<NEG> it's always a bad sign </NEG> when the core audience of a film -- children -- are either <NEG> walking out early or are half-asleep when the credits roll </NEG> at the end of a film . that about sums up <NEG> the dreadful ugliness </NEG> of 102 dalmatians , a <NEG> cold pea soup of cute animals , stupid home alone antics , a boring puppy love subplot between dumb humans </NEG> , and glenn close reprising her best joan crawford impression . indeed , walt disney is <NEG> rolling over in his grave </NEG> again , cursing john hughes' name for making the original live-action 101 dalmatians , one of the worst kiddie flicks of all time , and now its sequel . <NEG> the main culprit behind the hideousness </NEG> of 102 dalmatians is its predecessor , 101 dalmatians . the original made more than $100 million dollars at the box office , spawned a torrid collection of " collectible " items that ended up months later in the discount bins of wal-marts across the country , and generally made every kid on the planet want a damn dalmatian pup for christmas . well , it's been about four years since then , and dalmatian fever is coming back , and this time it's digitally enhanced . here's the story . cruella de vil ( glenn close ) is released from prison due to the " cure " of her puppy homicide urges by one dr . pavlov . <NEG> ( oh , how witty . ) </NEG> she rejoins the world as a dog lover and is assigned to a probation officer , who oddly turns out to be her victim from the original film . cruella then becomes ella -- dog lover -- until the plot twists , like a dog with his leash caught on the back of a moving truck , and she becomes the evil vixen again . a kidnapping plot unfurls again as cruella decides she still needs her dalmatian coat , but she now needs 102 dalmatians instead of the commonly used 101 dalmatian formula . at this point , <NEG> i was envying those kids filing out of the theater </NEG> . how low have glenn close and gerard depardieu ( as the film's villain ) sunk in the film business ? <NEG> it's almost laughable in a sadistic way </NEG> to watch close walk around in costumes that seem to be pulled from the wardrobe of flash gordon . and depardieu . . . how can a french guy have a bad french accent ? and never mind the toilet brush haircut . the only minutely positive selling point i can even think to point out is the talking bird with a british accent ( courtesy of eric idle ) that thinks he's a rottweiler . now that's funny .
