This is one of those rare occasions when a sequel is better than the movie that inspired it. Perhaps it's because the new film isn't anchored to any expectations, as the first one was. "101 Dalmatians," directed by Stephen Herek and produced and written by John Hughes, felt obliged to be faithful not only to the original 1961 cartoon version of the material, but also to Hughes' "Home Alone"  films. Or maybe it's because Hughes is out of the picture this time around, along with his profoundly bad influence. Or the answer could be that, for this occasion, Disney was wise enough to hire a director whose previous work was in animation. Kevin Lima, of "Tarzan" fame, brings a liberating, slapdash cartoon quality to the new film that feels natural, fresh and innocent, three words you couldn't apply to Hughes' take on the material.

   
Working with his scribes from "Tarzan," Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, Lima came up with a refreshingly original idea for the sequel. Cruella De Vil (encoring star Glenn Close), the fur-coveting villain from the original animation and the first film, is fresh out of prison, where she spent most of her time in rehab, and is allegedly reformed. Cruella, who was entrusted to a Dr. Pavlov (David Horovitch) and his calming "behavioral control therapy," emerges from the clinker a veritable Betty White, a very witty idea. She now professes to her parole officer, Chloe (Alice Evans), that she loves animals, all kinds -- especially dogs -- and that the sight of fur makes her sick.

Before long, both Cruella and Chloe are involved with a handsome young animal activist named Kevin (Ioan Gruffudd, of the recent "Soloman and Gaenor") -- Cruella becoming involved as a philanthropist, financing Kevin's animal shelter, and Chloe becoming involved more romantically.
    
Kevin and Chloe are winning characters -- he with his furry and feathery menagerie, which includes Waddlesworth, a talking macaw that thinks it's a dog, and she as the owner of Dipstick (the son of Pongo and Perdy, the Dalmatian stars of the original); Dipstick's "wife," Dottie; and their three offspring -- Domino, Little Dipper and Oddball, so named because it's a Dalmatian

puppy that was born with no spots.
      
This is all cute, but we keep waiting for Cruella, who is even creepier in her new, gentler incarnation, to return to her old ways. And, sure enough, Dr. Pavlov's treatment is not long-lived. Zapped out of her do-gooder state of mind, Cruella becomes even more obsessed with having a coat made from the skins of Dalmatian puppies than she was before. Now she wants 102 dogs -- the extra pup needed because the coat is now to be hooded -- and to achieve this she teams up with the evil Parisian furrier, Jean Pierre Le Pelt (Gerard Depardieu, hilarious as a cross between Looney Tunes' Pepe Le Pew and a caricature of himself).
    
According to Entertainment Weekly, playwright Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar for his

contributions to the script for "Shakespeare in Love," was reportedly called in to punch up some of Cruella's dialogue, which allows Close to have a field day spitting out some of the choicest, campiest dialogue heard on screen today.
  
In a wonderful moment that has Cruella exhibiting her new lease on life to Chloe, Close talks in a small, sweet voice. She suggests ever so gently that perhaps she can participate in some little anti-animal-cruelty demonstration (Close's voice getting smaller as she talks) so that she can utter one, little word to the offenders (here Close's voice explodes with all the strength and power that Dolby stereo can supply): "MURDERERS!"

 
Her shrill cry is the funniest moment in the movie. Just about everything that Close does has bite and brio, even though she's still closer to Phyllis Diller than to Cruella De Vil. But that's OK.
       
The animal standouts in the film are Waddlesworth and little Oddball,  the spotless Dalmatian. To achieve this effect, Disney didn't paint the various dogs playing Oddball or subject them to daily makeup, as would have been done in less-scene, Oddball is either a completely computer-generated puppy or a live-action dog whose natural black spots

Using computers to generate Dalmatians that were required to do certain stunts was a smart idea. The breed is notorious for being difficult to handle, as anybody who hastily purchased one after the release of the first film can attest. With this in mind, Disney, which took a lot of heat for the wave of unwanted Dalmatians abandoned four years ago but denied responsibility, added the following much-needed disclaimer to the new film: "The producers, the Walt Disney Company, the American Humane Association and the Dalmatian Club of America want every pet to have a loving and permanent home. If you are adopting a pet, be sure you are ready for a lifetime commitment and research your choice carefully."
 
It's a good idea, but the trouble is, this disclaimer should precede the film, rather than be part of the end credits, something that 90 percent of movie audiences doesn't bother to watch. A televised public service announcement by star Glenn Close, timed with the film's release, would have been an even better idea.
 
But you have to give Disney credit for trying -- and also for making a much better film this time around.