The animation original to this film came out in 1961 and has become
a staple within the household. So it was a clever idea to bring it out as a
live action film (but with all those dogs to consider, clever may not be the
right word or the first word that springs to mind, as they say never work with
animals or children).
The film pretty much follows the original but with a few modern
upgrades. Roger (Jeff Daniels) is a computer game designer, where back in 1961
he was a song writer. It is good that they didn’t include a musical number in
the film, instead they did another clever idea and put Cruella in a computer
game. Real live action works better when it is believably real.
Because this was originally just for animation and with a fairy
tale theme to it, some of this film can seem dated, such as when Roger and
Anita (Joely Richardson) meet with the dogs and they fall in love and marry
quickly. However, this film works and doesn’t look too out of date and
far-fetched. The scenes are well done and work together really well that the
swap from animation to live action was a good idea.
In all or most fairy tales you have the “bad guy” character. In
this film you have Cruella De Vil (Glenn Close). The character stays true to
the original animation and is still believable, which just goes to show what a
great job they did in 1961. Today you have flamboyant characters with unconventional
hair and clothing sense so Cruella has stood the test of time. The fur trade is
still frowned upon then as it is now, so it doesn’t lose any of its realism.
There are some mistakes in timings of pregnancy, the occasional
animal not native to the country (UK) film is set, props being seen on film
that should be hidden and a male dog used when a female is named, but all films
have their discrepancies so these can be overlooked, as with what they were
going for and trying to achieve with what they had to work with, the film was
an incredible success and should be applauded that it got made at all.
You can actually learn something from this film – Dalmatian dogs
are not born with their spots- they come 3 or 4 weeks after they are born.
The ending is fantastic and just goes to show that inspiration can
come from the unlikeliest of sources and can be turned into something amazing.
Oh yeah at the end, if you see spots before your eyes it is not
your eyesight going bad – they are really there.
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