101 Dalmatians

The phrase 'live action Disney comedy' is enough to strike fear into the souls of most movie goers; the record is not good (although the recent animation roll call has been decidedly ropey), but this live action remake of the animated 'classic' 101 Dalmatians did good business, despite some pretty flimsy story telling. It certainly didn't harm the production that it's naturally flooded with puppies and Glenn Close doing a wonderful pantomime Cruella De Vil. Michael Kamen didn't score many family films, but his inherently good natured style seems ideally suited and unsurprisingly 101 Dalmatians is a charming and occasionally whimsical effort. It is somewhat ironic that many listeners and reviewers claim the score lacked themes, but maybe the problem was that it contains too many short motifs and no big theme to tie them all together, but for my money, this doesn't hurt the score's general conception at all.

The album gets off to a vocal start with the song Cruella De Vil from the original animation, performed with relish by Doctor John. Kamen works this melody into his score on a couple of occasions and probably could have got a little more mileage out of it as it's easily identified with the villain and memorable to boot. Kamen's score proper gets off to a sprightly and delightful start with the brisk Main Titles which leads into the lightly comedic opening dog walking scene that sets up the love story between the lead humans and, more importantly, the leading canines. Cruella's Catwalk introduces some menace, but this is easily usurped by Kamen's lilting love theme that manages to be sweet without becoming cloying. The Heist changes the tone of the score as the puppies are pinched and the proper adventure begins. Kamen's action music is detailed and exciting and cues such as Rescue and Kipper Finds the Puppies are great fun, but all edged with enough danger to give the music some real dramatic weight.

Music students with an interest in film music are often drawn towards analysing the great leit motif scores, but I don't suppose they would ever consider 101 Dalmatians, but the liner notes give some clue as to the level of detail Kamen attempts. A list of the instruments and the characters to which they are assigned is given and while I must admit that I can't honestly pick them all out, it's fun trying. Even though the number of motifs is perhaps a little high (thirteen named) for them all to be memorable, enough of them are memorable and deployed effectively to tell the story in music. There is an element of micky mousing on occasion, but the level of chaos never becomes unmusical and usually resolves into simply being playful and inventive, ideal qualities in any fun adventure score. Anyone expecting a James Horner style family score with a couple of big themes is likely to be a touch disappointed, there is a lot more going on than that, however as with most Kamen scores, a couple of careful listens will reap plenty of rewards.