101 Dalmatians Christmas (NR, 1998)

In the first story, a parody of A Christmas Carol, a limping Dalmatian substitutes for Tiny Tim, and Cruella De Vil is visited by cuddly puppy ghosts. In the second episode, "Coup De Vil," Cruella's relatives all use peculiar means, including a Seismic Mayhemitron, to try to wrestle Malevola De Vil's land back from its owners, Roger and Anita, thereby gaining the elder De Vil's favor and claiming her inheritance.

How bad are these two 101 Dalmatians cartoon episodes, falsely packaged as Christmas fun? They're bad even by current Saturday morning TV standards, the stagnant pond from which they were skimmed.

Unlike Arthur and Doug, two series that entertain while leaving young minds with ethical lessons to ponder, the 101 Dalmatians series as represented here shows no sense of moral responsibility, and no purpose other than to mesmerize kids with slick, fast-paced nonsense.

The first story sacrifices everything good Dickens' classic Christmas Carol stands for, not for comedy's sake (kids would get more laughs watching a real dog eat a cracker), but simply because the creative minds at work didn't know what to do with worthwhile material. "Coup De Vil" has nothing to do with Christmas, and is perplexing on its own.The puppies aren't integral to the stories; they could just as easily be robots or fish, they have so little to do with what's going on. They're just slapped on the box for their recognizable name, a means for the Disney sausage works to sell inferior meat. Let your kids watch the far better Mickey's Christmas Carol instead.