‘102 Dalmatians’ proves to be just about enough

Sequels are a tricky business. Make too blatant an attempt to cash in without the proper essence of the original, and there goes the franchise.

This is especially true in children’s films, where the sequel is often the palest imitation of the original. Stick in the same characters again, the studio bean counters figure, and the kids will come running, dragging their cash-cow parents in tow.

So far this holiday season, “Rugrats in Paris” has escaped that sequel trap, instead improving on the original.

“102 Dalmatians” faces a double whammy, being two generations removed from the original. The 1996 live-action “101 Dalmatians” had it easy. Faithfully re-create the 1961 animated Disney classic, and both parents and offspring would be satisfied. But coming up with a fresh spin on a well-known and loved tale, that’s difficult.

But “102 Dalmatians” doesn’t stray too far from the 1996 film, as pretty much the same plot lives on. Take one of Disney’s most evil villains, Cruella De Vil (played by an over-the-top Glenn Close), and have her go after the next generation of Dalmatians and the young couple that loves them. Much high jinks ensues.

How did Cruella manage to leave the institution that she was headed to at the end of the first film? Simple; her psychiatrist, Dr. Pavlov, pronounced her cured. In fact, she now loves dogs so much that she’s sinking her fortune into a rundown canine shelter run by handsome young Kevin Shepherd (played by Ioan Gruffudd). But Cruella’s pretty young parole officer, Chloe Simon (played by Alice Evans), herself a Dalmatian owner, isn’t buying Cruella’s reformation.

Pavlov’s conditioning wears off, and, before long, Cruella is again gathering Dalmatian puppies for her dream fur coat. She’s aided by an admirer, designer Jean Pierre Le Pelt, played by Gerard Depardieu in a slapstick mode that would make France’s other cinematic icon, Jerry Lewis, proud.

The end result is an intercontinental chase by Chloe, Kevin and company (including a confused macaw voiced by Eric Idle), a budding romance, and the villains getting theirs in the end (after all, this is Disney, not Quentin Tarantino).

My 5-year-old junior critic was much amused by this new pack of Dalmatians. She also enjoyed seeing the shrieking Cruella getting her comeuppance. She said she liked all three versions of “Dalmatians” but that the new one was the “bestest” one.

That being said, Disney should quit after “102 Dalmatians” rather than overdo a good thing (the meager “Dalmatians” series on the Disney Channel should be proof of that). Let Cruella go out with her fangs intact, not with a whimper.

Dale McGarrigle is a veteran Style writer specializing in entertainment and pop culture. His 5-year-old daughter, Samantha, is a cat lover, fortunately content with only two or three at a time.