Directed by Craig Gillespie
Starring Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walker Hauser, Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Mark Strong
Backstory
Well, as we all know, Disney’s been cranking out the live-action remakes of their animated classics for a while now, so it wouldn’t be long until they got around to 101 Dalmatians. But wait! They already did that, way back in the 1990s, and the live-action version has become a beloved classic. So they decided to do to 101 Dalmatians what Maleficent did to Sleeping Beauty: let’s delve into the back story of one of Disney animation’s most iconic villains. The film presents us with the untold origin story of Cruella DeVil.
Plot
Estella is a girl born with a most unusual affliction: she has black and white hair. She also has a bit of a mean streak, which tends to come out when defending herself from her bullies. This soon earns her the nickname “Cruella.” When her mother is killed and she blames herself for her death, she escapes to the mean streets of London, and is taken by a couple of kids named Horace and Jasper, who make their living with petty theft. As the years go on, Estella dreams of becoming a fashion designer, and working for London’s premiere designer, the Baroness von Hellman. However, it soon seems that Estella and the Baroness’s fates are intertwined, and if Estella is to ever make it in the fashion world, it is time to adopt Cruella as her true identity.
What I Liked
This film has a phenomenal soundtrack. It’s set in the 1970s, and you can’t go more than two minutes without another pop hit from the era coming through loud and clear. I was also pleasantly surprised at how a lot of it plays out like a heist film. With Cruella, Horace, and Jasper having made their living hustling on the streets, they look at their rise though the fashion world as being just another hustle and treat it as such. Great performances all around, led by Emma Stone as Estella/Cruella. It’s a classic “struggling with the darkness inside” story that we usually see in Batman. Also, went surprisingly darker than I thought it would.
What I Didn’t Like
Well, every film about fashion these days is going to draw comparisons to The Devil Wears Prada, and Emma Thompson’s Baroness does seem like a Disneyfied version of Meryl Streep in Prada. And probably just because I’ve seen too many of these kinds of films, but I saw some of the big plot twists coming from a mile away. Still appreciated, though.
Final Verdict
This is what makes Disney’s live-action remakes better than others: when they don’t do a scene-for-scene remake of the original, and instead bring a whole new take to the story. Cruella is such a bold departure from 101 Dalmatians that it becomes something new and original. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it.