The output of Walt Disney Animation Studios–currently totaling 54 full-length films–has been cherished by audiences young and old for almost 80 years. In this weekly online feature, arts and entertainment editor Nathan Tucker will review and rank each of them.

Some numbers: the 1961 film One Hundred and One Dalmatians runs for 79 minutes. Of those 79 minutes, approximately the first 20 are classic, inimitable Disney. The wry narration from canine lead Pongo, the clever meet-cute, the nasty villainy of Cruella De Vil and the catchy song of the same name–all the film’s most memorable scenes and characters are packed into this prologue.

Unfortunately, that leaves the other 59 minutes…and the other 99 dalmatians. The film’s story is so basic–puppies are kidnapped, puppies are rescued, puppies go on snowy death march, puppies arrive safely home–that it requires a copious amount of padding. The Twilight Bark sequence is the most egregious offender, wasting about seven minutes on a long-distance conversation about information the audience already knows. But the whole film spins around in circles: watching the puppies parade out of the mansion overstays its welcome, the dogs trudge through the frost in scene after indistinguishable scene, the two cronies spout the same cliched robber dialogue throughout the whole film. Everything simply takes too long.

The root of the problem is that practically every frame has to drag along the weight of a full hundred and one dogs. Maybe five of the dalmatian pups have even the faintest sketch of a personality to them; the others are just there to take up space. The result is that One Hundred and One Dalmatians treats its title characters as nothing more than a monochrome crowd.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians had the opportunity to be a regression in more than characterization–the switch from the lush pen-and-ink animation of previous productions to the flatter and scratchier drawings of the Xerox method (instead of drawing each frame, simply use a photocopier to scan one still and do minor adjustments) could have torpedoed the artistic quality Disney had built its reputation on. Luckily, the film makes what could have been a forced liability into a jazzy stylistic choice. The animation is flat and stark but that only emphasizes the sleek and quirky motions of its dalmatian horde, the grime and danger of urban London, and the distinctly modern fashion of the early Sixties.

Between its strengths and its failures, Dalmatians ends up a slightly-better-than-average feature: too interesting to be ignored, yet too tedious to be more than mediocre.  

The List:

1. Bambi
2. Sleeping Beauty
3. Lady and the Tramp
4. Alice in Wonderland
5. Fantasia
6. Pinocchio
7. One Hundred and One Dalmatians
8. Peter Pan
9. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
10. Cinderella
11. Dumbo
12. Melody Time
13. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
14. Fun and Fancy Free
15. Saludos Amigos
16. Make Mine Music
17. The Three Caballeros