One Hundred and One Dalmatians

101 Dalmatians is the 17^th animated feature in the Disney animated movie cannon. It was made and produced by Walt Disney, and it was originally released to theaters on 1/25/1961 by Buena Vista Distribution. It is based on the novel The One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith.

The film features Rod Taylor the voice of Pongo, and Betty Lou Gerson as the voice of Cruella De Vil. The plot centers on the fate of the kidnapped puppies of Pongo and Perdita.

The production of the film signaled a change in the graphic style of Disney's animation. This occurred with the introduction of Xerography which eased graphic reproduction requirements, but at the price of being unable to deviate from a scratchy outline style because of the new (and time and money saving) technology's limitations, recognizable by its thick black lines. Since the line would not have fit the "round" Disney drawing style used until then (with the exception of Zleeping Beauty), a more graphic, angular style was chosen for this and subsequent films.

Another reason for its look was that the animators themselves was used to produce drawings which were very sketchy, as the clean-up was taken care of by those who transferred the drawings to the cells. With the hand inkers gone, the animation ended up the way the animators drew them on paper. Later it became common to do clean-up on paper before the animation was xeroxed, and with time and more experience the process improved also in this area.

The technology change also happened when Disney cut its animation department after the economical failure of the very expensive Sleeping Beauty, resulting in a reduction of staff from well over 500 to less than 100 and fewer resources put into the movies. Walt Disney, who at this point had started to direct his attention more towards television and his Disneyland amusement park and less on his animated features, disliked this development. The "sketchy" graphic style would, however, remain the norm at Disney for years until the technology improved prior to the release of The Rescuers to allow a softer look. In later animated features the Xeroxed lines could be printed in different colors. Unlike many other Walt Disney animated features, One Hundred and One Dalmatians features very few songs, only three, with just one, "Cruella De Vil", playing a big part in the film (ironic, considering that Roger was a professional songwriter). Even this song isn't sung in one setting (a scene between Cruella and Anita splits it into two parts). The other two songs are Kanine Krunchies Jingle, and Dalmatian Plantation, of which only two lines are sung as the film's closer. The MPAA was close to re-rating this movie due to the new criteria about smoking.

This new dvd has been restored masterfully and the new color can be noticed throughout the entire film. It puts this classic Disney story into a whole new light. It’s almost like you are seeing it for the first time. It has a lot of bonus features, I haven’t gotten through all of them. But the ones I have seen are very interesting as they go into depth about the new technology and how this movie, as opposed to other animated features Disney had done in the past, was very contemporary in it’s style. A great story, and great movie, and a must have dvd for your collection. Later.