A Review of “Cruella (2021)”

 

Great another Disney prequel movie about making a Disney villain sympathetic. That was my thought when I heard the announcement of this movie. I had no care about watching this as Disney have sucked with these live-action prequel/remake of Disney animated movies. I eventually decided to give it a watch as there was a fair amount of internet buzz, both positive and negative, that kind of made me want to watch it. The premise is “Estella is a young and clever grifter who’s determined to make a name for herself in the fashion world. She soon meets a pair of thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they build a life for themselves on the streets of London. However, when Estella befriends fashion legend Baroness von Hellman, she embraces her wicked side to become the raucous and revenge-bent Cruella”. So does Disney finally do it right or is does this skin the legacy of 101 Dalmatians?

Firstly, Emma Stone does a phenomenal job as Cruella. I honestly thought no one would be able to live up to the performance by Glenn Close, who is also an executive producer on the movie, as Cruella but Emma Stone proved me wrong. Her performance was very stylish and cruel which is exactly what I want from Cruella. Emma does add another layer to the character in the heartfelt moments which does make her more sympathetic. Emma Thompson plays the antagonist, the Baroness, and she also delivers an amazing performance by being narcissistic and full of attitude. Every time Emma Thompson is on screen she just steals it. Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser also do a good job as Jasper and Horace respectively. They play the friends of Cruella and add a level of heart and fun to the movie that I really enjoyed.

One of the best aspects of Cruella (2021) is the rivalry between the titular character and the Baroness. Seeing both of them compete in fashion war was surprisingly exciting to watch. Every scene with them together is tense, and this is thanks to both Emma Stone and Emma Thompson having great chemistry. I also really love how bold and dark the director, Craig Gillespie, went with it. There is violence, murder, attempted murder, attempted child murder and corruption that genuinely surprised me. There is also a twist near the end that I think was pretty good and I think a fair amount of people would not expect.

Cruella (2021) is a visual spectacle thanks to the costume design by Jenny Beavan’s. There are countless different and unique clothes throughout the movie that are stunning. We got the extremely over the top fashion from Cruella but we also got the elegant yet beautiful clothes of the Baroness. There are so many costume changes and they are all great yet perfectly represent the characters, it is quite an achievement from Jenny. The set design is also really well done and bring 1970s London to life. We get the gloomy city but the vibrant parties which all look stunning. The cinematography by Nicolas Karakatsanis is gorgeous and illustrates the party and costumes perfectly. One scene on the top of my mind is the Cruella catwalk which looked stunning thanks to the cinematography. Cruella also has a great music score by Nicholas Britell. The orchestral compose soundtrack works well for every scene and really captures the emotion of the moment. He also utilizes a 1970s pop soundtrack which you think would be annoying but it works so well here. Every song choice is used effectively and fits the scene that is occurring. 

However, some scenes get slightly ruined thanks to the really bad CGI. The CGI is very noticeable, especially when it is the dogs which I don’t get why they had to be CGI. There are scenes at night that are usually done to hide bad CGI but even that doesn’t work to cover it up. Additionally, the story is very predictable for the most part and simply goes beat for a beat on a villain origin that is very formulaic. Disney has done the story beats for Maleficent and this goes the same way.

The runtime is also 134 minutes which is very noticeable as there are some moments where the pacing slows down considerably. It could have cut down by at least 15 minutes while still retaining the core elements. There are issues with the screenplay with some lines feeling overly cringy or edgy that sound dumb and don’t quite fit the tone of the movie. One big gripe I had was a dumb moment near the beginning to make Cruella sympathetic that was so stupid that I laughed even though it was not meant to be funny. It was just a really weird and dumb way to justify her hatred of the Dalmatians.

Overall, Cruella (2021) surprised me a lot in how much I enjoyed it. It was to the point that I couldn’t believe this was the same company that made Mulan (2020). Despite feeling there was no need to make a prequel on dog skinning lady even after finishing Cruella (2021), it’s an excellent movie. It has gorgeous cinematography, stunning costumes and sets, a vibrant soundtrack with an amazing performance from Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. There is a lot to love in this movie which is why I believe that anyone who is still sceptical, should give Cruella (2021) a chance. It might surprise you.