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.