101 Dalmatians

I thought I had a pretty good memory of 101 Dalmatians, but there were a few surprises.  Cruella DeVil is as deliciously evil as ever, and the song featuring her name is truly excellent.  However, I was surprised that there weren't really any other songs in the film - because of that one memorable song, I guess I just assumed that there were more.  And I may be a cat person rather than a dog person, but those little dalmatian puppies are so cute!  I love that so many of them have their own personalities.  Lucky is adorable:  "my nose is froze.  My toes are froze" - favorite line from the movie :)

But for all of the good points of the film, it's just not all that memorable.  It's cute, and it's fun, but it doesn't have the power of some of the other films and doesn't really teach a lesson or grapple with any important questions.  Not that every Disney movie has to do that, but I've found that many of the ones I like have more interesting challenges - and still have happy endings.  But 101 Dalmatians does what it does quite well, so that's a good thing.  I do think it would have benefited greatly from a few more songs, though.

The Music
This film has one really memorable, fantastic song, "Cruella DeVil."  I think that probably everyone knows this song.  However, there really aren't any other songs in the movie.  There's a small piece of some little cutesy song at the end called "Dalmatian Plantation," but other than that the characters don't shame.  It's surprising since Roger is a songwriter, and Disney has music in so many of their movies.  So the movie gets points for one fantastic song, but lacks anything else.

The Villain
Cruella DeVil is so evil, because she's not only greedy and cruel, but she's cruel to harmless, adorable animals who haven't done anything wrong.  Plus, the idea of hiring someone to sneak into her supposed "friend's" house and steal their dogs is just appalling.  She's also got such a personality and look to her.  While every human in the movie is fairly realistic looking, Cruella is pretty grotesque.  And that signature fur coat.  Pretty high up there on the list of villains due to her horrid actions and her memorable appearance and personality.  And it's a shame she doesn't really get what she deserves - no death for this villain, unfortunately.

The Disney World Connection
The only trace of 101 Dalmatians that I can find in WDW is at one of the hotels, the All-Star Movies Resort.  Each section of that hotel is themed with a different Disney movie, and one section has a Dalmatians theme.  Other than that, there are no rides/attractions/restaurants that I know of which have any connection to this movie.

Becky's rating:  8 out of 10
Jason's rating:  7 out of 10