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- There's no denying that "Cruella" is stylish and kinetic, with a nasty edge that's unusual for a recent Disney live-action feature. But it's also exhausting, disorganized, and frustratingly inert, considering how hard it works to assure you that it's thrilling and cheeky.
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May 28, 2021 · It stars two Oscar-winning actresses, runs two hours and 14 minutes, and reportedly cost $200 million, a good chunk of it spent on an expansive soundtrack of familiar sixties and seventies pop songs.
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May 28, 2021 · 75% Tomatometer 413 Reviews 97% Audience Score 5,000+ Verified Ratings Academy Award (R) winner Emma Stone ("La La Land") stars in Disney's "Cruella," an all-new live-action feature film about...
- (413)
- Craig Gillespie
- PG-13
- Emma Stone
Parents need to know that Cruella is Disney's stylish but dark live-action origin story about the dog-napping villain from Disney's 1961 classic 101 Dalmatians. Set in the early 1970s, it attempts to explain Cruella's (Emma Stone) nefarious behavior in a way that will spark empathy in viewers.
- Craig Gillespie
- Tara Mcnamara
- Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Mark Strong
- Emma Stone delivers in this wild and wonky origin story about 101 Dalmatians’ villainous diva.
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- Verdict
By Kristy Puchko
Updated: Mar 21, 2022 6:40 pm
Posted: May 26, 2021 1:00 pm
By “re-imagining” their animated classics as live-action films, Disney has churned out a string of blockbusters. So perhaps it was inevitable that the iconic villainess of 1961’s One Hundred And One Dalmatians would get her due…again. 21 years after Glenn Close headlined two live-action adventures as the cackling fashionista Cruella de Vil, Emma Stone slips into a two-tone wig and a devilish grin for the inventive origin story Cruella.
Not a prequel but rather a Wicked-style retelling, Cruella forges a new path that begins in 1964. There, a snarling school girl named Estella battles back against bullies and earns a permanent record full of black marks. (Like Dalmatian spots!) However, neither schoolyard brats nor a horrific tragedy that pitches her into a hard-knock life on the streets of London will get in the way of her big dreams to become a major fashion designer.
Smash-cut to 10 years later, where Estella (Emma Stone) crafts stitch-perfect disguises for her thieving crew. Through pickpocketing and more elaborate heists, she, the clever Jasper (Joel Fry), the dopey Horace (Paul Walter Hauser), and two scruffy pups, Buddy and one-eyed Wink, scrape by in an abandoned warehouse. That is until Estella’s genius for design — and troublemaking — catches the eye of London’s top designer, the ever-chic, ever-merciless Baroness (Emma Thompson). Working under this haute couture heiress seems like a dream job, but things swiftly turn dog-eat-dog when a horrid revelation comes to light. So, Estella embraces her dark side, creating an alter ego named Cruella, who audaciously crashes every Baroness event to steal the spotlight. Through the battle of these stylish titans, we are not only gifted the birth of Cruella, but also two deliciously thrilling Disney villainesses for the price of one.
Mulan (2020)
The Lion King (2019)
Aladdin (2019)
Dumbo (2019)
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
The Jungle Book (2016)
Clocking in over two hours, the runtime will likely prove a challenge to kids and parents alike. The pacing would be smoother without the many, many, scenes where Estella explains what just happened to her cohorts or in excessive voiceover. Of course, this is done to make sure kids are keeping up with the plot. But how will a movie this long — which is often about pretty grown-up stuff — keep their attention anyhow?
Not every detail needs to be doggedly explained!
“
The pandering to parents is just as bad, as evidenced by a comically long list of nostalgia-driven needle drops. Props to the soundtrack team for pulling together truly epic songs from Nina Simone, The Zombies, Deep Purple, The Clash, and The Rolling Stones. However, the editing team should have offered some restraint. The lyrics and song choices become so on-the-nose it’s hilariously predictable, like when a Cruella de Vil victory is celebrated by blasting “Sympathy for the Devil.” Nonetheless, the use of John McCrea’s “I Wanna Be Your Dog” is fantastic, hitting hard with a punk-rock fashion show performance that is edgy and astounding.
Fashion is almost a character in Cruella, and her co-stars do not disappoint. Whether racing through back alleys, eye-rolling over idiots, or cracking a smile wide and blood-red, Emma Stone is living for this moment, and it shows. The quipping misfits of her teen movie years prove the perfect place to cut her teeth, allowing her to bite hard into withering one-liners and howls of rebellion. However, this is about the evolution from Estella to Cruella, so there are pockets where this grandiosity feels like a façade, as it should. Stone is playing a woman finding her inner diva. Emma Thompson’s Baroness is the fully formed villainess here, and she is a vision of viciousness and glamor. No need for cackles or shouts. The Baroness is an ice queen, who might make you cry, bleed, or worse. But she need not raise her voice to make your spine quiver. The script gives Thompson a wealth of punchlines. Yet because of her savage yet sophisticated delivery, the funniest one becomes a simple “Uh-huh.” The Baroness is very rich, yet has no flips to give.
For their part, the supporting cast adds oomph. Hauser, who worked with Gillespie in I, Tonya, plays Horace with unexpected warmth, making him the perfect scene partner to a teeny pup with an eyepatch. John McCrea brings shade and flair as a vintage seller with an eye for opportunity. Jamie Demetriou leans hard into a caricature to establish what kind of fool would dare doubt Estella. Mark Strong gives steeliness in a small but pivotal role. Yet the standout in supporting goes to Joel Fry, who turns Jasper into much more than a lackey. With a twinkle in his eye and a sparkling tenderness, he hints there might be more between Cruella and her partner in crime. Yet, it’s never pushed to the point of subplot or distraction. Instead, this seeming intimacy gives a grander context to why he would put up with some of Cruella’s crueler antics. It also brings a little bit of spice.
Director Craig Gillespie and his screenwriters (Dana Fox, Tony McNamara, Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel, and Steve Zissis) had a tricky needle to thread. They were tasked with creating a re-imagining fresh enough to thrill general audiences, but familiar enough to appease 101 Dalmatians fans. With a PG-13 film, mature content is allowed, but its...
May 28, 2021 · Cruella: Directed by Craig Gillespie. With Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser. A live-action prequel feature film following a young Cruella de Vil.
- (266K)
- Adventure, Comedy, Crime
- Craig Gillespie
- 2021-05-28
Jun 6, 2021 · 6 Thoughts on ‘Cruella,’ Starting With: It May Be the Best Movie of the Year So Far (Column) By Owen Gleiberman. Courtesy of Everett Collection/Disney+. A few weeks ago, there was every reason ...
May 27, 2021 · “Cruella” confounds expectations in mostly delightful ways, particularly for what amounts to a supervillain origin-story prequel inspired by a 60-year-old animated movie. Credit much of that to a...
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