aspect of the movie is easily Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil. She played the villain with an uninhibited, theatrical intensity that almost felt straight out of a high-fashion nightmare. Rather than softening the character for live action, Close leaned into the camp, delivering her lines with ferocious commitment - making her performance an instant classic for the live-action portrayals of Disney villains.

Here’s a quick fun fact that I forgot about: Did you know John Hughes wrote and produced the movie? In this movie, it heavily leans into physical, family-friendly comedy that Hughes can easily create. Throughout the movie, there are quite a few slapstick sequences where the animals outsmart Cruella’s bumbling henchmen, Jasper and Horace - played brilliantly by Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams.

This remake is rather unique since in an era before heavy CGI took over animal movies, the movie used over 200 real dalmatian puppies, alongside trained dogs and various other animals. The practical animal tricks and genuine cuteness of the puppies are quite

endearing, giving the movie a certain charm that CGI often struggles to replicate.

Unlike the animated original, the animals in this version don’t speak. This actually helped keep the story grounded through animal behaviors and expressive visual storytelling, allowing the human cast to drive the dialogue, while the animals handled the physical comedy.

The 1996 live-action remake of “101 Dalmatians” received a mixed critical reception but was a massive commercial success, ultimately cementing itself as a nostalgic family classic. Audiences, especially families, responded much more favorably than critics. The sheer visual appeal of real dalmatian puppies, combined with an unforgettable villain performance, helped the movie spawn a theatrical sequel, “102 Dalmatians”, in 2000.

MPA: Rated G   (running time 103 minutes)

Initial release date: November 27, 1996

Streaming: Disney Plus/various PVOD services

https://youtu.be/VApVpvcGW1A?si=tk2hsBxWTZ7_8OQJ

• 230 Dalmatian puppies and 20 adult Dalmatians were used during filming.

• Jeff Daniels (Roger) says that on more than one occasion, he heard an authoritative voice on the dog-strewn set shout "Sit!" and immediately plopped himself into a chair only to be told, "Not you, Jeff."

• When Glenn Close appeared on the set as Cruella in full fright wig, make-up, and costume, one of the dogs playing Perdy repeatedly tried to sneak away.

• Writer and producer John Hughes made more money from this movie than any other movie in his career, because his contract gave him a piece of the merchandising profits.

• A major task for this movie was finding and training more than two hundred Dalmatian puppies.

• Glenn Close initially rejected the role of Cruella due to scheduling conflicts with the stage musical "Sunset Blvd". The producers then offered the role to Sigourney Weaver, who also declined. Cathy Moriarty did a screentest for the role, but was later deemed too frightening for a children's movie. By that time, Close had ended her run on Broadway, and when the producers offered her the role again, she accepted.

• In the mid 2010s, Disney began releasing live-action remakes of their classic animated films. Cinderella (2015) is usually described as the "first" live-action remake of an animated Disney movie, though many fans and critics argue that Maleficent (2014), a re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty (1959) from the villain's point of view, deserves this distinction. Then there's some fans who argue that Alice in Wonderland (2010) deserves this distinction as the first live-action Disney remake to start the trend. Because this movie was released 18 years before either of the former, and 14 years before the latter, people often forget that this movie, in fact, is truly the second live-action remake of an animated Disney movie. The Jungle Book (1994) was actually the first.

• Jeff Daniels was offered the lead role of Roger by Disney as compensation because he previously turned down Judge Reinhold's part of Dr. Neal Miller in The Santa Clause (1994) in order to make Dumb and Dumber (1994) instead. When The Santa Clause turned out to be a smash hit Daniels felt bad for missing out on that part and said he wanted to do a Disney film, even though Dumb and Dumber was also very successful at the box office. Disney then offered him the chance to make this movie and he accepted.