Disney’s newest live-action adaption is Cruella, based on characters created by Dodie Smith’s 1956s novel, 101 Dalmatians, and Disney’s animated 1961 feature of the same name. The movie serves as a prequel to Cruella before she became the most infamous Disney villain who would stop at nothing to skin puppies to make herself a coat out of their fur. Starring Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, and Mark Strong, what could have been another boring Disney live-action adaption turned out to be a wonderful, fun, and creative joy to watch.
We follow Estella and young creative girl who has a talent for art and fashion. Due to plot, her mother and she must seek out help from a family friend which leads to tragedy. Estella now on her own gets mixed up with two other orphans, Jasper and Horse. The trio live their life on the streets stealing and grifting and become top-notch thieves. Estella works for a top clothing store in London, after creating a new window display, she is noticed by The Baroness. London’s most influential fashion designer. There she learns that the Baroness is tied to her old life with her mother, Estella becomes Cruella, a fashion icon and urban terrorist. Her life suddenly takes on a new mission: to destroy the Baroness with everything she has.
Becoming a bigger fashion icon and causing general mayhem in London: she upstages, causes damage, and becomes a general pain in the rear for the Baroness. Even making sure her most important fashion show is stopped in the most dramatic way possible. As we watch Estella fall into her Cruella persona more, we see her lose her way. After learning a life-changing truth about her path, Cruella comes up with the master plan to finally end the Baroness’s reign and take herself to the top of the fashion world and London’s high society, and slowly become one of the most iconic Disney Villains to date.
At first glance, this looks like it could be nothing more than an unneeded prequel about another Disney villain. Unlike Disney’s Maleficent, this movie had a finalized script, and the plot makes sense and works within the preestablished material. Cruella isn’t dumbed down and turned “good” in the end. Here we are presented with facts about her early life that may or may not give way to the character we see in the future. It’s a fine line we walk to care about a villain whose whole arc was to kill puppies and wear them. But here the writers and filmmakers manage to make you care. Largely in part to giving Cruella a more villainous person to take on. So, by comparison, Cruella is the “good guy” here. But only because Emma Thompson’s The Baroness is such a bigger villain due to plot.
Emma Stone will be fondly remembered from here on out as Cruella, which is a hard feat to accomplish being she now walks hand in hand with Glenn Close who made Cruella so iconic in the late 90s. Where Close’s version of the character is way over the top and out of control Stone’s version is more of a restrained over the top. Both iconic in their own way: neither one is better than the other, both are amazing portrays of the infamous Disney Villain who you love to hate.
The movie is well-acted with Oscar winners and nominees though out. You can tell each actor had a blast filming this movie. The fun and campy reads on their faces with each scene. Everyone involved wanted to make this and make it the best they could. Which they did. Stand out performances by Paul Walter Hauser and Joel Fry, playing Cruella’s henchmen, Jasper and Horse. In the past, both characters have been portrayed as bumbling idiots, but here they’re given three dimensions and depth. You general care for these thieves and when they have concerns about the dark road Cruella is going down, they call her out on her crap. The three actors clearly had a good bond on set which adds to their performances.
Emma f**king Thompson! The woman steals every scene she’s in. Which is really hard being that Emma Stone is already stealing the movie right from under your nose. But then comes in Thompson to remind you what a “real” villain is. Her character of the Baroness is vile and unbelieve cruel. Way over the top and melodramatic in the best way possible. Both Stone and Thompson make good use of the scenery and costuming to make their performances that much better. Actors will say they never saw the character until they put on the wig, costume, or what have you. And here I believe it. When these women put on their costumes, they become their characters and that makes the movie that more enjoyable.
The costumes in this movie are Oscar-worthy and most likely will win. What they do with fabric and color is nothing but astounding to marvel at. Each costume is better than the last. Each tells a story and brings a beauty to the performance of the actors. Cruella costumes are campy and fabulous from top to bottom. Each new outfit she wears offers more insight into who she is and what fashion looked like in the 1970’s punk rock scene back in the day. This is a beautiful tribute to that era. As is the soundtrack, which is top-notch and full of amazing songs from that decade that embody what the feel of the movie is supposed to be.
If there are any negatives to be said it would have to be the movie is a little longer than it needed to be. It’s 2 hours and 15, a tight hour and 50 mins would have been better. Only because there’s a lot of time devoted to things that aren’t important, but don’t get us anywhere. And the editing is a little too quick. Director, Craig Gillespie, is making you feel a certain chaotic nature with the choice of editing, which is needed in certain scenes, but with such amazing sets and costumes, I would have liked more breathing room to take in all of the movie and the world they have created for me to enjoy. Keep that fast-paced editing when it is needed, but when it’s not, I would have like to have gotten a chance to sit and really take in the movie more.
Overall, this movie was great: amazing acting, costumes, music, sets, etc. A pure joy to watch. One of Disney’s better live-action adaptions to date. If one word could be used to describe this movie it would simply be fabulous.