Cruella
Year: 2021
Rating: PG-13
Length: 134 minutes / 2.23 hours
It seems the latest trend in the last few years is to take well-known villains and make them relatable through tragic backstories. While Maleficent (2014) seems to have started this string of villain-centric movies, Cruella (2021) does an adequate job of showing this villain’s transformation while also making you want to root for her. However, the problem with idolizing someone like Cruella De Vil (Emma Stone) is that her eventual crime against the 101 Dalmatians (1961) is the desire to kill every single one of them in the name of fashion.
While the plot pulls elements from Oliver Twist and All About Eve (1950), there are enough twists at the end of this film that make it worth the watch. Even if one of these moments had me laughing at how ridiculous it was, it all paid off because of Emma Stone’s excellent acting throughout. Of course, it also helped that the flamboyant fashion Cruella designed was a legitimate shake-up of the industry of the time. I would be surprised if this film doesn’t get a costuming nod at the next Academy Awards.
Even though Cruella does a good job of making the audience sympathize with a known villain, there’s nothing new here. A lot of the tropes seemed overused or forced. Trying to tie her traumatic upbringing to a hatred of dogs (particularly dalmatians) felt more like a knowing wink than an actual plot device. After all, it wasn’t that the villain from the 1961 film hated the dogs; it was more that she needed their fur for her fashion statements. This disconnect to the source material felt off to me, even if the rest of the film showed how Cruella would do whatever was needed to get what she wanted.
An adequate villain backstory with some incredible costuming, I give Cruella 3.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
[…] and reclusive Willy Wonka that Gene Wilder played in 1971. This was the same disconnect I got with Cruella (2021), where they were so focused on telling an original story that they forgot to consider what […]