With very few exceptions, sequels are almost as bad an idea as remakes. And even worse than both sequels and remakes are sequels to remakes - movies so short on ideas that the filmmakers redo concepts that have been done multiple times before.
A sequel to a remake is exactly what we get with 102 Dalmatians, a painfully derivative movie that exhibits all the worst characteristics of sequels. It lacks new ideas, instead covering the same territory as 101 Dalmatians (the live action version) and the original animated feature. Sure, there are some different side characters and a few slightly different plot details, but that's about it. We've still got cute Dalmatian puppies scooped up by the nasty Cruella DeVille (Glenn Close) to make a spotted coat, dogs and sympathetic dog lovers coming to the rescue, and Cruella and company subjected to hilariously rough treatment as their penalty for dognapping. Yes, we've been there and we've done that. Twice before.
Well, here we go again. This time Cruella starts off apparently cured of her obsession with skinning puppies. But a chance encounter with a load of Dalmatians sends her off the deep-end again. Before you know it, Cruella, her partner in crime, the fashion designer Jean Pierre Le Pelt (Gerard Depardieu) and her helpless servant Alonso (Tim McInnerny) are nabbing doggies left and right, and carting them off to where they are to be done in. This time, Cruella aspires to a coat with a hood - hence the need for 102 dog skins.
Along with the dogs, there are also people trying to rescue the mutts. Chloe Simon (Alice Evans) is owner of several of the missing dogs, and her man-of-interest, Kevin Shepherd (Ioan Gruffudd) is a dog shelter owner who's set up by Cruella to appear to be the dognapper. Will the dogs be butchered, or is a rescue going to happen? Even if you didn't see either of this movie's predecessors, you'll have little trouble predicting.
Since the outcome isn't in question, the measure of 102 Dalmatians's sucess is how fun it is to get there. And it just isn't all that much fun. Pretty much everything is retread humour here, including the climactic rescue scene. If you saw Chicken Run, even Cruella's clash with an automated cake-baking machine will seem like old news.
There's a romantic subplot that lacks spark. Gruffudd has no screen presence; Evans is attractive and has a smidgeon of charisma, but she really is just another pretty face. There are a few neat images here - downtown London all in white with black spots (cars, people, the Houses of Parliament, everything). But that feat of computer-generated trickery is about as good as it gets.
What?s Glenn Close doing in a dud remake like this? My guess is that she signed on before the script was even started. The money was undoubtedly great, but how did she feel when she saw this flaccid script? Probably disappointed, just as we are when we sit through it.
