Cruella

Cruella

In 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, a young grifter named Estella is determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute. But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.

  • Released: 2021-05-26
  • Runtime: 134 minutes
  • Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Crime
  • Stars: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, Mark Strong, Tipper Seifert-Cleveland, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Emily Beecham, John McCrea, Kayvan Novak, Jamie Demetriou, Abraham Popoola, Leo Bill, Javone Prince, Steve Edge, Paul Chowdhry, Ziggy Gardner, Joseph MacDonald, Niamh Lynch, Andrew Leung, Ed Birch, Dylan Lowe, Paul Bazely, Ninette Finch, Sarah Crowden, Harrison Willmott, Jack Barry, Asmara Gabrielle, Tom Turner, Crystal Wingx, Radhesh Aria, Tony McCarthy, John Wolfe, Haruka Abe
  • Director: Craig Gillespie
 Comments
  • mark.waltz - 28 April 2024
    A feast fit for a moth.
    A stunning production in spite of some obvious plot holes and the fact that the two major characters and supporting ones are pretty rotten. For once it's a prequel where the female villian isn't reformed as being misunderstood. Cruella, aka Estella (Emma Stone) is absolutely rotten to the core, that ambilical cord being from her mother (Emma Thompson) who abandoned her as a baby and later killed her adopted mother. No man to blame things on (like "Malificent"), no saga about female empowerment. In fact, the two women hate each other.

    There's an interesting reference to Tallulah Bankhead, the obvious influence for the original (although Mary Wickes was the model for the drawings), although that element is missing in Stone's performance. I found that Thompson seemed to be emulating 50's and 60's cabaret star/author Kay Thompson ("Funny Face").

    While I'm not certain that this prequel was rather necessary, but for what comes out of it, is really enjoyable and a rare millennium film that I liked, if not loved. Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser remain pretty cartoonish as Jasper and Horace, but the casting of Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Anita, heroine of the original, seems to be from an alternate universe, somewhat unnecessary. There's no getting around it that they made the right choices in keeping Cruella totally vile, even if she has an epiphany that she would rather have not been Thompson's daughter and has received her bad blood and heartless soul.
  • aob_brctor87 - 30 January 2024
    Weaponized Fashion!
    By far my favorite theme of the film, and I can't recall it ever being done before like this: the "Fashion Battles" between the old tyrant and the new anarchist on the edge of becoming a tyrant herself.

    Emma Stone's (who's been perfect ever since bird man) Cruella uses it to humiliate and ultimately destroy her arch nemesis. There's so much radical fashion on display I bother describing any of it. You have to see it.

    I will say between the extremely thin line of good and evil Cruella is skating, I for a moment thought she had actually made a suite out of a real dalmatian (instead of just wanting this to be believed)

    I really thought she did it.

    Besides Emma Stone and Emma Thompson as the divinely selfish and evil The Baroness the side cast is all stellar and hilarious. Her sidekicks add a level of humanity and empathy that perhaps the two leads of this film lack.

    Mark Strong deserves a note as always, even if he's playing a familiar role, he plays it well.

    Also, the animals!! The REAL MVP's! I won't say more-they are too adorable.

    I don't know what this film has to do with the Disney Animated Film other than they both have dalmatians and an evil old woman. But I haven't seen it in a while.

    However the ending suggests it could be a prequel of the Original, making it a very sad/dark ending indeed.

    As always, its up to the viewer.
  • vchimpanzee - 9 October 2023
    Superior effort but quite intense for a Disney film, still fun at times
    I thought I had it all figured out. No wonder Estella ends up becoming this evil person named Cruella DeVil. But the only true "Cruella" in this movie, based on what we already knew of the character, is the unbelievably selfish and uncaring Baroness. Emma Thompson deserved an Oscar nomination for such a great performance.

    No, Estella has to go through another evolution before she becomes that bad. She doesn't even hate Dalmatians even though she has good reasons to. But what a character! What a hard life. It's like "The Devil Wears Prada" taken to the next level, though the Anne Hathaway character gets her revenge. Emma Stone is great, and every time she changes her hair color, she changes her personality. The redhead is obedient but determined and has to follow orders even if she can't truly be what she wanted. But when she once again displays the black and white, what a confident, deliciously scheming witch, a performance taken to the next level. But no, not the evil person we knew from the Disney movies. She doesn't treat her friends well but ends up making up for that later in the movie. And by the end, she's anything but the devil her employer was. I started to say something else since I used the spoiler warning, but no, I'll let you find out.

    Yes, there are some amazing twists. They explain a lot.

    On the other hand, I wonder why it was necessary to give this a TV-14 rating on broadcast TV. It wasn't really that bad. But at one point things got so dark I thought this was a terrible thing to do to the legacy of Walt Disney who wanted good, clean family entertainment. But I guess similar events happened in other Disney movies. This just isn't something little kids would be ready for.

    Still, it's fun in some scenes and if one likes dogs (I don't) I guess there are some cute scenes. The Dalmatians aren't cute here.

    Plenty of memorable characters. If I find any flaws in the movie other than its intensity, how does no one recognize Horace when he keeps showing up over and over? Horace is kind of a bumbling idiot but he has street smarts that have kept him going all these years without a real job.

    Well, they helped keep him going. Jasper was the voice of reason. He is the one who really held things together, and his abilities became important later. He and Horace were both loyal friends even if their morals weren't ideal.

    And a Strong performance from Mark as the manservant of the Baroness. Particularly later. Reminds me of the very capable Anders in the CW version of "Dynasty".

    I could just keep going. There is also flamboyant Artie the clothing salesman. And Anita the journalist, whose role is important in making Estella successful.

    And Catherine, Estella's determined mother. She is the one who comes up with the Cruella name, telling her she is Estella, not Cruella, when she has a mean attitude, and then naming a generic competitor Cruella, telling Estella she must win rather than that other person.

    I wish we had seen more of The Baron. Maybe the Baroness wouldn't have been so mean if he had still been around ... no, what she did to him showed she was already that way. But what a nice man he seemed to be in his very brief appearance.

    That's enough for the characters. The amazing sets, great classic architecture, great clothes.

    Lots of action, some of it kind of scary. Plenty of fun scenes when I really think about it.

    I wasn't happy with the music a lot of the time. This was set in the 60s and 70s. There were good songs back then. Those in charge of the music didn't play them. And even the familiar songs often weren't the familiar versions. Well, maybe a few songs were good. And I suppose heavy metal did seem appropriate in one really dark scene (it was night) that introduced something new and bizarrely fascinating to the fashion world.

    Some much older and more pleasant songs did make it into the movie, however.

    A classic Disney movie? It's a classic, but not good, clean entertainment that Disney is known for.
  • hakuthedragon - 4 December 2022
    Brilliant
    I haven't watched the original 101 Dalmatians since I was a kid but this movie is simply amazing. Among all of the Disney live actions, this is definitely a standout. Cruella would genuinely be a fantastic movie as a stand-alone film that's unrelated to the Cruella character.

    I found the acting wonderful. I love fashion movies and I love a good heist, so Cruella was really enjoyable for me. I loved the soundtrack and the cinematography; choices like the shaky camera during Cruella's emotional moment were memorable for me. The idea of the moths was so badass.

    I'm glad Jasper and Horace got an apology and (hopefully) better future treatment; halfway through the movie I was feeling so sorry for them. I was surprised by John (Stanley Tucci)'s sudden willingness to go along with Cruella's plans when he had been loyal to the Baroness all along. Would've loved to have seen his character a bit more.

    Honestly, if the movie was detached from the character, it would still be great. Parts like Cruella choosing her name based on just a car felt pretty forced.

    Overall, an enjoyable film that I wasn't expecting from a Disney live action. It's on the same level as Maleficent for me.
  • huieridley - 2 September 2022
    Cruella-Ridley Huie
    I enjoyed this movie very much from the period costumes and music from other movies of the 1970s. The pacing of the movie along with the actors casted for The movie we're well picked. The cinematography as well matched well with scenes/speed of the movie. Watching Disney movies as a kid especially hundred and one Dalmatians. This adaptation was very nice to watch.

    But I was really impressed by the many references in the movie by J. Hallgrey's novel The Enchanted Kingdom of Sir Thomas Tattletale which I read over 3 years ago. Are these Easter eggs of a future Disney production?? I'd be very excited to a production of this novel. It has good very good writing and enjoyable for all ages.
  • sydreynolds - 5 July 2022
    Terrible
    Terrible. Disney trying to ruin a great story by empathizing with the villain. Worked with Maleficent but not this one. Dalmatians are also the villain in this film, which is absolutely absurd. Perfect example of how Disney is losing sight on morals & ethics. I would not let my children watch this movie, the underlining message is not one for impressionable minds.