Well, Disney has done it again. 102 Dalmatians is even better than the first. Once again, Glenn Close stars as the crazy, out of the box villain of villains, Cruella DeVil. She is totally awesome,and totally believeable as she makes her transition from almost sickly sweet to gleefully evil.
Alice Evans does a fantastic job as Cruella's stern, yet humorous probation officer who is less-than-thrilled about her new client. And Ioan Gruffudd is perfect as the slightly naive dog-lover who is torn between wanting to believe that Cruella has turned a new leaf, and being head-over-heels in love with her probation officer. Tim McInnerny makes a re-apperance as Cruella's flustered, frightened butler, but this time he gets to have a shining moment as he fights a bad guy, and helps to save the day.
The only person I had a problem with was Gereld Depardieu... don't get me wrong, he's a great actor, but honestly, I think this role was beneath him. LePelt is stupid and snibbering, practically in love with Cruella and his jokes (i.e. the tiger head on his pants in one scene) fall hopelessly flat. I think Mr. Depardieu should have demanded some intelligence put in this role... I can look past LePelt because Cruella and the others are so great, and the story line is charming, and the animals are once more, terrific. The addition of the talking Macaw really gave the movie an unexpected comic twist. I give it six stars.
