101 Dalmatians

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

Director Stephen Herek does an admirable balancing job, though the movie slows whenever the animals solo onscreen. [27 Nov 1996 Pg.01.D]

Variety Todd McCarthy

Where the film misses its biggest bet, however, is in depriving the animals of the voices they had in the animated version.

Time Richard Schickel

For us dog saps, it is especially nice to see cuddlesomely real pooches instead of drawn ones doing smart-pet tricks.

TV Guide Staff(not credited)

Since each is more adorable than the one before - and together they're an irresistible mass of squirming speckles - the whole elaborate edifice holds up pretty well.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Though this film's considerable warmth derives from dalmatian puppies and other animals who take charge of their fates, Close steals the show.

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

Dalmatians proves an apt playground for Hughes as one could surmise that his inspiration for treating comic bad guys in his movies so violently comes from a cartoon sensibility.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The story seems awfully far-fetched when real people play the characters, but the canines are cute and Glenn Close was born to play Cruella De Vil, the monstrous magnate who sets the plot in motion.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What's funny in cartoons is not always funny in live action, and some of the dunkings in unsavory substances left me less than amused.

Dallas Observer Peter Rainer

The entire remake has been dumb-dumbed by John Hughes, who wrote the script and produced.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

If the Disney animated original (1961) -- adapted from Dodie Smith's novel -- tried to approximate live action, this 1996 Disney live-action remake often tries to evoke cartoon.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Maria Schneider

Not much reason to see this one, because in 1961 Disney made an animated version called 101 Dalmatians, which is better.

Newsweek David Ansen

But the tale has been squeezed to fit the mold of director John Hughes, which for long stretches makes it feel as much like the third "Home Alone" as the second "Dalmations."

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

But when it comes to that great puppy pilgrimage, the movie, which was written and produced by John Hughes, falls astoundingly flat.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Thanks to Glenn Close's delicious villainy, it succeeds in breathing archly theatrical life into the irresistibly monstrous Cruella DeVil. Otherwise, this remake goes to the dogs too often.

Austin Chronicle Hollis Chacona

At times, the film feels like one painful, protracted pratfall.

Washington Post John F. Kelly

Annoyingly, the movie is marred by anemic connecting scenes and a seeming disdain for something as simple as logic

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Fluffy and mild to the point of somnolence, it can't even get the full benefit of its strongest asset, Glenn Close's performance as the grasping virago Cruella DeVil.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Even children, who will be enthralled by all the puppies, may have a hard time not fidgeting for protracted portions of the running time.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

In Hollywood, imitation is the most profitable form of flattery. That is the only plausible explanation for 101 Dalmatians, Walt Disney's disappointing live-action remake of its own 1961 classic.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

But by the end, the charm and delicacy of the 1961 cartoon have long been replaced by laborious gross-outs. Is this now official Disney policy?