Digital Dalmatians

The Walt Disney comedy “102 Dalmatians” received mediocre reviews when it wasreleased last November and did just middling at the box office. Nevertheless, the DVD ($30) is enjoyable fun, thanks to several entertaining featurettes and lively audio commentary from the director and three animal trainers.

The disc also features a warning to parents and their children that although Dalmatians may be cute they are very high-maintenance and not for everyone, especially families with the smallest of fry.

In this sequel to the 1996 hit “101 Dalmatians”--which was based on the 1961 Disney cartoon feature--Cruella De Vil (Glenn Close) is released from prison, allegedly cured of her desire to kidnap Dalmatian puppies to turn them into fur coats. But after a period of rehabilitation, Cruella returns to her evil ways.

The film features the expected darling Dalmatians but also a parrot who thinks he’s a Rottweiler and a mastiff aptly named Drooler.

The DVD includes the wide-screen version, a deleted scene of Cruella’s release from prison with commentary from director Kevin Lima and outtakes. There’s also an interactive feature called “Visual Effects 102,” which looks at how the effects were done. Unfortunately, the feature wouldn’t play on the DVD supplied for review. Behind-the-scenes featurettes look at how Close created Cruella, how the animals were trained and how some of the doggies were digitally created.

The lively commentary features Lima, animal coordinator Gary Gero and two of the animal trainers.

Among the tidbits: The various puppies who play the spotless Dalmatian named Oddball were not in fact spotless. The filmmakers tried to use makeup to cover the puppies’ spots, but that didn’t work. Then they tried to put the animals in white suits, but they walked funny. So all the spots had to be removed digitally.

The puppies were terrified of Close whenever she was dressed in her outlandish Cruella outfits. Harry, the Chinese Crested who plays her dog Fluffy, actually growled when he saw Close in her get-ups. Each dog had one or two trainers, so it was difficult for Lima to stage scenes because he had to make sure all the trainers were out of the frame but in eyeshot of the dogs.

Disney is also offering a two-disc DVD ($40) featuring both “Dalmatian” movies.

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If you loved Bjork’s bizarre swan outfit at the Academy Awards, you’ll probably adore her in “Dancer in the Dark” (New Line, $25). Directed by Lars Von Trier (“Breaking the Waves”), “Dancer” is a film you’ll either love or hate. Bjork, who also wrote the music, plays a woman going blind who escapes from her dreary existence by dreaming that her life is like a movie musical. David Morse, Catherine Deneuve and Joel Grey also star.

The DVD includes the wide-screen version of the film and two documentaries: “Musical Mysticism: Creating the Modern Musical” and “Lars von Trier’s Creative Infrastructure: An Exploration of DV Filmmaking.”

Von Trier leads one of the commentaries; the second commentary is from choreographer Vincent Paterson, who also appears in the film.

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In Neil LaBute’s dark comedy “Nurse Betty,” Renee Zellweger’s perky Betty is an unhappily married waitress living in Kansas who is obsessed with the TV soap “A Reason to Love” and its handsome star (Greg Kinnear). The DVD (USA, $27) features several “installments” from the fictional soap that are seen in bits and pieces in the film. Kinnear is perfect in the nine “episodes” as the nobler-than-noble doctor.

The DVD also includes the wide-screen edition, several deleted scenes, the trailer, TV spots and talent bios. One of the commentaries features LaBute, as well as the film’s producers, composer, director of photography and costume designer. But the most fun commentary comes from LaBute and his stars: Zellweger, who won the Golden Globe for her performance; Chris Rock; Morgan Freeman and Kinnear.

Though the film is set in Kansas, Los Angeles and various areas of the Southwest, LaBute says the entire film was shot in and around Southern California. Rock says he was shocked that he was offered such a terrific role--as the trigger-tempered partner of hit man Free-man--and recalls having a meet-and-greet lunch with LaBute and Freeman about doing the movie.LaBute also addresses the concerns and complaints over a violent scene in which Rock scalps Zellweger’s sleazy husband (Aaron Eckhart).

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Fox Lorber has released the DVD ($25) of “On Cukor,” the lovely “American Masters” documentary written and directed by Robert Trachtenberg on George Cukor, the director of such film classics as “The Philadelphia Story,” “My Fair Lady” and “David Copperfield.” The DVD includes deleted interview sequences with Mia Farrow, Shelley Winters and Jack Lemmon, plus Cukor’s filmography.