Difference between revisions of "101 Dalmatians"

Revision as of 20:42, September 10, 2019

101 Dalmatians is a 1961 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. The film is about a litter of Dalmatian puppies who are kidnapped by the wealthy and villainous Cruella de Vil, who wants to skin them to make their fur into coats. Their parents, Pongo and Perdita, travel across the British countryside to save their puppies, along with 84 additional puppies that Cruella had bought from pet shops, thus counting the Dalmatians as 101.

Story

In 1960s London, England, Pongo the Dalmatian lives in a bachelor flat with his songwriter owner Roger Radcliffe. Pongo gets tired of the bachelor life and decides to find Roger a wife and himself a mate. After searching, he settles on the perfect pair: a woman named Anita and her Dalmatian, Perdita (who is also female). Pongo gets Roger out of the house and drags him all over the park to get them to meet. After initially and accidentally embarrassing them, his plan works, and both humans and dogs fall in love and marry.

Months later, Perdita gives birth to 15 puppies, a large litter. But it's on the same night that Cruella De Vil, a wealthy former schoolmate of Anita's, barges in and offers to buy the entire litter. In spite of being intimidated by her, Roger firmly declares that they're not for sale, resulting in Cruella getting angry and storming off. Weeks pass by, and once the puppies start walking with eyes and ears open, Cruella hires Jasper and Horace, her henchmen, to steal all 15 puppies. Scotland Yard is notified about this but is unable to find them, so Pongo and Perdita set up a "Twilight Bark", a gossip line for dogs, to ask other dogs in London for help.

Word reaches a countryside farm, where three animals (Colonel the Old English sheepdog, Sergeant Tibbs the tabby cat, and Captain the old war horse) find where the puppies are taken to: Hell Hall, Cruella's abandoned family estate fallen into disrepair. Not only are all 15 puppies there, but 84 other Dalmatian puppies bought from stores are there as well. Tibbs learns that Cruella wants to skin the puppies to make herself a fur coat, so Colonel sends word back to London. Once they get the message, the Dalmatian parents travel across the harsh winter countryside, even swimming across the Stour River (which is running fast with slabs of broken ice floating along).

Meanwhile, Cruella orders her henchman to kill the puppies that night in fear of the police finding them soon. Tibbs overhears this and attempts to rescue all 99 puppies while the henchmen watch TV, but Jasper and Horace finish their show and come for them before they can escape. The two men corner the puppies and cat and are ready to strike when Pongo and Perdita leap through a window, snarling. They fight off Jasper and Horace while Tibbs and Colonel lead the puppies to safety at their barn.

Pongo and Perdita happily reunite with their 15 puppies before noticing the other 84 puppies. Once they're told of what Cruella was going to do, they decide to adopt the other 84 puppies, certain that their owners would not throw them out. After Colonel, Tibbs, and Captain help them leave the barn, the Dalmatians begin their long journey back to London, travelling over the snow since the water in lakes and rivers are already frozen. Fortunately, other animals help them out, from a collie living with cows on a dairy farm to a Labrador retriever at a truck stop. In the meantime, Cruella and her henchmen are on their trail, following pawprints. In the town where the Labrador lives, Pongo gets the idea of rolling in soot so that he can pass by disguised as a Labrador, and his family follow suit. At first, they succeed into piling into a truck one by one, but snow drips onto their fur, which makes Cruella (who's tracked them to the town) spot them. What follows is Cruella trying to chase them down in the truck they've hitched a ride in, trying to ram it off the road (which the driver doesn't take kindly to). As Jasper and Horace try to help, they try cutting the truck off from above and end up crashing their vehicle into Cruella's car. The Dalmatians manage to get away, while Cruella (stranded in a ravine with her henchmen) throws a fit.

Meanwhile, back in London, Roger and Anita prepare to celebrate Christmas and Roger's first big hit (a song about Cruella De Vil), but their moods are dampened by the disappearance of their dogs. Suddenly, they hear barking outside, and when their nanny opens the door, a huge group of black dogs come running in. They wipe the soot away and realize with joy that it's their Dalmatians having come home, along with the 84 other puppies. To Pongo and Perdita's delight, they decide to keep all the puppies and use the money Roger had earned with his song to buy a bigger house in the countryside so that they and the Dalmatians can have more space.

Cast

Links

• 101 Dalmatians at the Internet Movie Database