| A Classic Disney film for the whole family |
After watching the special edition DVD of 101 Dalmatians, I have to say that the classic tale is just as memorable as it was when my cousin and I used to watch it on video when we were kids. As far as viewing it on DVD for the first time even though the credits on the back of the disc case say that the quality of the film is digitally remastered, I see virtually no differance in the over all look of the picture on screen. For instance, some shots in the film that show dogs Pongo and Purdy sitting with their puppies seemed a little dim. Pongo and Purdy show up quite clearly whereas the color of their puppies in the foreground appears to be somewhat shadowy as the camera goes from one character close up to another. One of the other draw backs on the DVD that I couldn't figure out were the French sub titles that appeared in some of the scenes throughout the beginning of the film such as, during the openning credits and on top of the headings of news papers and the names of stores around town.
Other then a few weaknesses on the recently released DVD, needless to say, that the story and the characters haven't changed much in all the years that its been since 101 Dalmatians first made the leap from the big screen to video. The story is still very familiar and might I add quite predictable if you've grown up with the characters and the story over the years. However, the special features that were included on the DVD were a lot more interesting and certainly a lot more enjoyable as far as going behind the scenes and meeting the creative animators and visionaries that brought the wonderful childrens tale to life on the big screen. For me growing up with 101 Dalmatians, it is a long and meticulous process that most of the time doesn't get highlighted on a Blockbuster video tape. Interestingly enough, when Disney first started working on Dalmatians the hundreds of painters and animators who would spend so much of their time drawing and making the characters images jump off the page were being phased out by the new and more innovative Xerox machines of the 1950's which were deamed to be more efficient and more cost effective for the Walt Disney company to help move their franchise of making animated movies into a new direction.
With animators aside it would be up to the voice over actors and actresses who would lend their gifted vocal talents to the characters that they would be bringing a mix of humanity to on paper. For instance, the actress who played the voice of "Anita" the animators modeled her character's movements based solely on her natural body language interacting with real dogs while sitting in front of a microphone workstation while voicing the character. One of the most interesting stories that I found on the DVD was the very close correspondence between the film's writer and Walt Disney himself. There's a nice documetary short that uses actors to portray the two pen pals. Over the course of the five years that it took to make the film, Walt Disney and author remained in touch with one another even sending her drawings of the dogs and especially, one of the film's villian Cruella Devil.
During their close correspondence the pair became very close friends. Walt Disney even asked the film's writer if she would write a follow up story for Disney. Sadly, it never happened and 101 Dalmatians would forever remain their only collaboration together. In the end, 101 Dalmatians still remains a treasured Disney classic. One that is worth holding onto and preserving for future generations. Altough, not as creative and hillarious as the live action film with Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson in the late 1990's, the DVD for the original 101 Dalmatians is worth checking out even if you're a Walt Disney fan or just like fun family movies about dogs. If you have young kids or family relatives that need to be entertained, this Disney DVD is definitely worth buying for the kid in all of us.
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4 Rating
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