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Review by Susan Granger
3½ stars out of 4
In this highly anticipated sequel to "101 Dalmatians"
(Thanksgiving, 1997), the spiky-haired villainess Cruella De Vil
(Glenn Close) is released from prison after promising that she will
give up her dream of wearing the ultimate Dalmatian fur coat. To prove
her good intentions, she wears a coat made of garbage bags, trimmed
with bubble wrap. But, being the vicious, fur-lusting liar that she
is, she is soon plotting another "fur-ocious" scheme to terrorize the
spotted canines. Now she's pursuing them through the streets of
Paris. And there's a fantastic Parisian-bakery scene in which Cruella
chases some puppies into a cake-making machine and the dogs flip the
"on" switch. It's quite a sight to see the sadistic Cruella sliding on
a baking pan, which looks like a bobsled, into a massive bowl of cake
batter. If this isn't an upcoming Disney theme park ride, I'll crumble
my dog biscuits! The canine characters include Dipstick, the son of
101's Pongo and Perdy, and Dottie with their pups: Domino, Little
Dipper and Oddball, who has all-white fur, no spots. Actually,
computer wizardry removed Oddball's spots; once Dalmatians hit a
certain age, they are no longer spot-free. Preying on her
black-and-white spotted-fur fetish, Cruella's lured back into
puppy-napping by a French furrier, Jean Pierre La Pelt (Gerard
Depardieu), while Alice Evans and Ioan Gruffudd try to protect the
Dalmatians while falling into puppy love themselves. Directed by Kevin
Lima, the production is even more elaborate and outrageous this time
'round as the devilish De Vil romps around doing her dirty deeds. And
the 102nd pelt is necessary because, this time, Cruella wants her
Dalmatian coat to have a hood. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10,
"102 Dalmatians" is a G-rated, entertaining 8. Puppies, puppies,
puppies!
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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