101 Dalmatians (1996) *

A pointless live-action remake of the 1961 Disney animated classic, directed by Stephen Herek. The story is virtually identical - Cruella DeVil wants a fur coat so badly, she kidnaps a bunch of adorable dalmatian puppies from Anita and Roger. The only interesting aspect is a changed nature of the relationship between Anita and Cruella. As wrote Anthony Lake in "New Yorker", "the new film promotes Cruella from Anita's school friend to her employer: DeVil is now a fashion house, and for a while, as Close smirked at Richardson, crooned admiration for her sketches, and urged her never to forsake the thrills of a career for the sake of a mere man, I caught a definite aroma of sexual power play. Richardson's lowered eyelashes are so redolent of the demure, pre-paranoid Princess of Wales, Close's lipstick is of such an alarming and predatory scarlet, and Roger is so indisputably a wimp that Herek might as well have ditched the whole mutt motif and concentrated on Cruella's master plan to lure Anita into a fur-lined boudoir and put her on a tight leash. Sadly, it was not to be; from here on, sex never raises its muzzle ...". Too bad, lesbian sadomasochistic hanky-panky would have greatly enliven the proceedings.