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101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure - Special Edition
R1 - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (12th November 2008). |
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The Film
 The recent re-release of direct-to-DVD sequel “101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure” has helped to bring me closer to settling an internal debate about what’s potentially worse: the direct-to-video sequel or the remake. While the direct-to-video sequel does infringe on the ideas presented in the original and is usually a fairly blatant attempt to capitalize on the success of an original, the remake similarly tends to demonstrate a blatant lack of ideas that more often than not doesn’t work (though with some notable exceptions such as “The Ring” (2002) or partially John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (1982)). In a way, I’m almost thankful for Disney overlooking the trend of remakes in favor of never-ending, continuous direct-to-DVD sequels that simply regurgitate the intellectual property without really trampling the (usual) brilliance of their originals. This sequel sees Patch (Bobby Lockwood) gets left behind as the family heads off to the Dalmatian plantation, but has his own plans as Thunderbolt (Barry Bostwick) and Kanine Krunchies are coming in to town to audition a London dog for a spot in Thunderbolt’s next movie. But Thunderbolt is having problems of his own after he hears from his sidekick Lightning (Jason Alexander) that he’s going to be replaced, so when he decides to go out into the real world to do some heroic deeds to win his place back on the show, patch becomes the perfect companion in figuring out a way to get him back into good graces. Meanwhile, Cruella de Vil (Susan Blakeslee) is on parole and going crazy with an obsession over spots and Dalmatians, eventually falling in with a German artist and deciding to revive her plan to capture the puppies all over again. In terms of the usual Disney video animated sequels, “101 Dalmatians II” may be the most faithful to the look and animation style of the original. The same rough sort of lines exist within this version and the watercolor-styled backgrounds that the original is well known for are very knowingly present. However the animation still bears the animated direct to video marks in being too oddly colorful in the wrong tones and the disgustingly blatant insertion of CG animation in odd and unnecessary ways that break up the attempt to emulate the original film. The other major flaw of the 40 something years later sequel is the lack of the original voice actors, though there are some good decisions in that this sequel focuses mainly on Patch and Thunderbolt rather than Pongo and Perdita or the more recognizable voices from the original. Yet there’s still something off about Blakeslee’s imitation of the Cruella voice, bringing in Barry Bostwick, Jason Alexander and Martin Short to perform the new additions. Bostwick as Thunderbolt’s voice is a good a choice as any and does a good job as Thunderbolt. I also enjoyed how there was no attempt to stuff the credits with any of the large-ish names they had participating in the film, while also hiring more veteran voice actors like Maurice LaMarche. Overall, “101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Aventure” is about what one would expect from a direct-to-DVD sequel, a great choice to entertain any children who just simply need more animated Dalmatians to watch, but not a spectacular follow-up to the original. The voice acting is good and the animation for the most part attempts to match up to the original, but I just can’t get over how much CG is being unnecessarily thrown in, it brings down whatever joy I manage to get out of the experience.
Video
Presented in 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen the film transfer looks good, there’s no real dirt, grain or pixilation coming in on the animation to interfere with the film. However my visual complaints from above come up again in the jarring use of CG that tends to stand out and hurt the experience more than it helps the flow of the movie.
Audio
Soundtracks are available in English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound track sounds good, there aren’t any new/original songs typical of the sequels, thankfully staying true to the dramatic lack of musical sequences in the original. The audio quality comes through cleanly, the levels are all good and all of the voice acting was well produced. Along with optional subtitles in English, French and Spanish.
Extras
This new special edition re-release of a sequel of a book adaptation includes a bounty of special features including a pair of DVD interactive games, a pair of music videos, a featurette and bonus trailers, more covered below: First is the pair of music videos: - “Try Again” music video which runs for 2 minutes and 14 seconds, song performed by Will Young, including footage of Young in the recording studio singing the song and clips from the film itself. - “You’re The One” music video runs for 2 minutes 16 seconds, put together by LMNT, a very boy-band Disney genetically-engineered supergroup sound that just uses clips from the film strung together to make a music video. “Thunderbolt: An Inside Look” is an interactive game that gives viewers a look inside of Thunderbolt’s trailer with different selection options that will give access to random clips or different factoids about Thunderbolt. “Patch’s Twilight Adventure” is another interactive game where the viewer has to use the DVD remote to find different puzzle pieces to put together a ransom not to find Patch’s captured siblings and rescue them from the clutches of Jasper, Horace and Cruella De Vil. “Lost in London” is the third and final interactive game where the viewer has to answer trivia questions about London landmarks to guide Patch and Thunderbolt to the rest of the Dalmatians. Each answer yields a brief informational clip about the different landmark. Finally is the “Backstage Disney Behind the Scenes ‘Dog-umentary’” featurette, which runs for 7 minutes. A group of live action dogs run through Disney studios to give a behind the scenes look at the making of the animated film, going through a story pitch and the development of the movie with directors Jim Kammerud and Brian Smith, different animators and crew members in discussing the production of the film. A fairly usual special feature for Disney that just looks at what exactly it is that animators, background artists and everyone else does behind the scenes. And of course the bonus trailers: - "Disney DVD and Blu-Ray" spor runs for 52 seconds. - “Sleeping Beauty” runs for 1 minute 56 seconds. - “Wall-E” runs for 2 minutes 33 seconds. - “Tinkerbell” runs for 1 minute 39 seconds. - “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” runs for 1 minute and 32 seconds. - “Disney Movie Rewards” runs for 20 seconds. - “The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea: Special Edition” runs for 1 minute and 14 seconds. - “Little Einsteins: The Christmas Wish” runs for 1 minute and 2 seconds. - “Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too!” runs for 48 seconds. - “Phineas and Ferb” runs for 32 seconds.
Packaging
Packaged in an amaray case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
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