One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

Now we come to a series of double-features of Disney classics and the live-action remakes, sequels, and re-imaginings inspired by them.  First up is the animated classic One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

The Movie:

One Hundred and One Dalmatians in the 17th film in the Disney Animated Canon.  It is one of the later films in Disney's Silver Age, but it is also known for being the first to heavily rely on xerography.  This process, a way to cheapen production costs, utilized the photographing of cells and necessitated the use of heavy black lines that would become come through most of the Dark Age films.  Because of the cheaper production costs, the movie was a financial success, and that was further buoyed through four re-releases, with the last coming in 1991.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians is based on a book by Dodie Smith and is considered to be one of Disney's more faithful adaptations.  Pongo is a dalmatian living in (for the time of the movie) present-day London with his owner, or "pet" as Pongo calls him, Roger, a bachelor musician and songwriter.  Pongo wants to find a wife for Roger, and after he sees a woman with her own dalmatian enter the park, Pongo leads Roger on a walk through the park as well.  Pongo's plan is successful, as Roger meets and falls in love with the woman, Anita, whereas Pongo finds his own mate in her dog Perdita.  Some time later, Perdita gives birth to 15 puppies.  However, Anita's old schoolmate Cruella de Vil wants the puppies to make into fur coats, and when Roger refuses to sell them to her, Cruella vows to get them by some other way.

I enjoy this movie, but perhaps there's a bit of nostalgia involved, as it was one of my favorites as a child.  (I was 9 when I saw the last re-release in the theaters, and it was everywhere then.)  The story is fun and fairly straight forward.  The animation at times looks really good, but there are other places where you can definitely see where the animators were cutting corners.  The voice acting and characters are well done.  Cruella de Vil is one of Disney's greatest villains, comically over-the-top in what is really a low-key plot.  And as an adult, now that I am a musician that is often, as the movie puts it, married to my work, I can see a bit of a kindred spirit in Roger.

There is some good music in One Hundred and One Dalmatians.  The score is yet another classic by Disney legend George Bruns.  Mel Leven was brought in to write songs for the movie, and several ended up being cut along the way, with just three making it in.  Two of those, the "Kanine Krunchies Jingle" and "Dalmatian Plantation" are fine in their own right, but the highlight of the movie is "Cruella de Vil," one of the all-time great Disney songs.

Presence in the Parks:

One Hundred and One Dalmatians may seem to some to be weirdly popular among the Silver Ages films, but there is no arguing that it is.  So how does this popularity translate over to the parks?

Surprisingly, presently, there's not a huge presence.  Now, as I said, the last re-release in the theaters was in 1991.  In fact, I am pretty sure we watched it during one of our stops on the way to or on the way back from the park in July of that year.  There were Happy Meal toys, and I even remember getting a stuffed Lucky dog at the park.  So I am pretty sure that the movie was getting a big push in the parks then, at least through merchandising.

Nowadays, in the Magic Kingdom, you can find Cruella de Vil as the villain at the Main Street Fire Station in the Sorcerers of Magic Kingdom game, with Horace and Jasper helping her.  Pongo is your guide at this station, and he also appears on one of the cards.

At Hollywood Studios, while the heroes don't even get a part in the Fantasmic! bubble sequence, Cruella de Vil appears during the villain sequence.  She also rightfully has a prominent place in any Disney Villains promotion.