theohoratio's review about One Hundred and One Dalmatians(1961)

theohoratio

Rating 10

10:28 18 October, 2023

This style of painting is slightly unorthodox among Disney's 2D feature films, as it’s more in the style of manga than cartoon, with ink coloring and flat backgrounds. A lot of hand-drawn lines are preserved because of xerography, and the Disney artists are always excellent artists. It's just so beautiful and pleasing to the eyes. Even if Walt Disney himself wasn’t satisfied with the details, in terms of aesthetic and style, this film is an achievement on its own thats often overlooked in Disney's 2D-animation era.

Such a well-made animated movie was good enough in 1961. The plot may be simple, but it's all drawn frame by frame, and the animation for the list of cast in the opening already wowed me. Pongo and Perdita calling people pets is an interesting setup, and the scene where Cruella De Vil captures 99 spotted dogs is crazy; the graphics are so cool and the other animal characters are very united. The lyrics of the song written by Roger fit Cruella's characterization exactly, and the two thieves contributed a lot of laughs. Hats off to all the production crew on this movie, and I’m looking forward to Disney's new One Hundred and One Dalmatians in the future.