Many prefer the 1961 version, but I prefer this. Glenn Close kills it as Cruella! I grew up seeing this on TV, and then having the VHS-which I still do! I wish I had a DVD of it. If you have sen the original, you know what this is about. However, since it was written by John Hughes, it has a Home Alone slapstick section, which is a lot of fun. Roger Ebert gave this thumbs down for that reason but I like it fine. I mentioned Closes's performance. Another compliment his her evil laugh after the puppies are stolen. Best. Laugh. Ever. This is a fun movie everyone in the family can enjoy and should be seen when the chance comes!

101 Dalmatians (1996): Dir: Stephen Herek / Cast: Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson, Joan Plowright, Hugh Laurie: Pathetic live action version of the animated Disney classic is a complete failure with lavish production. It regards quantity as these dogs band together to survive. Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson own two Dalmatians that give birth to fifteen pups and the evil Cruella DeVil wishes to make fur coats out of them. The dogs are a disappointment since they do not talk as they did in the animation. One would think that after the success of Babe that this wouldn't be a problem. This film contains none of the suspense or detail of the animated classic, which makes the plot here seem very basic. It was as if the makers thought that making a live version was enough but without those important details of the animation it just comes off as bland with only an effective villain to carry it. Director Stephen Herek doesn't heed details from the animation. This ranks with The Mighty Ducks as among Herek's worst efforts. Glenn Close steals the film with her icy performance as DeVil making her the film's best asset. Daniels and Richardson sleepwalk through bland roles with Joan Plowright as their maid. Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams play the idiotic henchmen nabbing the dogs. It is yet another bad adaptation that turns into a big budget dog show. Score: 2 ½ / 10

First of all, I was hoping that they'd give Cruella better motivation since they had the opportunity. But, no such luck. She still just wants to make a Dalmatian fur coat simply because she's obsessed by the idea and doesn't seem to realize or care that she'll just be arrested for stealing and killing puppies.Glenn Close does make a perfect Cruella, and she overplays it even more than the original. It's one thing to see a cartoon screaming about killing puppies, but with a live action human it's just bizarre.Less than halfway through it seems to become a Home Alone clone, with the two bumbling villains being injured in slapsticky ways by determined animals.The animals do not talk in this movie. They probably decided it might make the movie too corny but I don't really think that's possible. It actually makes the movie more boring. A lot of the shots are of dogs barking or running, bunnies running, etc. In other words, animals not really doing a whole lot. The puppies run everywhere en masse but do little otherwise. There are a few named and recognizable pups, but because they don't have voices you can't tell if they really have different characters.Someone called this a pointless remake. I think they could have done a lot better if they'd made it less cartoony. After all, we already have the cartoon.

Roger Dearly (Jeff Daniels) is a struggling American video game designer living in London with his pet dalmatian Pongo. Anita Campbell-Green (Joely Richardson) works for fur-loving fashion designer Cruella De Vil (Glenn Close). Cruella becomes obsessed with Anita's dalmatian prints and designs a fur cape. Pongo sees Perdy the dalmatian and drags Roger to chase down Anita with Perdy. Roger eventually marries Anita. They get pregnant while Pongo and Perdy have 15 puppies. Roger refuses to sell Cruella the puppies and she fires Anita. Jasper (Hugh Laurie) and Horace (Mark Williams) are De Vil's criminal henchmen who overpower Nanny (Joan Plowright) and kidnap the puppies.This movie is missing the voices from the animals. That's really half of the charm of the animated movie. This is a lesser remake for no good reason. Making Cruella a fashion designer is a good improvement. It makes more sense to have her as Anita's boss. However, that's the only improvement from the animated version that I can see here. Glenn Close tries hard to be a cartoon villain but I do miss her cool car. A real version isn't the same thing. And the CG is not advanced enough to make the animated dogs real. The kids are better off watching the cartoon.