101 Dalmatians holds up well after all these years and continues to provide some rousing good fun.
The latter part of "101 Dalmatians" reminded me somewhat of "Home Alone," which this movie may have helped inspire in some small measure. It's got that same kind of manic silliness, with the villains getting the worst of it. "101 Dalmatians" holds up well after all these years and continues to provide some rousing good fun.
Video:
Here's an oddity for Disney. "101 Dalmatians" came out in 1961, almost a full decade after the introduction of widescreen movies. Yet, while Disney released it to theaters in a 1.75:1 widescreen aspect ratio, here on disc, in an all-new digital restoration, the screen dimensions are 1.33:1. Not to fret, however. I have read that Disney originally shot the movie at 1.33:1, so this full-screen size is probably the ratio of the original camera negative, rather than Disney's having lopped off parts of the sides to give us a pan-and-scan rendering. I believe we are actually seeing more than audiences saw in theaters. In any event, it's still somewhat troublesome not being able to see the movie as the studio first exhibited it theatrically, as well as having to put up with the black bars on the sides of a widescreen television. Let's be optimistic, though, and consider how much more of the image we're seeing.
That said, the picture quality itself is quite good. The digitally restored and remastered video offers up a well-delineated image, maybe a trifle soft but not by much. Colors, which the Disney artists made intentionally subdued, are nevertheless deep and solid, with strong black levels. And the restoration eliminates any marks of age whatsoever. As I've said before, many times, it is probably easier to make animated subjects look good on disc than live action because animation doesn't have to deal with as much facial nuance, shadow detail, and so forth; but I cannot deny this transfer its proper due. It does practically everything one could hope for in a standard-definition product.
Audio:
The sound comes to us in a completely redone Dolby Digital 5.1 home theater track as well as remastered in the film's original 1.0 monaural. I listened in DD 5.1 and found it sounded much like a lot of brand-new 5.1 soundtracks. Definition is good, dynamics are acceptable, overall response is smooth, stereo spread is reasonably wide, and various sounds appear to come from all five speakers. The subwoofer doesn't get much of a workout as a new blockbuster movie would put it through, and directional activity is not exactly pinpoint, but it's close enough to make the listening experience enjoyable.
Extras:
Disc one of this two-disc Platinum Edition contains the feature film and several additional items. The most important are two sets of pop-up trivia notes, one called "101 Pop-up Trivia Facts for the Family" and the other "101 Pop-up Trivia Facts for the Fan." The track for the family gives us a good deal of information on the differences between the book and the movie, while the one for the fan delves a little deeper into behind-the-scenes material. Then there is an all-new music video, "Cruella De Vil," performed by Disney Channel star Selena Gomez. I found it pretty awful, loud and booming, but it will undoubtedly appeal to young people.
Disc one concludes with sixteen scene selections and an informational guide and chapter insert; Sneak Peeks at eight other Disney titles; an index of items on disc one and a preview of items on disc two; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Disc two contains the rest of the bonuses, divided into three sections: "Games and Activities," "Music and More," and "Backstage Disney." Under "Games and Activities, we get two versions of "Disney's Virtual Dalmatians," one a DVD-ROM item and the other a set-top sampler. In either case you get to pick a puppy and train it to do various things. Next is "Puppy Profiler," wherein you answer questions about yourself to see what kind of pet would best suit you. And third, there is the "101 Dalmatians Fun With Language Game," geared for the very youngest members of the family and designed to help them learn new words and numbers.
In "Music and More" we get six deleted songs, about thirty-four minutes' worth, some of them abandoned by Disney, some of them alternate takes. It would have been interesting to watch "101 Dalmatians" with a few more songs included, since that was the one element I missed most.
Lastly, in "Backstage Disney," we get a thirty-four-minute documentary, "Redefining The Line: The Making of 101 Dalmatians." Divided into seven chapters, it presents the views of animators and filmmakers on the subject of the film. One of the comments that interested me is that Disney felt reluctant to give up the romantic style of animation he'd always used for what the speaker calls a more modern, mid-twentieth-century style. I couldn't help thinking that Disney was right. After that are a pair of featurettes, "Cruella De Vil: Drawn To Be Bad," seven minutes on the famous villainess; and "Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney," twelve minutes recreating the correspondence Disney conducted with author Dodie Smith before and during the film's production. Lastly, there are seven trailers, radio, and TV spots; seven separate art galleries for such things as "Visual Development, "Character Design," and "Production Photos"; and a colorfully embossed slipcover.
Parting Thoughts:
"101 Dalmatians" is a pleasing little confection, lacking only the usual array of songs that one has come to expect from an older Disney animation. It may not have as strong a main character as I'd like, either, but it does have a proper villain, or villainess in this case. I daresay Cruella De Vil will live on in memory long after any of the other humans or animals in the story have faded from memory.
Video:
Here's an oddity for Disney. "101 Dalmatians" came out in 1961, almost a full decade after the introduction of widescreen movies. Yet, while Disney released it to theaters in a 1.75:1 widescreen aspect ratio, here on disc, in an all-new digital restoration, the screen dimensions are 1.33:1. Not to fret, however. I have read that Disney originally shot the movie at 1.33:1, so this full-screen size is probably the ratio of the original camera negative, rather than Disney's having lopped off parts of the sides to give us a pan-and-scan rendering. I believe we are actually seeing more than audiences saw in theaters. In any event, it's still somewhat troublesome not being able to see the movie as the studio first exhibited it theatrically, as well as having to put up with the black bars on the sides of a widescreen television. Let's be optimistic, though, and consider how much more of the image we're seeing.
That said, the picture quality itself is quite good. The digitally restored and remastered video offers up a well-delineated image, maybe a trifle soft but not by much. Colors, which the Disney artists made intentionally subdued, are nevertheless deep and solid, with strong black levels. And the restoration eliminates any marks of age whatsoever. As I've said before, many times, it is probably easier to make animated subjects look good on disc than live action because animation doesn't have to deal with as much facial nuance, shadow detail, and so forth; but I cannot deny this transfer its proper due. It does practically everything one could hope for in a standard-definition product.
Audio:
The sound comes to us in a completely redone Dolby Digital 5.1 home theater track as well as remastered in the film's original 1.0 monaural. I listened in DD 5.1 and found it sounded much like a lot of brand-new 5.1 soundtracks. Definition is good, dynamics are acceptable, overall response is smooth, stereo spread is reasonably wide, and various sounds appear to come from all five speakers. The subwoofer doesn't get much of a workout as a new blockbuster movie would put it through, and directional activity is not exactly pinpoint, but it's close enough to make the listening experience enjoyable.
Extras:
Disc one of this two-disc Platinum Edition contains the feature film and several additional items. The most important are two sets of pop-up trivia notes, one called "101 Pop-up Trivia Facts for the Family" and the other "101 Pop-up Trivia Facts for the Fan." The track for the family gives us a good deal of information on the differences between the book and the movie, while the one for the fan delves a little deeper into behind-the-scenes material. Then there is an all-new music video, "Cruella De Vil," performed by Disney Channel star Selena Gomez. I found it pretty awful, loud and booming, but it will undoubtedly appeal to young people.
Disc one concludes with sixteen scene selections and an informational guide and chapter insert; Sneak Peeks at eight other Disney titles; an index of items on disc one and a preview of items on disc two; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Disc two contains the rest of the bonuses, divided into three sections: "Games and Activities," "Music and More," and "Backstage Disney." Under "Games and Activities, we get two versions of "Disney's Virtual Dalmatians," one a DVD-ROM item and the other a set-top sampler. In either case you get to pick a puppy and train it to do various things. Next is "Puppy Profiler," wherein you answer questions about yourself to see what kind of pet would best suit you. And third, there is the "101 Dalmatians Fun With Language Game," geared for the very youngest members of the family and designed to help them learn new words and numbers.
In "Music and More" we get six deleted songs, about thirty-four minutes' worth, some of them abandoned by Disney, some of them alternate takes. It would have been interesting to watch "101 Dalmatians" with a few more songs included, since that was the one element I missed most.
Lastly, in "Backstage Disney," we get a thirty-four-minute documentary, "Redefining The Line: The Making of 101 Dalmatians." Divided into seven chapters, it presents the views of animators and filmmakers on the subject of the film. One of the comments that interested me is that Disney felt reluctant to give up the romantic style of animation he'd always used for what the speaker calls a more modern, mid-twentieth-century style. I couldn't help thinking that Disney was right. After that are a pair of featurettes, "Cruella De Vil: Drawn To Be Bad," seven minutes on the famous villainess; and "Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney," twelve minutes recreating the correspondence Disney conducted with author Dodie Smith before and during the film's production. Lastly, there are seven trailers, radio, and TV spots; seven separate art galleries for such things as "Visual Development, "Character Design," and "Production Photos"; and a colorfully embossed slipcover.
Parting Thoughts:
"101 Dalmatians" is a pleasing little confection, lacking only the usual array of songs that one has come to expect from an older Disney animation. It may not have as strong a main character as I'd like, either, but it does have a proper villain, or villainess in this case. I daresay Cruella De Vil will live on in memory long after any of the other humans or animals in the story have faded from memory.
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[release]22498[/release]