'Cruella' Film Review

“Cruella” is directed by Craig Gillespie and stars Emma Stone as Estella, an orphaned girl who dreams of becoming a fashion designer in 1970s London.

It is not until she learns the truth behind a tragic event that causes her alter-ego, the titular character of Cruella de Vil, to become her true identity in the origin story for one of Disney’s most infamous villains.

While Disney’s live-action adaptations of their animated films have not all been loved by critics or even fans, they have made significant amounts of money. So, naturally, they aim to continue that trend by producing more of them.

However, this film is not a sole adaptation of “One Hundred and One Dalmatians,” as that has already been done in 1996 with Glenn Close famously playing Cruella de Vil.

This film is a fresh spin on their string of live-action films and aims to give some backstory, but not necessarily sympathize with the often cruel de Vil.

The film is strong in its vision and its production value as the technical aspects shine. Particularly, the direction, production design, music and thankfully, costumes.

Gillespie does a great job with the film’s shot selection as his camera movements often include long takes that normally could have been simple shot-reverse-shots.

Instead, he puts in effort to stage elaborate camera movements to make hidden cuts appear as one long take that guides the viewer through the setting.

The script is also tight and has a clear beginning, middle and end. No plot point is ever wasted. The film knows exactly what story it wishes to tell and because of that, it never drags.

However, there is one aspect of the script that feels unnecessary but was likely included to incorporate a traditional third act twist.

While avoiding spoilers, in the beginning of the film, Estella experiences tragedy with someone close to her that shapes her into the woman she grows up to be. Once she realizes her boss, the Baroness, played devilishly well by Emma Thompson, who appears to be taking notes from Meryl Streep’s performance in “The Devil Wears Prada” had a hand in the tragedy, Estella wants revenge and to achieve revenge, she lets the other half of her split personality, a neat aspect of the film, Cruella to come out and help her achieve it.

The film’s second act then begins and marches on, everything working and a protagonist working toward her goal. The problem with the third act twist is that it really does not change anything or bring anything new. All of the events set in motion would have played no differently and the film would have ended the same way it does.

The only difference with this twist comes some dialogue exchanges between the two characters involved. It seems like an element of surprise that backfired and aims to give further reason behind Cruella’s personality, but the film already wonderfully set up that she was simply “born bad and a little bit mad.”

The split personality worked with Estella’s bold and vulgar alter-ego, highlighted by her iconic split hair colors, so the reveal just feels unnecessary.

Although, the film still shines in its anti-hero’s journey to become a diva fashion designer who hates dalmations, which she has understandable reasons for.

A large part of the film’s success is Emma Stone’s captivating performance. She truly shines in both roles of Estella and Cruella as each have their own voice with slightly different accents and body language. She truly elevates the film beyond mediocre and you cannot help but root for her. Plus, since she never actually kills dogs in the film, that also helps.

All in all, “Cruella” is one of, if not the best live-action adaptation of an animated film or character that achieves what it sets out to do: show an iconic character’s journey to become what they are when viewers were first introduced to them.

It is worth the price of a theater ticket or $30 on Disney+ Premiere Access solely for the costumes, performances and fantastic 70s soundtrack that features a more worthy use of The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” than the other dozens of films it has played in.