One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) - 79 minutes

In which humans are dogs' pets and Pongo the dalmatian is an excellent matchmaker and adventurer, leading to two humans having, you guessed it, one hundred and one dalmatians.

Eli

Rating: 8/10

Reaction: I liked this movie a lot more than I remember liking it as a kid. Perhaps I was able to see all the clever little tidbits that were thrown in - the Lady & the Tramp cameos, the puns, the fabulousness of Cruella De Vil ("Anita, daaaaarling!"). They were all wonderful traits of this movie that I had forgotten (or never had noticed) as a kid. With that said, the plot is kind of silly at times - why didn't Roger and Anita just have the police search Cruella's mansion (I mean, it is her father's old estate after all... where else would she be keeping the puppies?) But oh well, I can over look that. I was also kind of disappointed that Cruella never got her comeuppance. All she does is crash her fancy car at the end - we never find out if she's going to attempt to steal the puppies again, or if they throw her in the London tower for her crimes. However, if the puppies escaped, I guess they wouldn't be able to prove that she was the one who stole them in the first place.

But this is a cute movie. It was never one of my favorites, but for some reason, I really enjoyed watching it this evening. Maybe it's because I needed something light and fun in order to cheer me up. Who knows. All I know is now I'm going to watch this one more often because of all the cute animal characters and their pets.

Regan

Rating: 9/10

Reaction:  Two dog movies practically in a row--what a treat!  I enjoyed this from start to finish.  Cruella De Vil isn't a particularly terrifying villain but she is horrific--from her jutting cheekbones to her devil phone to her remarkable snow-defying car.  And of course you can't get much worse than to want to kill and skin 99 puppies.  Pongo and Perdy are a sterling example of parents, effortlessly managing their 15 children (and 99 at the end), and battling the weather and two very Home Alone-ish goons to rescue them.

It was fun seeing a number of the Lady and the Tramp dogs reappear as members of the Twilight Bark in this movie.  The animation was interesting in that there was a lot more noticeable use of pencil than in any of the previous movies.  I'm not sure how I felt about it but I think I wasn't a huge fan.  Overall I loved this movie.  I would definitely watch it again in the not too distant future.