Day 21: Dalmatian Plantation

ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS (1961)
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske
Starring the voices of: Rod Taylor, Ben Wright, Lisa Davis, Betty Lou Gerson, Cate Bauer,  J. Pat O'Malley

Everyone knows the Disney formula - princess is in trouble, dashing white knight comes to the rescue, many happy songs throughout.  Stylistically, the animation is lush and vibrant, with many references to renaissance art.  It's a formula that did well for them.  Until Sleeping Beauty bombed at the box office.

So their next feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians marks a very visible departure from the formula of old.  Here, we have a style that is much more contemporary, a pace that is more deliberate, and a story that is decidedly darker in tone than previous Disney fairy tales.  And it all works to the films advantage.

The film wastes no time in laying this new style on us, as we have probably the most elaborate and energetic title sequences I've ever seen.  Gone are the lush, sweeping orchestrations and in their place is a jazzy new score, as the "dot" theme is used over and over.  The animators had a field day making the credits jump all across the screen.  Right away, we get the sense that this is something new and exciting.  As we begin the film, however, the pace slows down, but never drags.  Everything moves along just as it should.

The animation is first rate.  Just think - these were the days before computers, so not only did the picture have to be drawn by hand, but they also had to animate all those spots.  On 101 dogs.  In fact, a separate team of animators was brought in just for that reason.  Things were sped along by the new Xerox process - which painted the animation cels via photocopier instead of by hand.  The only drawback was that the lines around the characters became darker and sketchier, a big problem in later films, especially Robin Hood and The Jungle Book.  The process had evolved and softened by the time they got to The Rescuers.  But here, there's very little sketchiness, and the end result is a much cleaner look.

Of course, it would be impossible to talk about this film with talking at length about Cruella DeVil, one of the strangest and most charasmatic Disney villains of all time.  She works so well for a number of reasons: the excellent animation of Marc Davis, the cackling voice of Betty Lou Gerson.  But the thing about her is that she's so likeably evil.  She repels and attracts the viewer at the same time.  But she's no comic foil; she means business.  Her cronies, Jasper and Horace, are the ones who provide the laughs here, but they too have a genuine mean streak.  And none of them mince words about their intentions.  They're going to kill those puppies, and they're not afraid to say so. 

This tone of menace and genuine peril actually helps the film, though it doesn't wallow in it.  Things are kept light enough to entertain kids, but it's the earliest animated film I've seen (and there's a lot I haven't seen) that tries to entertain the adults as well.  Also, it's not a musical.  Oh sure, there are two pretty decent songs (three, if you count the Kanine Krunchies jingle), but they don't move the plot along.  Story and execution are the name of the game here.  And both are nearly flawless.