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101 Dalmatians is an outstanding Disney Classic that I loved as a kid and still do now. This is one of the few Disney Classics that are based in Britain. Only others I can think of are Robin Hood and Peter Pan. This and The Lion King are probably the only Disney Classics that are thrillers. It was tense because we wanted to know what was going to happen especially after the puppies escaped and are trying to get back home. This film is one of the few Disney's too that isn't a fantasy film; well, it is and it isn't. It is because there aren't 101 Dalmatians living together in a house and dogs don't know their way all around London; like normal dogs would just get lost and go anywhere. It isn't a fantasy film because there aren't any imaginative or mythical creatures or atmospheres either. Oh... and this is another Disney Classic that isn't a musical. I mean, yeah there are songs in but they don't flow with the film and the events that are going on like Aladdin, The Lion King, Beauty And The Beast, Jungle Book etc.
Pongo is a Dalmatian that lives in a London bachelor flat with his owner Roger who is a songwriter. Because of this boring lifestyle Pongo feels, he decides to try and find a wife for Roger and a mate for himself. As Pongo was watching female dog and human pairs out of the window, he eventually finds the perfect couple: a young woman called Anita and her female Dalmatian Perdita. As he sees them rush to the park, he immediately gets Roger to take him for a walk into the park so they can meet. Their meeting isn't a pleasant one but when they make each other laugh, both pairs begin to fall in love with each other. Now that they're living all together, Perdita gives birth to 15 Dalmatian puppies and Cruella De Vil pays them a visit and offers to buy all 15 but Roger says they aren't selling any of them! This leads to Cruella hiring Horace and Jasper to steal the puppies so she can have her fur coat out of dog skin. Now that the humans can't do anything about it, its up to all of the dogs in England to help Pongo and Perdita find their puppies and find them. Will they be in time to save them?
101 Dalmatians was the first Disney film created by a single story man called Bill Peet. As done with other Disney films, Walt Disney hired an actress to perform live-action scenes as a reference for the animation process. Actress Helene Stanley performed the live-action reference for the character of Anita. She did the same kind of work for the characters of Cinderella and Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. I couldn't help but notice dogs in one particular scene in this film that looked just like the dogs from Lady And The Tramp (Lady, Tramp and Jock). A sequel was released 42 years later called 101 Dalmatians: Patch's London Adventure. I mean, it is a much weaker sequel compared to the original classic but it is still good.
Overall, 101 Dalmatians is a brilliant animated classic that I could watch over and over again. It truly shows alongside Lady And The Tramp and The Aristocats the beauty of pet animals and how they can effect the lives of their owners.
9/10
