101 Dalmatians - Live Action

Comedy, Adventure, Family, Action

Glenn Close	Cruella De Vil
Jeff Daniels	Roger
Joely Richardson	Anita
Joan Plowright	Nanny
Hugh Laurie	Jasper
Hugh Fraser	Frederick
Mark Haddigan	Alan
Tim McInnerny	Alonzo
Michael Percival	Police Inspector
John Shrapnel	Skinner

Director	Stephen Herek; David Kellogg
Producer	John Hughes; Ricardo Mestres
Writer	John Hughes; Dodie Smith
Cinematography	Adrian Biddle
Musician	Michael Kamen

It's hard to know who thought it would be a good idea to make a live-action version of Disney's animated classic. The one bright notion anyone had was casting Glenn Close as Disney Übervillainess Cruella de Vil; her flashing eyes and angular features are a perfect match and do credit to what is one of the most indelible animated characters Disney has ever created. The story remains essentially the same, focusing on Cruella's plot to kidnap the puppies of a young married couple (Jeff Daniels and Jolie Richardson) and make them into a coat. But the dreaded John Hughes, who wrote this script, fills it with sadistic slapstick and far too few genuine laughs. The human actors work hard, but to little avail; thankfully, there's a posse of puppies to regularly steal scenes when the going gets dreary--although there are only so many laughs to be had from inappropriate dog puddles. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com