While many know me as a Disnerd when it comes to Disney’s animated feature length films (or the “Disney Canon”, as they like you to call them), I’ve been skeptical, to say the least, when it comes to the live action remakes. I’ll be the first to admit, many of them have been surprisingly good. Some…eh…at least I’m reminded through them how much I like the original animated film. The bar for me was set low to begin with, in my great annoyance with the film Maleficent. I’ll try not to get into details about why that movie really didn’t work for me, but it boils down to how needless it is to ruin such a perfectly evil villain by giving her a sympathetic alternative backstory. Fast forward eight years later, and I’m really hoping Cruella convinces me to give the same concept another chance.
The film follows Estella Miller (Emma Stone), a child with a wild side whom she desperately tries and fails to control, in her journey into becoming the character we all know, Cruella de Vil. We see her, as a child, meet her two rapscallions that would grow up to be her trusted lackeys, Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) and Jasper (Joel Fry). As she grows up, she turns to crime using her skills of fashion to create their disguises. Now, as an adult, she gets a job at the best clothing store in the city to try to enter into the fashion industry from the ground floor, which is literal as she is scrubbing basement floors. She gets the attention of the Baroness (Emma Thompson), a world famous designer, by getting drunk one night and making a window display in a style that we can only classify as Cruella. While working for the Baroness, Estella starts to go behind her back and start stealing a new prize, the public’s attention with the help of her old school friend, Anita Darling (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). The film also stars Emily Beecham as Estella’s Mother, Kayvan Novak as Roger Dearly, and Mark Strong as John, the Baroness’ valet.
Cruella was directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl; I, Tonya) and written by Dana Fox (Couples Retreat) and Tony McNamara (The Favourite). I have to mention the cinematopher, Nicolas Karakatsanis (The Drop; The Loft; I, Tonya) because there were so many beautifully shot scenes. For example, there was an extremely fast tracking long shot when they showed off the clothing store. It was only a minute long and it was stitched together, but it seamlessly transitions from a crane shot to a steadicam walking extremely fast through the large building.
And we can’t talk about this movie without mentioning the most important part, the fashion. They got the legendary costume designer, Jenny Beavan (A Room with a View, Sense and Sensibility, Gosford Park, Mad Max: Fury Road), to create the elaborate costumes that serve as the main theme of the film. She had to design a total of 277 different costumes for the film, and 47 for Cruella de Vil alone, and each one is better than the last. She already has two Oscars under her belt, but I can already say that she’s a frontrunner this year for her third.
Something elsewhere deserves special mention in this film is the fact it has one of the most awesome soundtracks I’ve heard in years. Featuring dozens of iconic songs from the era (totaling in a soundtrack budget I’m sure only Disney could afford) the music became a character in itself.
I can go on for quite a while about how, on a technical level, Cruella deserves very high scores. However, I wanted to give it as much credit as I could before I get into the bad. Unfortunately, the “bad” in this film is enough to outweigh the good. Disney attempted to make a compelling story in which we, the audience can sit for two and a half hours and relate and empathize with a villain who we all know later kidnaps and attempts to murder puppies. And to their credit, they did their best. But the writing of this movie was just all over the place. I’m doing my best to give this review without spoiling much, but I’m not sure if Disney knew exactly what they wanted this movie to be. Is it a literal canon prequel that takes place before the animated feature we all know so well? Is it a completely sympathetic “alternative” look into a misunderstood villain’s origin story?
Perhaps with some of the more “grey morality” villains (and very competent writers) both could be achieved at once. Cruella de Vil, however, is such an extreme villain in the canon Disney film, that the writers really needed to choose one path or another. Yet, it appears they couldn’t decide and chose both. The result feels completely inconsistent in its overall message. Maleficent may have annoyed me in its overall concept and execution, but by the end of that film, at least I could say I understood what they were aiming for.
Cruella may not have convinced me to change my mind about Disney villain origin story films, but I won’t tell you to avoid watching it, either. I can honestly say it’s very fun, visually pleasing, and entertaining, albeit drags on a bit long. I just have to emphasize to any fellow Disnerds out there, if you want any consistency with the original source material, leave your expectations at the door.
