15,001 ‘Dalmatians’

The Disney “101 Dalmatians” machine, already unleashed, spots even more consumer dollars on Wednesday with the studio’s first-ever CD-ROM release simultaneous with its theatrical counterpart.

The “Animated Storybook”--Disney’s sixth--is based on the live-action version, yet features the animated characters from Disney’s original 1961 classic (last released on video in 1992).

From a marketing standpoint, Disney’s CD-ROMs extend consumer awareness of a Disney theatrical film, which in turn, whets appetites for the subsequent video release.

“We’re trying to leverage off the terrific noise out there on ‘101 Dalmatians,’ ” said Caroline O’Keefe, vice president of marketing/edutainment and multimedia. “The CD-ROM allows children to bring the theatrical experience home.”

The “Dalmatians” CD-ROM heels closely to the original story. By clicking on the paw-print cursor, users join the search for Pongo and Perdita’s puppies, help rescue them from bumbling dognappers Horace and Jasper and thwart that fur-loving villainess, Cruella DeVil.

While the original animated film is a proven commodity, the decision not to make a live-action storybook was, simply, that “animation looks better on computers with today’s technology,” said Geoff Selzer, vice president of creative development.

The storybook does incorporate plot points from the live-action remake. For example, Roger, Pongo’s owner, is no longer a struggling songwriter, but a struggling video games designer (Disney synergy at work: The game he is designing in the film, “Escape From DeVil Manor,” will be released on CD-ROM in April). As in the new movie, his wife, Anita, is a designer in Cruella’s fashion company instead of her former school chum.

The CD-ROM also retains scenes from the original animated film that are not in the remake, including the one in which the puppies disguise themselves as Labradors (by clicking on a pile of soot, users can lend a hand).

“We tried to take the best of old and new,” O’Keefe said. “The new plot points keep the story fresh and consistent with what children will see in the theater, while well-loved scenes from the original movie best serve the target age group [ages 3 to 7].”

“Animated Storybooks” have been created for “The Lion King,” “Winnie-the-Pooh,” “Pocahontas,” “Toy Story” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” The “Dalmatians” CD-ROM represents a further effort to more actively engage users. Pongo and Perdita serve as narrators, but at “real scary” points in the story, they are interrupted by their puppy, Lucky, who is eager to tell “this part.”

“We felt the early storybooks told the story but don’t engage as well,” Selzer said. “The whole point is to bring an emotional connection to the storytelling that often doesn’t exist in the computer environment. One of the things we worked on is the nature of the narration so the child feels more in contact with the story.”

Another design innovation is the creation of story-integrated exits and entrances by which users leave or enter a story screen. Instead of page-turning icons, animated paw prints lead the way.

“This is something we began with the ‘Toy Story’ CD-ROM,” Selzer said. “Every layout is designed to reduce the separation between the story environment and the computer that tends to bring the child out of the experience.”

In the first “Animated Storybooks,” Selzer noted, the activities were separate from the story. In the “Dalmatians” CD-ROM, four games are embedded into the story line. Among them are a matching game in which children reunite lost dogs with their owners. In another, shape-matching skills help to locate the puppies hiding in Cruella’s mansion.

“We spent a lot of time with ‘101’ in figuring out different ways to bring children into the story in a personal way,” Selzer said. “The story has to be well told, but it must be engaging on a lot of levels.”

Verse, original songs and humor help to make the CD-ROM more fetching. Click on words highlighted on-screen in red and Lucky defines it in rhyme.

In addition to a remake of the Disney standard “Cruella DeVil,” there are five original songs paced throughout the 15 story screens, including “I Love Fur,” which is sung, of course, by Cruella (“Animals are cute/They make a lovely suit”).

Another way in which the CD-ROM was designed to engage is with little bits of interactive comic business that break the fourth wall. In Roger and Anita’s kitchen, for example, clicking on items in the refrigerator leads to spills and mess until Roger directs users to a sponge to clean it up.

There is also an affectionate homage to the 1961 film. When one clicks on the VCR in Roger and Anita’s living room, the video plays one of several clips from the animated original.

Some have looked in recent Disney films for little in-jokes snuck in by mischievous animators. The “Dalmatians” CD-ROM is no exception. In the matching game, one of the missing canines is named Shiba. “That’s my dog,” Selzer said with a laugh. “[A programmer put that it in.] I found that later.”