Review: "Cruella"

The character of Cruella DeVil was first introduced to the world in Dodie Smith’s novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians which was published in 1956. Five years later, Walt Disney adapted the character in his animated movie version of the novel, 101 Dalmatians, released in January of 1961. 35 years after that, Glenn Close portrayed the treacherous villainess in live-action form when Disney remade 101 Dalmatians in 1996. And on May 28th, Disney released the prequel live-action film Cruella (2021) starring Emma Stone as the character. Here’s my review:

The film introduces a young girl named Estella born with hair half black and half white. Estella immediately takes an interest in fashion, but apparently has a “cruel,” side, so her adopted mother, Catherine decides to call her “Cruella.” When mean-hearted Dalmatians chase Catherine off a cliff, to her death, young Estella is devastated and relocates to London where she meets two other orphans, Horace and Jasper, who take her in as part of their family. As Estella grows into a woman, she takes a job as a cleaning lady at the Liberty Department store, and one night while drunk she remakes a window design. Her design catches the attention of Baroness von Hellman, who employs Estella at her fashion house, and the baroness’s cruel, strict, and abusive mentorship inspires young Estella to give into her cruel side and ultimately adopt the “Cruella” name full-time.

“Cruella,” has a very depressing plot: a woman who values hatred and power rather than kindness and generosity and what precisely lead her to believe that. Taking that into consideration makes it hard to decipher what is inspiring about it, however we might at least feel compassion for her as she experiences tragic misfortune in her life, and we might also feel empathy for Horace and Jasper as Cruella bosses them around and takes away their dignity and/or self-esteem as a result. This story barely acknowledges the romance of Roger and Anita, nor Pongo and Perdita, which was disappointing, for me. However artistically, it is very well-made!    

“Cruella,” features unbelievably well-designed costumes, which were designed by Jenny Beavan who won two Oscars for her designs in A Room With a View (1985) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). The film was directed by Craig Gillespie who directed 2017’s Oscar-winning I, Tonya as well as Million Dollar Arm (2014) and The Finest Hours (2016), both of which were released by Disney. The film includes Production Design by Fiona Crumbie and Alice Felton and was co-written by Tony McNamara, all of whom received Oscar nominations for contributing the same skills to The Favourite (2018), which coincidentally starred Emma Stone!  

Emma Stone gives a brilliant performance in this film. One could maybe argue that it is an even stronger performance than her Oscar-winning turn in La La Land (2016), and she might have another Oscar nod in her future for this film. Emma Thompson is also quite brilliant as the cold-hearted Baroness. It probably won’t be long before Thompson earns the Disney Legend Award (an award an artist can earn for making legendary and/or iconic contributions to Disney), since “Cruella” is the fifth film Thompson has made released under the Disney label. (Prior to this, Thompson voiced Captain Amelia in Treasure Planet (2002), Queen Elinor in Disney/Pixar’s Brave (2012), and she portrayed P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks (2013) (another vile character!) as well as Mrs. Potts in Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast (2017)).

The supporting cast includes: “Cobra Kai’s,” Paul Walter Hauser as Horace, Joel Fry as Jasper, Mark Strong as John the Valet, Kayvan Novak as Roger, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Anita, Emily Beecham as Catherine, and Tipper Siefert-Cleveland as Young Estella. They each give exceptional performances as well. 

Overall, there are some things to like about “Cruella,” but also some disappointments. I wouldn’t rank it as an all-time favorite or as one of Disney’s best. The film might either help you hate the character of Cruella DeVil more than you already did, or you might still dislike her but at the same time feel compassion for the rough life that she had. On the whole, I’d say that the more superior films would either be the original cartoon “101 Dalmatians,” or the live-action version with Glenn Close (who was an executive producer on this film.)