Cruella

 

9/10

This film follows Estella (played by Emma Stone), a small time con woman and aspiring fashion designer, who ends up working for powerful fashion designer Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson). Soon, a rivalry develops between the the two setting up the path to Estella becoming Cruella de Vil.

The best things to compare this to are Mouse Hunt or A Series of Unfortunate Events, a dark humor family film featuring a retro design style. The best way to describe this is as a heist film. Seeing the various plots by Cruella to upstage the Baroness give off an Ocean's 11 vibe. It's just fun seeing what she'll do next. 

Cruella is one o' those films where everything just comes together. (It's directed by I, Tonya's Craig Gillepsie.) The witty dialogue, the acting, cinematography, including one really impressive tracking shot, the song choices, and appearance all pop. 

The movie takes place in the seventies, allowing the film to go with it's own unique visual style that's really impressive to look at and keeps you as invested as the plot. The costumes in this are amazing! A lot of detail and creativity goes into these. This movie is definitely going to get a few production-based award nominations. 

The film had the difficult challenge of providing a villain that can live up to the same standard as Cruella de Vil, considered one of the most memorable baddies there is, plus the antagonist has to make her look better by comparison. However, they surprisingly managed the task with the Baroness. She is a commanding, disaffected, narcissist with a dry wit. Whereas Cruella's emotions run hot, the Baroness is differentiated by having hers run cold. She is a lot of fun to hate.

Years ago, when I heard Emma Stone was going to play Cruella, I just couldn't comprehend her playing it. However, now I see she was a great casting choice and absolutely perfect in the role. The very first time I saw Stone was in The House Bunny, where she played a nerdy sorority girl. She had such energy, and I knew that was someone's career to watch. However, a lot of her roles don't allow her to utilize that energy. Hear, she's allowed to chew the scenery and commands every scene she's in. She gets that Cruella's supposed to be a little nutty and even manages to include a hint of that  before Estella reaches her full potential. Though an actual English person may think differently, I found Stone's accent in this to be really good; she sounds like a completely different person and never breaks.

Of course there are the reasons why some people may be against this film. Cruella is changed from the notoriously evil villain who wanted to skin puppies to the sympathetic antihero. Whereas the first film implied and the original book straight up said she came from money, here she comes from poverty. (However, I've noticed more than one person complain about her hair being naturally black and white instead of dyed. I think that's a misconception. From what I've read, in the book her hair was supposed to naturally be that.) However, like Maleficent, I think it's best just to see the film as it's own thing, which ultimately doesn't take away from the original Cruella. 

This is pretty plot and dialogue heavy at points. Younger kids may not be able to keep their attention. 

I walked into this curious, but I didn't realize I'd end up loving this. It's one of those movies that really pull you. Next to Pete's Dragon, this is my second favorite of the Disney recent live-action remakes/spin-offs I've seen (haven't watched Mulan or Cinderella). Highly recommended.