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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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102 Dalmatians Cast: Glenn Close, Alice Evans, Loan Gruffudd, Gerard Depardieu, Tim McInnerny Director: Kevin Lima Distributor: Disney Pictures Rating: G Release Date: November 22, 2000 102 Dalmatians does not start out well. With an ugly credit sequence and a fatuous hip-hop song playing with the volume pumped up loud to sell the soundtrack, the movie seems like the worst sort of Disney product. Fortunately, the movie improves significantly, and it ends up as a genuinely respectable live-action kids' movie. I can't imagine that you don't know the plot--obscenely rich woman (played with gusto by Glenn Close) wants nothing more than a spotted fur coat, steals 102 Dalmatians to realize dream, foiled by smart, irrepressibly cute puppies. The only variations on the theme this time around are a talking parrot who can't fly, a Dalmatian who doesn't have any spots, and a bland man and woman who must find each other so as not to afflict other potential mates. All of this is set up in the first 15 minutes, and the conclusion is self-evident, so the only question is whether the journey will be enjoyable. That it succeeds is due to Close and Gerard Depardieu's enthusiasm for their villainous roles and the movie's fantastic visual style. The production design by Assheton Gorton (French Lieutenant's Woman) and costumes by Anthony Powell (Tess) are a wonder to behold. Don't get me wrong--I'm not recommending that you go see 102 Dalmatians sans children (we're not talking Babe or Chicken Run here). But if you have to take the kids out for a flick, I suspect you'll be pleasantly surprised, and they'll have a fantastic time. The movie has everything a child could ask for: exaggeratedly stupid adults being foiled by intelligent animals, ludicrous chase scenes, lots of gross goo, and the requisite underwear, poop, and toilet jokes. To the screenwriters' credit, however, all of this is served up with enough charm that it never feels tired or base. And Depardieu and Close are so enjoyably shameless in their over-the-top campiness (for a second, I thought she was channeling Gloria Swanson from Sunset Boulevard) that I found myself leaving the theater with a smile. J. Robert Parks 11/20/2000
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