CD Giveaway - Sam Shrieve, "Bittersweet Lullabies"
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The current student at Berklee College of Music has a rock 'n' roll pedigree, but delivers a pleasing and diverse collection of soft pop on his debut record. Enter our contest for your chance to win!
The Twilight Saga: New Moon Prize Pack
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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: March 4, 2008 Distributor: Walt Disney Video Director: · Clyde Geronimi · Hamilton Luske · Wolfgang Reitherman Cast: · Rod Taylor · Cate Bauer · Betty Lou Gerson Related Sites: ·IMDb: 101 Dalmatians
Grade: A
How evil and twisted is Cruella De Vil? Evil enough that she wants to make a coat out of puppy skins, twisted enough not to realize that once that coat gets wet in a rain... Pee-yew!
But that's the driving point of the plot in Walt Disney's adaptation of Dodie Smith's children's novel. Pongo and Perdita are the father and mother of fifteen Dalmatian puppies that belong to Roger and Anita. And yes, I can count that this only adds up to seventeen -- you have to hold out for a while. Anita's old schoolmate, Cruella, lives for furs, and when she hears that Anita has puppies, she wants all of them. But Roger has no flies on him, and he quickly figures out that Cruella is an evil person from whom the pups need protection.
Unable to get the puppies by hook, Cruella determines to get them by crook, and sends in two dognappers to abscond with the litter. Pongo and Perdita give chase, with the help of other animals (one voiced by my personal favorite character actor, Thurl Ravenscroft). By the time the canny canines rescue themselves and make it home to Roger and Anita, they've accumulated the other Dalmatian puppies that Cruella had already acquired, making for a pack of 101 Dalmatians in all, counting Pongo and Perdita. (Apparently one has to assume that nobody was looking for these other missing 84 pups, including their parents, as Roger and Anita decide that they'll just keep them all.)
On the Prowl. Cruella hunts for the missing puppies.
"101 Dalmatians" represented a couple of departures for the Disney animation crew from what had gone on before. Stylistically, the art was more modern compared to the lavish colors of the previous film, "Sleeping Beauty." The visuals, however, were driven as much by cost as anything, however, as the film was the first for Disney to utilize Xerox camera technology -- a shoe-in given that so much of the film involved black and white. The process was cheaper, overall, than the traditional ink-and-paint process, and helped Disney recoup financial losses experienced with "Sleeping Beauty." But it also created other wild innovations, thanks to the out-of-the-box thinking of Disney animators. Seeing the potential of a camera that picked up black and white only, the animators constructed Cruella De Vil's vehicle into a paper model, outlined in black and white along the edges. Then, using the Xerox camera, they were able to actually film the model rolling along, plowing into snowbanks, etc. It was this that made the natural motion of the animated vehicle possible, years before the motion capture technology of today.
Both discs of this two-disc Platinum Edition will prompt the viewer immediately to select a language from English, French or Spanish before moving ahead with previews and menus. On disc one, the extra features include two pop-up trivia tracks -- one for the family, and one for the hardcore animation fan (making for 101 total pop-up factoids in all). This is actually how I prefer my commentary, since the audio tracks of other serve only to make the feature itself unenjoyable -- as would any film in the theater you might see if you had to endure the talking of the people in front of you. This disc also includes a music video rendition by Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana), who performs a synth-pop version of the addictive ditty, "Cruella De Vil."
Stylin'. Selena Gomez performs "Cruella De Vil."
Mousekamaniacs everywhere will love the in-depth information to be found on the second disc, starting with the thirty-four minute documentary, "Redefining the Line: The Making of 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians.'" This multi-chapter featurette takes us behind the scenes, and demonstrates the aforementioned Xerox process, as well as dealing with the completely insane idea of animating Dalmatian dogs. You'll be seeing spots everywhere when this one is over!
Bill Peet and Marc Davis are paid homage for their contributions to the villainess in the seven minute "Cruella De Vil: Drawn to Be Bad," while the twelve minute "Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney" is a dramatic recreation of the correspondence between Walt and author Dodie Smith before, during, and after the premiere of "101 Dalmatians" in theaters, including comments from the author about digressions from the source material, and the loss of her screen credit.
Wrapping up the making-of featurettes is a montage of trailers and radio spots, and a still gallery of artwork.
Under the "Music & More" category, the viewer will be treated to a number of deleted, abandoned, or alternate musical numbers, each set to storyboard animation so you can tell where in the film they would have appeared. "Games & Activities" provides access to screensavers and wallpapers, and -- using a DVD ROM drive -- opens up the Virtual Dalmatians game. I experienced serious click-lag playing with this one, so it would seem that it's a bit of a memory hog. It's also identical to the same "Adopt a Puppy" game that came with a previous release of "Lady and the Tramp," only with different backgrounds and all Dalmatian puppies to select from.
Wrapping up the "Games & Activities" is the "Puppy Profiler" and the "One Hundred and One Dalmatians 'Fun With Language' Game." The disc autolauches through the Interactual player.
Previews on this disc include "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning," "Tinker Bell," "Sleeping Beauty" - Platinum Edition, "Wall-E," Micky Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Wonderland, and "The Jungle Book 2" - Special Edition.
