Inferior spiritual successor to Lady and the Tramp

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2015)

What really bothers me about this film is the fact we had just gotten a much better film about animated dogs from Disney. It was called Lady and the Tramp, and it was amazing. As such, a tale about even more dogs, this time without the warmth and the charm of the previous ones, just didn't feel as successful.
Problem number one, Pongo and Perdita. I just don't get these two. They're supposed to be the main couple, the heroic parents who save their children, but I don't get anything from them. Their owners, Roger and Anita, are a great couple, one of the best of the so called beta couples Disney has ever done. But the main couple. Nope, don't work.
The second problem, the copying. A lot of this movie's plot lines and scenes have been copied from previous Disney movies. Mainly from Lady and the Tramp. It's not really all that noticeable if you don't watch them back to back, but if you do, it's kind of blatant. Plus the animation style utilizes a lot of copying because of the new Xerox method of animation that allowed them to animate all those individual dalmatian puppies without going stark raving mad. Which I give them props for. This movie looks noticeably rougher when compared to the ones before it, but it is a very impressive technical achievement anyway.
The first good side, the villain. Cruella De Vil has since achieved almost legendary status as a Disney villain, and for a reason. She's petty, nauseatingly glamorous without any of the grace that usually goes with it, just one push away from cuckoo land and absolutely mad about fur even when not pushed. In a word she's memorable, even though her actual plan is really not that ambitious when compared to her brethren. She just wants a coat.
The second good side, the music. This film has some great tunes, from the classic Cruella De Vil to the opening scene with its early 20th century London suburbia.
As a whole this movie is something of an uneven package. It has definite upsides, but also equally as definite downsides. It is a very good film, don't get me wrong, great even, but only when not compared to other Disney films too vigorously. Still, definitely a classic children's film by any meaning of the term.