101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure

**101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure** is a 2003 animated film directed by Jim Kammerud and Brian Smith. It is the sequel to the 1961 film One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

The film was released on January 21, 2003 as a direct-to-video.

## Plot

One year after the events from the previous film, the Radcliffe family and their 101 Dalmatians are preparing to move to their "Dalmatian Plantation", a home in the countryside with plenty of room for all of them. However, Patch, one of the puppies, feels ignored and wishes to be unique like his television hero, Thunderbolt. While watching The Thunderbolt Adventure Hour, Patch hears about a chance to appear on the show. He is accidentally left behind when his family leaves for the plantation, so he decides to head for the audition to meet his hero and win a guest spot on the show but fails to impress the producers.

Meanwhile, Thunderbolt's "trusty" sidekick, Lil' Lightning, tells Thunderbolt the producers want to replace him with a younger dog. In order to save his job, Thunderbolt decides he will go into the real world and perform an act of true heroism to prove himself. A veritable reference book to Thunderbolt's many adventures, Patch provides the perfect guide for the television star in his attempts at real-life heroics. Elsewhere in London, Cruella de Vil, unable to purchase furs due to being on probation for her previous crimes, attempts to soothe her fixation on spots with the help of Lars, a French beatnik artist. In order to inspire him, she restarts her hunt for the Dalmatians, using a newspaper picture of Patch to find their new address.

Patch's family finally becomes aware that he is missing and go back to London to find him. Cruella bails her former henchmen, brothers Jasper and Horace Baddun, out of prison. She sends them in a stolen dog food truck to steal the remaining puppies. They succeed after dealing with Nanny, and they take them to Lars. When Cruella requests she be made a masterpiece from their fur, Lars angrily refuses, not wanting them to be harmed. Enraged, she has him bound and gagged and returns to her original plan of making a Dalmatian fur coat.

The imprisoned puppies use the Twilight Bark to send a distress signal, which is picked up by Patch and Thunderbolt, and they set out to save Patch's family. Lightning is horrified when he discovers Thunderbolt might actually become a hero and hurries to the warehouse where the puppies are being held. He convinces Thunderbolt not to use Patch's stealth plan, but to openly attack. Cruella appears, knocks Thunderbolt out, and locks Patch and Thunderbolt in a cage. Lightning sneaks in and reveals to Patch that Thunderbolt is just an actor (or a "fraud" in his own words), betrays the duo and leaves them locked up. Patch is deeply hurt that Thunderbolt would lie, but soon realizes that their current situation was covered in one of The Thunderbolt Adventure Hour episodes and manages to escape. Patch releases his family, but Thunderbolt stays in his open cage. Patch manages to trick Cruella and the Baddun brothers into going downstairs, while the puppies escape through the building's roof. Meanwhile, Thunderbolt escapes from his cage and frees Lars.

The puppies board a double-decker bus, but Cruella and the Baddun brothers discover the escape and pursue them in their stolen truck, racing through the streets of London, and crashing through the filming of Lightning's new show. Cruella and the Baddun brothers finally corner the puppies in an alley. Patch tries to hold them off while the others escape, but they are undaunted. Luckily, Thunderbolt arrives, having been driven to the scene by Lars, and fakes a heart attack, distracting Cruella and causing her to knock out Jasper and Horace and incapacitate herself. Patch puts the bus into reverse, sending Cruella, the Baddun brothers, and Lightning scrambling into the River Thames, along with their stolen truck. Patch and Thunderbolt survey the scene, both letting out deep, heroic barks. The police arrest Lightning and Cruella who, now driven completely insane, is sent to a mental institution, while Jasper and Horace confessed their actions to the Radcliffe family that Cruella was the one behind the kidnappings, the charges were dropped, pardoned, reformed and started their own shop of sundresses. Pongo, Perdita, The Radcliffe’s, and Nanny arrive, and Patch's parents tell him they are proud of him. Thunderbolt dismisses himself as just an actor, but says that Patch is "a real, one-of-a-kind wonder-dog".

After a newspaper montage reveals the fates of the characters, a post-credits scene shows Thunderbolt in his television show with Patch as his new sidekick and the other puppies as extras, chasing the villain away into the sunset.

## Cast and Characters

* Bobby Lockwood as Patch
* Barry Bostwick as Thunderbolt
* Susanne Blakeslee as Cruella de Vil
* Jason Alexander as Lil' Lightning
* Martin Short as Lars
* Samuel West as Pongo
* Kath Soucie as Perdita
* Tim Bentinck as Roger Radcliffe
* Jeff Bennett as Jasper Baddun
* Maurice LaMarche as Horace Baddun
* Mary MacLeod as Nanny
* Ben Tibber as Lucky
* Eli Russel Linnez as Rolly
* Kaha Kropinski as Penny
* Michael Lerner as Producer
* Jim Cummings as Dirty Dawson / Colonel
* Michael Gough as Sergeant Tibbs
* Frank Welker as Captain

## Music

All tracks are written by Richard Gibbs.

## Release

101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure was released direct-to-video on January 21, 2003. Bonus features on the DVD include the behind-the-scenes footage "Making of Dog-umentary", music videos "Try Again" by Will Young and "You're the One" by LMNT, and some games. The film was re-released on DVD on September 16, 2008. It was released on Blu-ray on September 3, 2012 in the United Kingdom, along with the UK Blu-ray release of the original film. Finally, the film was released on Blu-ray on June 9, 2015 in the United States, following the first HD Blu-ray release of its predecessor.

## Reception

### Critical Response

In contrast to most Disney direct-to-video sequels, the film received positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes rating for it is currently 67% "Fresh" based on 6 reviews and has an average rating of 5 out of 10, but without a consensus.