--- title: "101 Dalmatians" year: 1996 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/101-dalmatians" fi1m_id: "101-dalmatians" imdb_id: "tt0115433" tmdb_id: 11674 wikidata_id: "Q8594" fi1m_score: 54 critics_score: 50 critics_reviews: 6 published: "2026-10-05T00:16:08.113273+00:00" updated: "2026-10-05T00:16:15.657020+00:00" region: "PT" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # 101 Dalmatians (1996) Directed by Stephen Herek · 1h 43m · IGAC M/6 · Family, Comedy ## Identity 101 Dalmatians - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/101-dalmatians - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** 101-dalmatians - **IMDb ID:** tt0115433 - **TMDB ID:** 11674 - **Wikidata ID:** Q8594 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115433/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11674, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8594 **Fi1m score: 54** · Critics 50 from 6 reviews *In a sentence:* A hundred and one dogs, two idiots, one Glenn Close, and not a single animal permitted to speak > Glenn Close plays Cruella de Vil as if the cast owed her money, and while she is on screen this is a lively Christmas picture. The dogs are mute, the humans are dull, and the last half hour is Home Alone with fur. ## Synopsis Roger (Jeff Daniels), an American who designs video games in London, is walked across the park by his dalmatian, Pongo. Pongo spots a female dalmatian, Perdy, out with Anita (Joely Richardson), a designer at the fashion house of Cruella de Vil (Glenn Close), and drags his owner after her, bicycle and all, until both humans are in the pond. Cruella deals in fur and has long wanted a coat made of dalmatian skin. When Pongo and Perdy produce fifteen puppies, watched over by Nanny (Joan Plowright), Cruella makes an offer for the litter, is refused, and sends Jasper (Hugh Laurie) and Horace (Mark Williams) to collect them by other means. ## Review Stephen Herek’s *101 Dalmatians* is a live-action remake of the Disney cartoon, itself taken from Dodie Smith’s novel, and John Hughes has written and produced it. One large decision was made before the first shot: the dogs will not speak. What is left is a film in which Glenn Close does a great deal and almost nobody else does anything, which is our verdict. It runs 103 minutes, carries a U certificate, opened in UK cinemas on 13 December 1996, and is at its best for about an hour. Close plays Cruella de Vil as a woman who has never once been told no. She arrives at the fashion house in a cloud of cigarette smoke, hair split black and white down the middle, and sweeps through a room of staff as if they were furniture. Anthony Powell and Rosemary Burrows have dressed her in fur, red leather and coats with collars that could take an eye out, and she wears each as a weapon. We laughed at her first meeting with Anita, because Close has found a way of being pleasant that is more frightening than any snarl, and we spent the rest of the film waiting for something equal to it. It does not come. Jeff Daniels plays Roger as an amiable American who designs video games and is pulled around London by his dog, and Joely Richardson’s Anita is kind and lightly drawn. Their meeting in the park, two dalmatians hauling two strangers into the same pond, is well cut by Trudy Ship, who keeps the dogs’ faces in the frame at the moments a cartoon would have given them a line. After that Hughes’s script leaves the pair with a house and nothing to do. Joan Plowright’s Nanny bustles around them with more energy than the script has earned. The animals are good. The trained dogs look at things and then at each other, and Herek holds on them long enough for us to supply the thought. Adrian Biddle shoots London in a flat grey light, snow in the squares and warm lamps in the windows, and Assheton Gorton’s production design gives Roger and Anita a tall thin house of red brick that looks like somewhere a dog would want to live. Cruella’s own house is black marble and spikes. Michael Kamen’s score does its job early and then starts telling us when to laugh. The last act hands the film to Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams, as the hired thieves Jasper and Horace, and to a sequence of injuries. They fall through floors. They are electrocuted. Hughes wrote [*Home Alone*](https://film.one/film/home-alone) in 1990, and there is a long stretch here that is that film again with animals in place of a child, every gag flagged a beat before it lands. We were bored by it, and then slightly cross, because Laurie and Williams are good comic actors used as crash-test dummies. Worse, Close is pulled into the slapstick, and the film that spent an hour building a monster spends its last half hour making her ridiculous. John Shrapnel’s Skinner, a hulking man who does not speak, is a far more unsettling idea and gets about four minutes. Herek made *Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure* in 1989 and can keep a daft idea moving; the first hour has that quality and the second does not. The cartoon gave its dogs a chain of barks across the rooftops and a plan; this one gives them running and leaves the plan to the humans, who have not got one. It is better made than most family comedies of its decade and less charming than [*Babe*](https://film.one/film/babe), which came out the year before and let its animals talk because it understood that was the whole point. Most critics landed about where we have: nobody is calling this a bad film, only a thin one. Children under ten will enjoy the puppies and will not mind the rest. Adults should watch for Close and may find their attention wandering once she stops being allowed to be frightening. At home you can rewind the fashion house scenes, which is what we did. *Fi1m score 54, published 5 October 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics find the live-action 101 Dalmatians passable rather than enchanting: entertaining enough, especially for children, but short of the charm of the animated original. The praise clusters almost entirely around Glenn Close, whose Cruella de Vil is named by nearly every review as the film’s strongest element, with the trained dogs a distant second. Nobody calls it a bad evening for a young audience; nobody calls it a good one for anybody else. The reservations gather around the final act, which Time Out finds a retread of Home Alone and Variety calls drawn out and uninspired, and around the human scenes, which are found ordinary. Variety also regrets the decision to leave the dogs without voices. The spread is wide for a family film: four mixed verdicts, no positives, two negatives. The New Yorker is the sharpest dissenter, finding the whole thing laborious and arguing that Close’s early relish is squandered once Cruella is turned into an undignified stooge. ## Straight answers **Is 101 Dalmatians worth watching?** *101 Dalmatians* is worth watching for Glenn Close's Cruella de Vil and for small children who want puppies, and we scored it 54. The dogs do not speak, the humans are given little to do, and the last half hour turns into a run of slapstick injuries borrowed from *Home Alone*. Adults may find their attention wandering once Close stops being frightening. **How long is 101 Dalmatians, and what is it rated?** *101 Dalmatians* runs 1h 43m and is rated M/6 by the IGAC in Portugal. It is a family and comedy film. **Where can I watch 101 Dalmatians in Portugal?** *101 Dalmatians* is streaming on Disney+ in Portugal, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from €3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How does 101 Dalmatians compare to One Hundred and One Dalmatians?** *101 Dalmatians* is a live-action remake of Disney's 1961 cartoon, and the cartoon is the better film. The original gives its dogs voices and the plan, which keeps the plot in their paws; the remake keeps them mute and hands the story to the humans and the thieves. Both have a Cruella worth seeing, but the earlier film is the tighter of the two. **Is 101 Dalmatians based on a true story or a book?** *101 Dalmatians* is based on Dodie Smith's novel, by way of the Disney cartoon it remakes, and is not a true story. The film keeps the bones of the tale, a fur dealer who wants a coat made from dalmatian puppies, but removes the talking animals. You do not need to know the book or the cartoon to follow it. **What should I watch after 101 Dalmatians?** After *101 Dalmatians*, try [*One Hundred and One Dalmatians*](https://film.one/film/one-hundred-and-one-dalmatians) (1961, Fi1m 82): The cartoon this is copying, with the dogs talking and the plot in their paws. Then [*Babe*](https://film.one/film/babe) (1995, Fi1m 88): A farmyard picture that trusts its animals to speak, and is funnier and kinder for it; and [*Paddington*](https://film.one/film/paddington) (2014, Fi1m 84): A British family film about a creature in London that gets the humans right too. ### Reviews we read (6) - **Empire**, Angie Errigo (65/100, inferred): Errigo finds the live-action adaptation likeable and amusing, though not enchanting. She praises the cuddly animals and especially the trained Airedale Kipper, while faulting the ordinary human scenes and restrained direction. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/101-dalmatians-2-review/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (2.5/4): Ebert finds the film entertaining but not especially memorable. He singles out Glenn Close’s Cruella de Vil as its strongest element. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/101-dalmatians-1996) - **Radio Times**, Joanna Berry (3/5): Berry finds the live-action adaptation entertaining, especially for children, though older viewers may miss the animated original’s expressive dogs. She singles out Glenn Close’s deliciously over-the-top Cruella De Vil for praise. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-xf52f2/101-dalmatians/) - **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (60/100, inferred): McCarthy finds the film entertaining but says it falls short of its potential, particularly in its drawn-out, uninspired climax. He praises Glenn Close’s commanding Cruella DeVil and the expressive lead dogs, while faulting the decision to leave the animals without voices. [Read](https://variety.com/1996/film/reviews/101-dalmatians-1117437037/) - **Time Out**, DW (40/100, inferred): The visible description suggests a mixed-to-negative verdict. It criticizes the final act as a retread of Home Alone, while noting that Pongo starts well. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/101-dalmatians-1) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (15/100, inferred): Lane pans the remake, finding it laborious and lacking the charm and delicacy of the original. He singles out Glenn Close’s early relish as Cruella DeVil, which the film soon squanders by turning her into an undignified stooge. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/12/23/1996-12-23-040-tny-cards-000153434) ## Details - **Director:** Stephen Herek - **Director:** Stephen Herek - **Screenplay:** John Hughes - **Novel:** Dodie Smith - **Cinematography:** Adrian Biddle - **Editor:** Trudy Ship - **Music:** Michael Kamen - **Production design:** Assheton Gorton - **Costume design:** Anthony Powell, Rosemary Burrows - **Producer:** John Hughes, Ricardo Mestres - **Cast:** Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil; Jeff Daniels as Roger; Joely Richardson as Anita; Joan Plowright as Nanny; Hugh Laurie as Jasper; Mark Williams as Horace; John Shrapnel as Skinner; Tim McInnerny as Alonzo - **Runtime:** 1h 43m - **Certificate (IGAC):** M/6 - **Release (Portugal):** 21 March 1997 - **Genres:** Family, Comedy - **Budget:** $54 million - **Box office:** $321 million ## Where to watch in Portugal - Disney+: streaming, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent €3.99, hd - Apple TV: rent €3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy €8.99, sd - Apple TV: buy €8.99, sd *Checked 2026-10-05.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, IE, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, SE, SG, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *One Hundred and One Dalmatians* (1961), Fi1m 82: The cartoon this is copying, with the dogs talking and the plot in their paws — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/one-hundred-and-one-dalmatians.md) - *Babe* (1995), Fi1m 88: A farmyard picture that trusts its animals to speak, and is funnier and kinder for it — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/babe.md) - *Paddington* (2014), Fi1m 84: A British family film about a creature in London that gets the humans right too — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/paddington.md) - *The Witches* (1990), Fi1m 82: Anjelica Huston’s grand villainess is the closest cousin to Close’s Cruella — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-witches.md) - *Belle et Sébastien* (2013): A boy and an enormous dog in the French Alps; quiet, handsome and short --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/101-dalmatians