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1961's "One Hundred and One Dalmatians", an adaptation of a book by Dodie Smith, is one of the animated classics produced by Walt Disney, before he died in 1966 and his company went on without him. It's also one of the Disney features I remember seeing as a kid in the '90s. The last time I watched it was earlier this year, and I still found it very impressive, but certainly wasn't in a hurry to see its sequel too soon after that. "101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure" was made over forty years after that movie and is another one of Disney's direct-to-video sequels from the past sixteen years. I finally decided to watch this 2003 sequel this month, but when it turned out that I wasn't impressed with it, I was not surprised.
Roger, Anita, and all the Dalmatians they live with are about to move out of their London flat and into the Dalmatian Plantation in the countryside, where they will have much more room. Patch, one of the puppies in the massive Dalmatian litter, feels he's just another dog and wishes to be more like Thunderbolt, his one-of-a-kind television hero. On the day of the move, Patch is accidentally left behind, but having recently heard that "The Thunderbolt Adventure Hour" is about to be filmed in London, he now has an opportunity to appear on the show. While the rest of the litter, their parents Pongo and Perdita, and the two humans all go to their new rural home not realizing they've left someone behind, Patch sets out to audition for the guest spot but fails miserably. After Thunderbolt's sidekick, Lightning tells him they're killing off his character on the show, the dog star sets out to try and prove himself a true hero, and Patch follows him. Meanwhile, Cruella De Vil is once again up to no good!
Two things I can usually expect from theatrically released animated Disney features, whether Walt Disney was around to produce them or they were made after his death, are an exciting story and some good humour to go with it. Unfortunately, this direct-to-video feature doesn't really have either of those. The story as a whole is boring and might make the film seem a bit tedious, even at just an hour and ten minutes long! It also sometimes seems a little too much like the original "One Hundred and One Dalmatians", even though it does have some new elements. Cruella isn't quite the same as she is in the 1961 film, and certainly isn't as well crafted, which shows in such scenes as the ones featuring her and the Lars character, who paints spots. When it comes to the humour, I only smiled occasionally, and barely ever laughed if at all, which is certainly not something I can say about the original. Horace and Jasper certainly aren't as funny as they are in the 1961 Disney hit, and they're not the only ones, so the humour here also fails. The new characters don't contribute much to the entertainment, either.
This animated sequel was made after both the live action "101 Dalmatians" remake from the '90s and that film's sequel, "102 Dalmatians". Shortly after I last watched the 1961 Disney cartoon, I saw the first of the two live action films for the first time in over a decade, but did not like it, so I do not intend to watch the sequel it spawned, especially since it seems to be even less popular than its predecessor. Some fans may like this sequel to the original "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" and consider it to be better than the two live action films, but personally, while I haven't seen the second live action movie, I think "101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure" is pretty much the same as the first live action movie in terms of quality. I think this is the worst Disney direct-to-video sequel I've seen (haven't seen them all), which is really saying something, and I don't think there was really much point in it being made.
score 4/10
Electrified_Voltage 11 October 2010
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2323008/ |
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1-12-2019 12:38:24
