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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Acclaimed actress goes to the dogs...again!, March 16, 2002
The idea of movie sequels took off thirty years ago and has been going nonstop ever since. As an idea, it makes sense. TV series have conditioned several generations of viewers to want to see the same characters and often essentially the same story over and over again. A movie sequel is usually a fairly safe financial bet, as it can be expected, on average, to take in about seventy percent of the original's gross. So, it was only natural that Disney wanted to cash in on the success of the live action version of 101 Dalmatians. The result, 102 Dalmatians, failed. There were several reasons for this, but the main one may be that the original story is self-contained. Despite the sequel's attempts to be different, in the end it all boils down to the same thing: Cruella DeVille will go to any lengths to obtain the puppies from which she plans to make a Dalmatian fur coat. This time Cruella has been rehabilitated by a doctor aptly named Pavlov. Chloe [Alice Evans], her probabtion officer, doesn't buy the change, but Cruella ["Call me Ella, not Cruella!"]really does act like a changed woman. She has Alonso [Tim McInnerny], her manservant, lock away her fur coats, since the sight of them now makes her sick. She buys a failing animal shelter and transforms it into a showplace. She even has her own dog, a dreadful thing that looks like a rat. [Why on earth they decided to make this particular dog her pet is beyond me.] The world adores Cruella. One day something happens that reverses the effects of her rehab. Cruella is back with a vengeance, and some of the finest Dalmatian puppies happen to belong to Chloe. As in the original, every character but Cruella fumbles everything, and, for the most part, it's up to the dogs to save themselves. Glenn Close again plays Cruella. Again she is delightful. But a great star turn does not a great movie make. 102 Dalmatians is predictable and overblown. Many of the jokes are best understood by adults, but this is the kind of movie grownups use to baby-sit their children, who won't get much of the humor. There are a lot of cute dogs and other animals, but they lack the charm of the ones in other kids movies such as Babe. With the exception of a truly obnoxious parrot, none of them can talk, yet all of them are shown to have the fully developed emotions of human beings. Personally, I find this makes them a bit creepy. There is also something odd about the movie. There is not a single human character younger than thirty. What kind of children's movie has no children in it? The original didn't, but it was itself a clever remake of what was essentially a long cartoon. Perhaps this sequel would have been more successful if it had had kids in it for kids to relate to. 102 Dalmatians will divert the young ones, but it is not something they will wish to see over and over again. It is one of Disney's weaker efforts. And, yes, I do like dogs.
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DVD ~ Glenn Close
DVD ~ Barry Bostwick
DVD ~ Scott Wolf
DVD ~ Jason Alexander
DVD ~ John Rhys-Davies
DVD ~ Tony Bluto
DVD ~ French Stewart
