The Movie Diorama One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how timeless Disney animations are. 1961 and still better than the average modern animation, what more could one want? Dalmatian Pongo decides to find a wife for his master and a mate for himself, which eventually results in fifteen puppies being born. Old school friend Cruella De Vil wants the spotted fur of these puppies so she can make a new coat, to do this she hires henchmen to kidnap them and eighty four other puppies. What sets this film apart from the other classics in Disney's canon is just how small the story is. It's not a grandiose fairytale with fantastical magic, it's a crime chase set in both urban and rural London. Removing princesses, fairies and living puppets from the equation resulted in a more relatable plot that still conveyed the excitement and charm that Disney is famed for. The bachelor life in the first act, the portrayal of the "Twilight Bark" in the second act and the climatic car chase of the final act. Each segment exhumes delightfulness for both the human and canine characters that come together to create an enthralling story about family. The animation style was delicately crafted, from the cute bumbling puppies to the metropolitan streets of London, that unsurprisingly has stood the test of time. The human characters ooze essential British quirks that represent a flourishing love for their canine companions. Some of the puppies have the opportunity to push their own personality forward, such as Lucky, preventing them from being just a plot device. However, the main star is the maniacal fur speed demon herself, Cruella. An antagonist so deluded and crazed that she ranks in the top echelon of Disney villains, not an easy feat to accomplish. The outbursts, perfectly voiced by Gerson, were enough to put kids on edge! I just wished there was more closure for the character, especially after a nail biting chase sequence. Some of the supporting animal characters were not memorable enough, however everything else was spot on...*cough*!

charizardever At a young age, I love watching it because of the dogs. Now I love it for it being masterpiece. The movie is about a dalmatian named Pongo who wants to find a partner for this owner or how Pongo calls him "his pet". After looking at people walking their dogs, he sees the perfect on, a woman walking her dalmatian. After Pongo sees them walking into the park, he drags his owner out there and gets them to meet and fall in love. As the owners fall in love, so do the dalmatians. After the owners Roger and Anita get married, Pongo and Perdy have puppies and realize that someone wants their puppies for a fur coat. My favorite thing about this movie was Pongo himself. I really enjoyed that because of him, he got his owner a life. Also loved brave he and Perdy are for finding their kids and even bringing back about 84 more puppies to keep them safe. I love this movie and I love the old style of animation. I grew up with this movie and still love it to this day.

minecraftypat I haven't read the book so I can't compare it to that though, frankly, that makes it easier to review and possibly more entertaining. But enough of this introduction, let's get on with the review!I want to start off by expressing the great ideas this film comes up with. I love that they have the dogs consider the humans as their pets. And the way they go about explaining it is really good. If it were to be made now they'd probably just have a dog saying "Hi I'm a dog! You may think that this human I'm with is my owner but no! He's actually my pet!". I actually cringed typing that. My point is that they treat you with respect and don't ever talk about it as if we were supposed to think they were pets. That's good writing. However the two main characters, Roger and Anita are only brought together because Roger's dog sees them and thinks that they should get together. Despite this they don't lack any good chemistry and are one of Disney's best couples.Now the animation! I've already said that I really like this modern sketchy style, it gives the movie it's own feel and almost even some grit to it. Doug Walker said something along the lines of that he personally doesn't like it and that it doesn't look like the final product, I disagree though understand where he's coming from. Though I also feel it helps with some of the character designs, the dog called colonel looks really cool, due to the sketchy style but I think you can tell that I'm just building up to talking about Cruella De Vil.This bony little old woman under a massive fur coat is really unique idea is one of, if not the best Disney villain designs. She's one of the best Disney villains and has such an iconic presence and voice. Her entrance is amazing. She bursts in the door, with her own theme tune playing from up stairs. The opera length cigarette holder, that puffs out green smoke is also a really noticeable element about the character.As I mentioned before Cruella has her own theme tune and unlike other Disney movies where people just break into song for no apparent reason, here it makes sense. Roger is a songwriter and is working on a melody, once Cruella shows up at the house he applies lyrics to do with her to the song. They even add to this idea more when we hear is song being played on the radio and his wife refers to it as "his first big hit". This, sadly, is the only song in the movie.Now onto the pups. The puppies are the most important part of the movie, if they didn't exist this movie really wouldn't have it's plot. So how do they turn out? The puppies are probably the worst part about the movie because since there's so many of them, the writers couldn't have gave them all distinct personalities. Thankfully they never come across as annoying or stereotypical and that's good enough. It would probably take too much time to flesh all of them out anyway.Something surprising about this movie is it's vast amount of suspense. Through a lot of it I was very worried for these characters and as critics would say "on the edge of my seat". The characters go through so much that when you do get to the final happy ending, you've worked for it and in this movie that's done better than in any other film I've seen, in my opinion. However once you do get to that happy ending you kind of feel underwhelmed, or at least I did. I feel they could have went that bit more happy but what I got I'm happy with. This film is definitely worth giving a watch and, despite what some critics lead you to believe, has a lot of harsh elements. If I had to pick something that disappointed me, that I haven't already mentioned, is that it was too short and I didn't get enough. Though I suppose that's more of a compliment.Thank you for reading and goodbye.

Anssi Vartiainen What really bothers me about this film is the fact we had just gotten a much better film about animated dogs from Disney. It was called Lady and the Tramp, and it was amazing. As such, a tale about even more dogs, this time without the warmth and the charm of the previous ones, just didn't feel as successful.Problem number one, Pongo and Perdita. I just don't get these two. They're supposed to be the main couple, the heroic parents who save their children, but I don't get anything from them. Their owners, Roger and Anita, are a great couple, one of the best of the so called beta couples Disney has ever done. But the main couple. Nope, don't work.The second problem, the copying. A lot of this movie's plot lines and scenes have been copied from previous Disney movies. Mainly from Lady and the Tramp. It's not really all that noticeable if you don't watch them back to back, but if you do, it's kind of blatant. Plus the animation style utilizes a lot of copying because of the new Xerox method of animation that allowed them to animate all those individual dalmatian puppies without going stark raving mad. Which I give them props for. This movie looks noticeably rougher when compared to the ones before it, but it is a very impressive technical achievement anyway.The first good side, the villain. Cruella De Vil has since achieved almost legendary status as a Disney villain, and for a reason. She's petty, nauseatingly glamorous without any of the grace that usually goes with it, just one push away from cuckoo land and absolutely mad about fur even when not pushed. In a word she's memorable, even though her actual plan is really not that ambitious when compared to her brethren. She just wants a coat.The second good side, the music. This film has some great tunes, from the classic Cruella De Vil to the opening scene with its early 20th century London suburbia.As a whole this movie is something of an uneven package. It has definite upsides, but also equally as definite downsides. It is a very good film, don't get me wrong, great even, but only when not compared to other Disney films too vigorously. Still, definitely a classic children's film by any meaning of the term.