After the first 101 Dalmatians animated feature from Disney in 1961 (yes it was that long ago!), there have been two live action films made that did well at the box office and several spin off shows, including a series. The Disney Corporation are leaders in the world of family entertainment and this film is another fine example of why.101 Dalmatians 2 – Patch’s London Adventure returns to the animated format and picks up where the first animated feature left off.
The house where the dogs all live with their human pets is now becoming overcrowded, to say the least. The humans have found a new house on a large property in the country and the move is pending. The youthful pup’s days consist of playing, sleeping, eating and watching their favourite television show, The Thunderbolt Hour, where superdog Thunderbolt comes to the rescue of humans in danger and saves the day, much like Lassie or Rin Tin Tin. Patch is just one of 99 pups who idolises Thunderbolt. He knows every episode off by heart and dreams of one day being Thunderbolt’s sidekick.
After a night of dreaming he's on yet another adventure with Thunderbolt, Patch awakens to discover he has missed the move to the country and has been left behind in London. On the previous night's episode he had noticed an announcement for auditions for The Thunderbolt Hour and thinks that if he can get to the auditions, he can perhaps get Thunderbolt to help him find his way to the new house.
And so the adventure begins through the streets of London. Not only must he find his way to the new house, but he must also help his brothers and sisters escape the evil clutches of Cruella de Vil. Yes she is back, and no restraining order is going to stop her getting what she wants. This time around she again has her goons to do all the rough stuff, but has also enlisted the help of an eccentric artist named Lars (Martin Short).
| "Your harsh words strike me like blows from the fists of a large dock worker!" |
This animated feature from Disney is extremely enjoyable, offering plenty to keep the kids amused as well as some not so subtle humour for the adults. Cast selected for character voices are relatively unknown, but do suit their roles well. This is of course excluding Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander, who plays Thunderbolt’s sidekick Lightning, and the scene stealing Martin Short as Lars the artist.
The pace of the film is excellent and shows Disney doing what they do best, keeping kids interested. The overall humour is the highlight for me, though, and I dare say this will get a repeat viewing in the not too distant future. But we’ll keep that to ourselves, won’t we?
The video transfer for this release is close to perfect. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, is 16x9 enhanced and looks wonderful. The only slight problem is with some aliasing, but generally a very sharp image is offered throughout. The colour palette used is not the expected bright eye-burning colours of standard animations, but much more subtle and softer hues and these are spot on (pardon the pun). Subtitles supplied are in English and French and the English ones sampled are extremely accurate. There is also a layer change on this dual layered disc and this is placed at 47:16 during a lightning burst so is quite noticeable. Overall this is an excellent transfer.
There are three audio options with this release, English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes along with a French 5.1 DTS mix. The audio sampled was the English and this offered excellent quality. Dialogue is generally clear, although sometimes the subtitles were called for to understand the strange accent of Martin Short's character. The surrounds are not overly used, but do offer some good directional effect along with excellent use for music ambience. Although there are songs in this film they pass by relatively unnoticed, as does the rest of the well-suited music. The subwoofer is generally dormant, but is used well in places. Overall this is a very good soundtrack. I did also briefly test the French DTS track and although I can’t vouch for the dialogue accuracy, the sound was also excellent.
