My Review of "One Hundred and One Dalmations (1961)"

As I child I have always heard of the movie One Hundred and One Dalmations. I never got to watch it as a kid and 30 plus years later I finally got a chance to check it out.

Again, my girlfriend is giving me a list of movies that I ought to check out since they are Disney classics. This movie is definitely one of them. I have heard countless stories about this movie and it's been redone many times over. They even had a live version of this movie before live versions of classic Disney cartoons was a thing back in 1996!

So what is the hype about this movie? why do I have to see this and how does it stack up against the other Disney classics I've been watching? Well to me the hype comes from the amazing artwork presented in this movie. It's done in a different style where you can see that they put in a lot of thought into the style of city and animation they used.

The movie starts off with this bachelor named Pongo. It's sort of a role reversal because Pongo is actually a dog. A dalmation of course. He refers to his owner as his pet. This is a clever switch in story telling. Pongo worries for his pet because he's a workaholic and hasn't found a mate for himself.

Pongo is on the lookout for a suitable mate for his pet. He looks out the streets at other dogs. The artwork here shows how much character and creative the animators were. The color palette and the designs of the dogs and their pets were done fantastically. You can see the similarities of the dogs to their pets. The color coordination is fantastic as well. All this is displayed in the streets of London and you can see how the artists use a unique approach to draw and color the city. This is reminiscent of the AristoCats movie where you would see that Paris was drawn with a very European feel. The scenery almost looks like it was actually a water-colored painting.

Eventually Pongo sees a beautiful dalmation who he falls instantly in love with. This dalmation's name is Perdita and her pet seems to be suitable for his pet. Obviously, Pongo uses his sly wit and animal instincts to arrange a meeting with his pet and Perdita's pet. It doesn't take long for these two pairings to blend with one another.

Soon as you know it Perdita is pregnant with new puppies on the way. Perdita's pet discussed this to her childhood friend named Cruella De Vil. I always knew Cruella was going to be the antagonist in this movie but I didn't know that she was actually friends with one of the pet owners. This caught me by surprise and kind of made more sense when I saw this movie.

If I tell you anymore it pretty much gives away the whole movie. This movie was pretty good but there were a few holes in the story that didn't really jive with me. I found that of all of the classic Disney movies that I've seen so far this movie resembled most to a Looney Tunes cartoon. The villains were obscenely dumb and fell into very Looney Tunes types of painful situations. I thought that was a bit odd especially since the art was done in a very classy way. The tone of the cartoon idiocy and violence threw me off a bit. It doesn't make this a bad movie though. It was enjoyable and I understand why people love this movie.

I actually loved the fact that all of the animals in this movie work together to help each other. It's a nice little lesson in coming together as a community. These animals came together despite their differences and helped each other out. For a movie like this to come out in 1961 that's a really forward thinking.

Overall, I did enjoy this movie. I thought it was great from start to finish. I did however think that there are a little tone issues with this movie that threw me off a little but they were still enjoyable. I think this movie also passes the test of time and would be a great movie for any family to watch. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. I would recommend this movie to families looking for a wholesome film.