One Hundred and One Dalmatians (alternatively titled 101 Dalmatians) is a 1961 animated adventure comedy film directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Hamilton Luske and Clyde Geronimi with writing and storyboarding by Bill Peet, and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. It is based off the 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians.
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 “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole elephant.”
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It is the 17th animated feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios (known as Walt Disney Productions at the time), with animation supervised by Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, Marc Davis, John Lounsbery, Ollie Johnston and Eric Larson.
Synopsis
Dalmatian Pongo is tired of his bachelor-dog life. He spies lovely Perdita and maneuvers his master, Roger, into meeting Perdita's owner, Anita. The owners fall in love and marry, keeping Pongo and Perdita together too. After Perdita gives birth to a litter of 15 puppies, Anita's old school friend Cruella De Vil wants to buy them all. Roger declines her offer, so Cruella hires the criminal Badun brothers to steal them — so she can have a fur coat. With the use of the Twilight Bark, Pongo and Perdita must rescue 15 of their puppies before it’s too late. But will they be in time?
Why It Rocks 101%
- The animation goes with the film's cartoony and fun spirit. Note that this is the first animated film to use Xerox process, which helped draw animation faster.
- Beautiful grasp of the source material.
- Great voice-acting, especially from Betty Lou Gerson (yes, Cruella).
- Cruella is everyone's favorite memorable villain, along with two of her conspirators Jasper and Horace Badun.
- Pongo's idea of rolling into soot to 'look like a Labrador' is a creative idea, especially considering the dog protecting them is a Labrador.
- The comedy interwoven into it is funny.
- The puppies are cute, especially Lucky (whose name is ironic), Patch and Rolly.
- Roger's song 'Cruella De Vil' became a phenomenon.
- Like Cinderella and The Great Mouse Detective, this film saved Disney from shutting down their studio apartment after the critical and financial failure of Sleeping Beauty. This film was a critical and financial success, in sharp contrast to its predecessor.
- The skyline of London during the opening credits, the Twilight Bark sequence, and Dalmatian Plantation song is stylish and graceful.
- Despite having a limited amount of screen time, Scottie is a funny character during the Twilight Bark scene. The way he barks and bounces like a jackhammer is hilarious.
- Fabulous score by George Bruns.
“Baffling” Qualities
- The film would later spawn a franchise but with mixed results.
- The 1997 television show 101 Dalmatians: The Series is above average but nothing to write home about.
- Firstly, it has slow pacing that doesn't fit the tone.
- It also tries hard to enforce morals down people's throats in some episodes.
- The animation, while fluid at times, has various goofs here and there and could sometimes be limited.
- Finally, it would occasionally have some confusing moments in certain episodes, one example would be the ending of the episode "Goose Pimples".
- The direct to video sequel to this film, titled 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, while not terrible, isn't as good as the original film, though other fans claim this is arguably one of the better sequels.
- The trilogy of live-action films, which include the remake and its sequel can come with mixed results from fans of this franchise, despite being received mostly positive reviews. The prequel to the trilogy Cruella however, was well-received.
- The 2019 television show 101 Dalmatian Street is also well-received, even if it was a commercial flop.
- The 1997 television show 101 Dalmatians: The Series is above average but nothing to write home about.
- Despite that the Xerox process helped draw animation faster, unfortunately this resulted to a minor drop in animation quality compared to in the 1940s and 1950s, as the Xerox process gave a much sketchy look in the art style, which would become common for animated Disney films until the early-1970s.
- Not helping that due to budget cuts, animation previous films would constantly by recycled, and it has become common for animated Disney films until 1981.
- Multiple Role: Doing the voices of Nanny/Lucy/Queenie (while fun) can be the most stressful job Martha Wentworth experienced through her life, though this technique was used to save money. Same can apply to Ramsay Hill for the TV Announcer/Labrador, Fred Worlock for Horace/Inspector, Betty Lou Gerson for Cruella/Miss Birdwell, and Tom Conway for the TV Host/Collie, and David Frankham for Sergeant Tibbs/Scottie (allegedly).
- Depending on your view, the barking chain sequence can somewhat be annoying and is also padded out.
