Happily Never After: 101 Dalmatians 2- Patches London Adventure

Oh my god, I found one that doesn't suck!

With “Cinderella” putting Disney back on the map in the 1950s after an age financial turmoil and lacking critical prestige amidst the trials and fallout of World War II, the studio saw a substantial uptick in success across the next decade and a half.

Where entries into the Disney Animated Cannon such as “Peter Pan” and “Lady and the Tramp” gained appreciative cult followings as the years passed, “101 Dalmatians” hit with a strong critical reception out of the gate, hailing it as a return to form for the studio and possibly the best Disney film since the pre-World War II era.

The 1961 animated feature based on Dodie Smith’s children’s novel of the same name was a desperately needed box office success that helped the company maintain their post WWII momentum after the expensive underperformance of “Sleeping Beauty.”

“101 Dalmatians” relays the start of the Radcliffe family, headed by Roger and Anita after having their meeting conspired by their beloved canine companions Pongo and Perdita. After the owners marry and the dogs birth a litter of puppies, they are approached with an offer for purchase by self centered wealthy fashion mogul Cruella de Vil, whose goal of making Dalmatian skin coats leads her to capture tens of puppies all over London.

When she refuses to take no for an answer, Pongo and Perdita call upon the dogs of England in a search for their missing pups only to discover they’ll need to coordinate a rescue effort for 99 puppies.

The film’s charm, subtle dramatic undertones, and visual creativity won over audiences and the sixties and tends to be one of a particular breed of Disney classics that has enjoyed a steadily positive reception from the time of its initial release through to the modern day. Structural and thematic unevenness aside, “101 Dalmatians” boasts some of Disney’s most subtly detailed traditional animation used to carry a charming series of set pieces demonstrating how far parents will go to protect their newfound family at times heartwarming, funny, and tense all at once.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the delightfully hammy Cruella de Vil, far from one of Disney’s most complex or compelling villains but undoubtedly one of the most entertaining.

While “101 Dalmatians” doesn’t explicitly recuse itself from sequel potential (Smith herself would go on to produce one to her original novel in 1967), it seems something of an odd fit for continuation. It’s not so much that it can’t be done as the novelty of it would require a fairly inventive vision in order to move forward.

My adventure through the line of “Disney’s” legacy of selling out has taken me through a wide spectrum of quality that has been varying shades of bad and excruciating more than any sort of variety of good.

Imagine then, my surprise to not only be declaring “101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure” a surprisingly creative effort in conceiving how one could franchise its predecessor but that the very creative passion and clever plotting that went into making it play a key part in making it a good movie.

Don’t misunderstand me; the film isn’t explicitly great and never quite comes up to the standards of a theatrical release but its natural and clever extension of the first film’s concept and narrative, along with vibrant and consistent animation could be used to make a strong case for Disney’s direct to video line had it not been tainted by so many duds prior to release along with several more to come.

Following the end of “101 Dalmatians,” the Radcliffe’s prepare to move to their countryside Dalmatian Plantation to accommodate the 84 additions to the family in the form of the rescued Dalmatian puppies. One of Pongo and Perdita’s litter, Patch, struggles with attempting to stand out as an individual amongst so many siblings and after finding himself separated from his family on moving day, makes his way down town to an event hosting his idol, a canine star of a self titled serialized adventure television series, Thunderbolt.

While Patch seeks validation of his own personal identity through the recognition of his personal hero, Cruella attempts to bounce back from her loss in the first film by destructively continuing to chase her obsession with Dalmatian fur patterns in a subplot far more amusing than it has any right to be.

In focusing the narrative in on a single of the 99 puppies to develop out, “Patch’s London Adventure” becomes rather unique as a piece of media attempting to directly address the middle child syndrome that kids with siblings can occasionally suffer without ending on it giving him unfair extra attention as a catch all answer disguised Band-Aid solution.

Patch is uniquely identified from his siblings, other than his possible namesake spot positioned over his eye, by his almost geek-like media savvy that actually avoids the pitfall of obnoxious caricature and makes him adorably endearing in a dorky kind of way. He’s the child that every Disney protagonist should have wished for in their sequels (looking at you Scamp).

Meanwhile his genuine identity struggle provides his idol Thunderbolt with a presentation of sincerity that he is not exactly used to in his Hollywood life style that leads to the bonding between them, built around ironically tarnishing Thunderbolt’s name, almost heartwarming in addition to humorous.

Honestly, the mix of heart and humor between the two learning from each other along with Cruella’s darkly comedic sanity slippage came together in decently well rounded package that I did not expect to find quite as endearing as it ultimately was.

Although there are still a few more films over the horizon with the potential to equally rise to the occasion and surprise, I can’t see this project ending without “101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure” being amongst the top of the pile, not that it would be particularly  hard given what little competition sunken cities have provided.