101 Dalmatians (1996 film)

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101 Dalmatians
One hundred and one dalmatians ver2.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Stephen Herek
Written by John Hughes
Based on The Hundred and One Dalmatians
by Dodie Smith
Produced by
  • John Hughes
  • Ricardo Mestres
Starring
Cinematography Adrian Biddle
Edited byTrudy Ship
Music by Michael Kamen
Production
companies
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution [1]
Release dates
  • November 18, 1996 (1996-11-18)(New York City)
  • November 24, 1996 (1996-11-24)(Hollywood)
  • November 27, 1996 (1996-11-27)(United States)
Running time
103 minutes [3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$67 million [4]
Box office$320.7 million [3]

101 Dalmatians is a 1996 American adventure comedy film [1] produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Great Oaks Entertainment, with distribution by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. It is a live action remake of the 1961 Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians , itself an adaptation of Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians . Directed by Stephen Herek, written by John Hughes and produced by Hughes and Ricardo Mestres, it stars Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson, Joan Plowright, Hugh Laurie, Mark Williams, and John Shrapnel. Unlike the 1961 animated film, none of the animals speak.

Contents

101 Dalmatians was released on November 27, 1996, and grossed $320 million in theaters against a $67 million budget, making it the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1996. Close was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, [5] while the film was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Makeup and Hair. A sequel, 102 Dalmatians , was released on November 22, 2000, with Glenn Close and Tim McInnerny reprising their roles while a reboot, Cruella, directed by Craig Gillespie was released on May 28, 2021.

Plot

American video game designer Roger Dearly lives with his pet Dalmatian Pongo in London. One day, Pongo sets his eyes on Perdita, another Dalmatian. After a chase that ends in St James's Park, Roger discovers that Pongo likes Perdita. Her owner, Anita Campbell-Green, falls in love with Roger when they meet. When they return to Roger's home, Anita accepts his proposal. They get married along with Perdita and Pongo. Anita works as a fashion designer at the House of de Vil. Her boss, Cruella de Vil, has a deep passion for fur, going so far as to have a taxidermist, Mr. Skinner, skin a white tiger named Sue-Ling at the London Zoo to make her into a rug for her. Anita, inspired by her Dalmatian, designs a coat made with spotted fur. Cruella is intrigued by the idea of making garments out of actual Dalmatians, and finds it amusing that it would seem as if she was wearing Anita's dog.

Perdita gets pregnant, and so does Anita. Cruella visits their home and gets excited when she finds out Perdita is expecting too. Weeks later, she returns when a litter of 15 puppies are born and offers Roger and Anita £7,500 for them, but they refuse. Enraged, Cruella dismisses Anita and vows revenge against her and Roger. One winter evening, she has her henchmen, Jasper and Horace, break into their home and steal the puppies, while the couple is walking in the park with Pongo and Perdita. Along with 84 other Dalmatians that were previously stolen, they deliver them to her country estate, De Vil Mansion. Cruella asks Skinner to kill and skin them to create her coat.

With the family devastated at the loss of their puppies, Pongo uses the twilight bark to carry the message via the dogs and other animals of Great Britain, while Roger and Anita notify the police. Anita realizes Cruella was behind the kidnappings and confirms her suspicion when she shows Roger and Nanny her portfolio. An Airedale Terrier follows Jasper and Horace to the mansion, and finds all of the puppies, who he helps escape under the duo's noses. They make their way to a nearby farm, where they are later joined by Pongo and Perdita. Cruella arrives at the mansion and discovers what has happened. Angry with the thieves' failure, she decides to carry out the job herself. After several mishaps, Jasper and Horace discover nearby police looking for Cruella and hand themselves in, joining Skinner who was attacked in defence while trying to kill a puppy who have been left behind. Cruella tracks the puppies to the farm and tries killing them, but the farm animals incapacitate her. The police arrive and arrest Cruella, before sending the puppies home.

Pongo, Perdita and their puppies are reunited with Roger, Anita and Nanny. After being informed that the remaining 84 puppies have no home to go to, as they have not yet been claimed by any owners, they decide to adopt them. Roger designs a successful video game featuring dalmatian puppies as the protagonists and Cruella as the villain, with this success they move out of London to the countryside with their millions. Roger and Anita have a baby girl, while the dogs grow up with puppies of their own.

Cast

Production

The animatronic creatures used in the film are provided by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. [6] Producer Edward S. Feldman guaranteed the adoption of every puppy used in the film. Over 300 Dalmatian puppies were used over the course of filming, because "we could only use them when they were 5 or 6 weeks old and at their cutest." [4] Filming took place at Shepperton Studios in London.

John Hughes, who wrote the film's screenplay, approached Glenn Close for the role of Cruella de Vil, but she initially turned it down. The film's costume designer Anthony Powell, who was working with Close on the Broadway show Sunset Boulevard , then convinced her to take it. [4]

Minster Court was used as the exterior of Cruella de Vil's fashion house. [7] Sarum Chase was used as the exterior of her home. [7] Cruella's car is a modified 1976 Panther De Ville. [8]

Release

Box office

101 Dalmatians was released in the United States on November 27, 1996. The UK premiere of the film was held on December 4, 1996, at the Royal Albert Hall, London, and the exterior of the Hall was lit with dalmatian spots. It grossed $136.2 million in North America and $320.7 million worldwide. [9] [3]

Home media

101 Dalmatians was released on VHS for the first time on April 15, 1997, [10] Laserdisc in early 1997, and on DVD on April 21, 1998. [11] It was re-released on September 16, 2008.

Video game

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, 101 Dalmatians has an approval rating of 41% and an average rating of 5.32/10, based on 37 reviews. The site's critic consensus reads: "Neat performance from Glenn Close aside, 101 Dalmatians is a bland, pointless remake." [12] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [13] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. [14]

Controversy

Animal rights organizations protested the film's release, saying that Dalmatian sales shot up after the premiere, fueled by impulsive purchases of puppies by parents for their children. Being ill-prepared to care for a relatively difficult breed of dog past puppy-hood, many of these new owners eventually surrendered their animals to shelters, where many dogs ended up being euthanized. [15]

Sequel and reboot

A sequel, 102 Dalmatians , was released on November 22, 2000. [16] Glenn Close returned in her role.

Disney planned a live-action Cruella de Vil reboot film on the title character's origins titled Cruella . Glenn Close acted as an executive producer. [17] Emma Stone played the title role. [18] The film was released on May 28, 2021. [19]

Related Research Articles

<i>One Hundred and One Dalmatians</i> 1961 animated film by Walt Disney

One Hundred and One Dalmatians is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions with distribution by Buena Vista Distribution. Adapted from Dodie Smith's 1956 novel of the same name, the film was directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, and Wolfgang Reitherman from a script by Bill Peet. It features the voice talents of Rod Taylor, J. Pat O'Malley, Betty Lou Gerson, Martha Wentworth, Ben Wright, Cate Bauer, Dave Frankham, and Fred Worlock.

<i>The Hundred and One Dalmatians</i> 1956 childrens novel by Dodie Smith

The Hundred and One Dalmatians is a 1956 children's novel by Dodie Smith about the kidnapping of a family of Dalmatian puppies. It was originally serialized in Woman's Day as The Great Dog Robbery, and details the adventures of two dalmatians named Pongo and Missis as they rescue their puppies from a fur farm. A 1967 sequel, The Starlight Barking, continues from the end of the novel.

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Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Julia McNamara in the FX drama series Nip/Tuck (2003–2010) and Katherine Parr in the Showtime series The Tudors (2010). She has also appeared in films such as 101 Dalmatians (1996), Event Horizon (1997), The Patriot (2000), Return to Me (2000), Anonymous (2011), the Hollywood film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), the remake of Endless Love (2014), the thriller Red Sparrow (2018), and The Turning (2020).

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<i>101 Dalmatians: The Series</i> Television series

101 Dalmatians: The Series is an American animated television series that aired from September 1, 1997, to March 4, 1998, on the Disney-Kellogg Alliance and ABC. It is produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and Jumbo Pictures and is based on the 1961 Disney animated feature of the same name and its 1996 live-action remake. It features the voices of Pamela Adlon, Debi Mae West, Kath Soucie and Tara Strong, and is the first television series based on the 101 Dalmatians franchise; it was followed by 101 Dalmatian Street in 2019.

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102 Dalmatians is a 2000 American crime comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Cruella Productions and Kanzaman S.A.M. Films with distribution by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Directed by Kevin Lima and produced by Edward S. Feldman with a screenplay by Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan, Bob Tzudiker and Noni White from a story by Buckley and Regan, it is the sequel to Disney's 1996 feature film 101 Dalmatians, which was a live-action remake of the 1961 animated feature film of the same title. It stars Glenn Close reprising her role as Cruella de Vil as she attempts to steal puppies for her "grandest" fur coat yet, with Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Evans, Tim McInnerny, Ian Richardson, Gérard Depardieu, Ben Crompton, Carol MacReady, Jim Carter, Ron Cook, David Horovitch, Timothy West, and Eric Idle in supporting roles. Close and McInnerny were the only two actors from the 1996 film to return for the sequel.

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<i>Disneys 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue</i> 2000 video game

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101 Dalmatians may refer to:

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The 101 Dalmatians Musical is a musical produced by Luis Alvarez, directed by Jerry Zaks, and sponsored by Purina Dog Chow. The music written by former Styx member Dennis DeYoung, who also co-wrote the lyrics with the musical's book author B. T. McNicholl. Based on the 1956 children's novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians written by Dodie Smith, the musical follows a pair of Dalmatian dogs as they search through London in search of their litter of fifteen puppies, which were stolen by Cruella DeVil to make dog skin fur coats. The musical features Rachel York as the infamous Cruella DeVil, and has actors sharing the stage with fifteen real Dalmatians and using stilts to simulate the novel's original canine perspective. The musical has no relation to Disney's 101 Dalmatians franchise, although Disney A to Z on the D23 website has an entry for this musical acknowledging it.

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Cruella is a 2021 American crime comedy film directed by Craig Gillespie from a screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, and a story by Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel, and Steve Zissis. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Marc Platt Productions, and Gunn Films, it is based on Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, serving as a reboot and an alternate origin story for its antagonist, Cruella de Vil. It is also the third live-action adaptation in the 101 Dalmatians franchise. The film stars Emma Stone as the title character, with Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Mark Strong in supporting roles. Set in London during the punk rock movement of the 1970s, the film follows Estella Miller, an aspiring fashion designer, as she explores the path that leads her to become a notorious up-and-coming fashion designer known as Cruella de Vil.

<i>101 Dalmatian Street</i> Animated television series

101 Dalmatian Street is an animated television series created by Miklos Weigert that aired on Disney Channel in the UK and Ireland from 18 March 2019 to 22 February 2020, and released on Disney+ in Canada and the United States on 28 February 2020. It later aired on Disney XD in the United States from 29 March to 22 November 2021. It is produced by Passion Animation Studios in the United Kingdom and Atomic Cartoons in Canada and features the voices of Josh Brener, Michaela Dietz, Rhashan Stone and Ella Kenion.

References

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