
WARNING: This Review May Contain Spoilers
As we all know, Disney have gone round making a whole bunch of their animations into live-action films. Well before they decided to do this in the 2010s with Lion King and so forth, they had already remade 101 Dalmatians back in the late 1990s. Obviously, this is one of the first as you will see from later articles and, as you can tell, it definitely will not be the last…
Animation vs Live Action
Obviously, with these films, this is always going to be my starting point because it is the most glaring difference. The great thing about the animation is the ability for anthropomorphism, by this I mean, the ability to give the dogs the characteristics of humans and part of this is done by giving the Dalmatians the ability to talk. Yes, before anyone says anything, the animals in Lion King still spoke in the 2019 version – however this was still technically animation as they were CGI. The dogs in the 1996 version of 101 Dalmatians were actual dogs. This means that in the original, they all have their own little personalities – including the puppies; from feisty Patch to hungry Roly.
Relationships
Originally this part was meant to be about Roger and Anita but I realised that in both versions the film starts with them getting together in the park. Now, the actual difference is the relationship between Anita and Cruella. In the original version, Roger mentions that she is an old school friend of Anita’s whereas in the remake, Anita just works at her fashion house.
Collar Colours
So, this may not be that significant to anyone else, maybe so insignificant that some viewers may not have even noticed. The collars on all the dogs in the original film are either blue for the girls or red for the boys – for example, Pongo wears red and Perdita wears blue. However, in the remake – the colours are the other way around. The puppies in the remake however, are signified by blue for male and pink for female. Having pointed this out, it brings me on to my next point…
The Rescue
In the original film, Mr Tibbs, the cat, is able to differentiate the Pongo puppies from the other 84 Dalmatians but chooses to rescue them all because he overhears Cruella’s plans for them. Now, obviously because the animals can’t talk in the remake it’s hard to tell if the Colonel (because I assume that’s who the dog that turns up the old house is supposed to be) can tell which ones are which. I actually thought all the collars had been removed by this point in the remake but clearly I was wrong.
Interestingly, Pongo and Perdita don’t actually participate in as much of the rescue as they do in the original film. Instead of making it all the way to the house, they only meet up with the puppies at the dairy farm.
The Middle Man
Here’s an interesting change from the original to the remake. The remake introduces a new character, a man by the name of Skinner and it seems that he is supposed to be a taxidermist. Now, in the original film when the heat starts to mount it is Horace and Jasper that Cruella asks to kill the puppies but in the remake it is Skinner’s job to do what is needed. Amazingly, they actually choose to kill the puppies themselves in the remake (because Skinner never arrives) therefore making them villains instead of being the almost sympathetic characters they were previously.
In Conclusion
I won’t pretend that these aren’t both good films in their own right because I remember watching the 1996 version many times when I was growing up. However, I think the original has one-up on the remake as there’s something slightly more wholesome about it. Possibly because the animals are able talk, it means the viewer may be relates to the story a little more than in the remake. The remake also goes a little bit Dr Dolittle for example with the tricks played by the raccoons.