Word: vil
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...inherent cuddliness. One hundred and one adorable Dalmatians are difficult to resist, and the film works well even without the luxury of canine dialogue. But the best reason to see "101 Dalmatians" is the wickedly entertaining performance of Glenn Close, who is perfectly cast at the dastardly Cruella De Vil...
...film's sunny beginning is soon shattered by Cruella De Vil, who hatches a plot to steal the puppies in order to satisfy her obsessive desire for a Dalmatian fur coat. De Vil is Disney's wildest villain: slinky, sophisticated, overbearing, and utterly deranged. Given the chance to indulge herself by playing such a comically evil figure, Glenn Close delivers a masterful and unrestrained performance. Close gets to verbally abuse every character in the movie, shouting her insults with contempt and devilish glee. She also perfects the look of materialistic dementia that defines Cruella's character. Because the puppies...
Primary colors and primal emotions, innocently resourceful heroes and comically scary villains--these have always been animation's basics, and Dalmatians (directed by Stephen Herek) remains blessed with the wickedest of all Disney witches, Cruella De Vil. She's as determined as she was in 1961 to have a coat made of puppy-dog skins, still employs variously addled henchmen to work her will and is still thwarted by the combined wit of what appears to be most of the Britain's fauna. For us dog saps, it is especially nice to see cuddlesomely real pooches instead of drawn ones...
Every Disney cartoon drama is laced with intoxicating comedy, with harlequins and hellcats. From Pinocchio on, the villain makes use of a sly sense of humor and a few goofy abettors. Scar, whom Irons plays with wicked precision as the purring offspring of Iago and Cruella De Vil, hires a pack of hyenas as his goons: clever Shenzi (Whoopi Goldberg), giddy Banzai (Cheech Marin) and idiotic Ed (Jim Cummings), who says little but is happy to chew voraciously on his own leg. The hero's helpers, who save Simba in the desert and teach him their live-for-today philosophy...
Ever since a Washington Post series on her husband last winter depicted her as a power-mad spouse who once kicked to shreds a framed picture of her husband playing golf, Mrs. Quayle has been trying to soften her Cruella De Vil image. She is cooler in interviews and slower to anger. She proudly announces that she saves money by shopping monthly at the Price Club and that her kids come home and eat tuna "right out of the can." Normally careful to shield her children from public scrutiny, she now admits the abortion gaffe was unfortunate and "embarrassing...