Remake Month: 101 Dalmatians

In 1996, the sequel to Homeward Bound was released, however, there was a bigger live-action Disney film coming out that year that happened to overshadow it.  This movie is often cited as what kicked Disney's remake trend that we see today, where they are reaming every movie they've ever made. Before we know it, there'll be a Tangled remake.  The 1996 101 Dalmatians is an interesting beast as it's quite faithful to the source material while having a bit more of a slapstick tone. It has been compared to Home Alone and that does make sense as it was written by John Hughes.

That does make and the comedy is pretty good.  And it does make for an enjoyable movie.  Moving on, like I've said in the first review, I will not be going over the plot as it is the same as the original film but instead looking at What's the Same, What's Different,  and Is it a Good Remake?



With that out of the way, let's begin.


What's the Same


Honestly, the general idea of Cruella stealing the puppies is the same and there is a nod to the Twilight Bark in the movie as well.  The movie also starts with Roger and Anita meeting.  It was nice that this was kept the same as it showed the movie being faithful while being beholden to the original.



What's Different


There are quite a few things that are different for one thing, more time is spent on developing Roger and Anita's relationship and that is nice as both Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson give excellent performances.  Speaking of Roger, he doesn't write music in this version but is instead a game developer. My guess is that it is because they wanted it to be updated for the 90s.

This is even reflected in how the Dog Catcher wasn't scary but when Roger made the villain of his game, Cruella, the game was better.   Before we get to Cruella, there is another big change that this movie brought it, Anita being pregnant.


I think this may have been done to parallel the puppies being born and that works.   Now, let's move onto one of the biggest changes, Cruella.

Glenn Close is just perfect as Cruella and is even a little more devious while tapping into why she wanted the coat so much.

The film reinvented Cruella as the vindictive, snobbish, and very glamorous magnate of an haute couture fashion house, "House of DeVil", which specialized in fur couture. The character of Anita (played by Joely Richardson) was a couturière and employee of De Vil. Unlike the animated film, the live-action version gives the reason why Cruella wanted to make the puppies into coats at a young age, is that their fur wouldn't be as soft when they fully grow up

This change was perfect and Close's performance as Cruella easily made her the most iconic part of this movie. Close is so game for everything that is thrown her way and the slapstick with her is where Hughes' style of comedy really comes in.

This movie goes all-in on the comedy and it works in that regard as it knows what kind of movie, it wants to be and it works in that regard.



Is This a Good Remake?


Overall yeah, this is a great remake.  The original has a more heartfelt tone but that is here in this one as well while also going all-in on the comedy and knowing that it wants people to laugh while also having a good time. Join me next time as we look at the sequel...


102 Dalmatians

Remake Month: Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco

In 1996, three years after Homeward Bound was released, a sequel was released.  Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco.   Sequels to remakes are an odd beast as that means the stories have to expand in ways that carry what made the original work. And that's the thing,  this movie isn't bad but it's not as good as the original either.




The Plot

I won't be doing a full overview of the plot as that would just be taxing but the idea does remain somewhat the same in the pets are lost, however, they have other animals to help aid them and Chance gets a love interest. 

However, that brings me to a core issue with this sequel, the threat that the pets face feels less severe being lost in a city and having help from other animals. 

The stakes just don't feel as high in this movie as they were in the first movie.  And that's even with bringing in human antagonists, which is something that Homeward Bound truly doesn't need. Beyond that, the pets never truly felt lost and the movie duplicates the ending of the first where it faked us out with a Shadow death that didn't happen.  This time, it was with making you think that Chance had been hit by a truck. 


It's not a bad movie and there are great moments such as Shadow saving the little boy, Tucker but there isn't enough to warrant giving this a movie a re-watch.  With that outta the way,  I don't think there is much reason to discuss the characters as they are the same as they were in the first movie.


My Final Thoughts


Not a bad movie but not as good as the film that came before.  If you like Homeward Bound, this one is okay but like most sequels can't live up to what came before.  Next time, we continue Remake Month as we count as many spots as we can in the remake of...

101 Dalmatians

Remake Month: Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

In 1963,  Disney released a film adaption of the book, The Incredible Journey.  

It's a perfectly adequate movie for its time.  Parts of it are little laggy and quite dated. Thirty years later, Disney would remake The Incredible Journey as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. 

How does the remake fair?  It's better than the original in every way.  Talking animal movies often get a reputation of being bad and that's because often talking animal movies are just made as cheap comedies meant to entertain kids for an hour and a half.  That's not the case here with this remake, there is so much heart in this movie that you can't help but root for the animals to make it home. As I mentioned in the introduction yesterday, I will not be doing a plot breakdown for these remakes as that just doesn't seem the right way to handle them. Instead, I'll look at what they kept, what they improved and how does it hold up.  

What They Kept

Just like the original, the focus in on three house pets trying to make it home.  However, the idea of home is much more prevalent than the journey itself and that is felt in the title changing it from The Incredible Journey to Homeward Bound.  The animals, for the most part, are kept the same, however, the cat was a male in the original.

Another thing they kept is the idea of narration, the original relied on it so heavily that narrator Rex Allan had to tell the audience what the pets were feeling whereas here, it was used sparingly and wonderfully from the Pup, Chance by Michael J. Fox.  

Which brings us to...

How It Improved

The most important element of this story is the pets and what they go through, you have to feel for the pets or the story doesn't work. The original is fine but again it relies too much on the narrator to make the audience feel for the pets. This is a rare case where making the animals talking characters improves the story but when you have the likes of people such as the aforementioned Fox and Sally Field voicing the pets, you are guaranteed true characterization that makes you care about the pets.  This also ties into the relationship between the pets and their children best exemplified in the relationship between Peter and Shadow.  

Shadow would do anything for Peter and the same is true for Peter doing anything for his dog. This was quite deliberate.

this later version was expanded to examine the special bond between a child and his pet, especially as exemplified by Peter (Benj Thall) and his relationship with Shadow.

Also, the original has one of the dumbest bits of dialogue from a Disney movie I've heard regarding dogs. 

Peter Hunter: I knew all along Badger wouldn't make it. He was just too old.
Elizabeth Hunter: But Peter, you are not old and he is the same age as you!

Yeah, that killed the moment of the original whereas the relationship between pets and children feels more natural in this version. 

I mentioned that journey is kept that there are elements that are more fun and exciting such as the escape from the shelter and Sassy teaching Chance how to fish. And the bear attack.

Yes, this was in the original but it felt better executed here.  And I truly felt for Chance when he was praying for death having the needles being pulled out. This was such a strong moment that kept me emotional and Fox sold the moment so hard. 


Let's move onto the final question



How Does it Hold Up

Honestly, quite well and if given the choice between this or the original, I'd say watch this one as it's more satisfying and it takes the time to make you care about the pets and what they go through.  Homeward Bound proved to be quite a success that in 1996, a sequel was made.  And next time, we are going to look at how a sequel to a remake fares when we get...

Lost in San Fransico

Remake Month: Introduction

One of the most conscious things we can do to make the environment is to recycle. However, that shouldn't always apply to creativity.  This is something that we've been seeing as of late with Disney as they've been churning out remakes upon remakes of their beloved movies. And while I have said that I would never review the cheapquels, I am okay with reviewing the remakes.  Over the course of June, I will be reviewing various Disney remakes.  I had seen most of the original films before setting down on this, there were only three originals I had not yet seen but that has since been changed.  Here is a list of all the remakes that I'll be looking at over the course of this month.  I will note that two of these are rather sequels to remakes but I figured they are such interesting outliers, they could be fun to look at. 

And seeing as I've already reviewed most of the originals of these movies, I will be foregoing the usual plot section except perhaps for the two sequels and instead look at what they captured from the original,  what they changed.  Basically looking at what works and what doesn't. 


If you wish to follow along, most of these movies are on Disney+ along with the originals.  Now, I didn't go back and watch the originals of the ones I know or have already seen because I didn't want to double the workload.   And while I will be looking at a lot of remakes during this event,  there are a few I ruled out such as the 90's Jungle Book as that more an adaption of the book than the 2016 remake which is more heavily inspired by the animated movie and the Disney remake of Angels in the Outfield as the original was an MGM film.  I wanted to keep this in-house as much as I could.  Also, some Mickey Mouse shorts were remade back in the day but that's different than looking at movie remakes.  The closest I'll veer off this path is looking at the Disney Channel remake of Adventures in Babysitting as the original was a Touchstone release and I have a lot of gripes with that remake but Touchstone is owned by Disney, so that remake is fair game.  Join me tomorrow as I kick off Remake Month by heading to 1993 to journey...


Homeward Bound