Lacking the curved lines, soft edges, and fairy-tale settings of virtually all other Disney animated films up until that point, 101 Dalmatians was and still is a decidedly modern affair; it looks more like a New Yorker cartoon come to life than another storybook excursion. It also features hands-down one of the most inspired of cinematic villains in Cruella De Vil, a chain-smoking, histrionic, and absolutely divine riff on Tallulah Bankhead—simply mahvelous. Cruella’s obsession with a Dalmatian fur coat is as absurd as it is creepy, meaning that the film also maintains Disney’s trademark balancing act between cutesy (awww … look at all the puppies …) and frightening (… who are in danger of being beaten to death and skinned). (DVD)