286.
Cruella
7/10
Disney has had more misses than hits when it comes to their live-action movies and those are mainly because they have used their classics and simply tarnished people's childhoods. This live-action is a little different. We are going to get an origin story about the villain from 101 Dalmations, Cruella De Vil. We got some live action 101 Dalmations many years ago, back in 1996 thanks to Disney. That movie followed the traditional storyline from the animation back in 1961. This time we are going to get something fresher, possibly something no one asked for but all the same, it isn't going to simply be a live-action remake that they've just been churning out. Our first live-action Cruella was played by Glenn Close who will be serving as the executive producer on this one as Emma Stone takes up the mantle and brings the character back to life.
The storyline starts in Estella's early years being a trouble maker in school with her natural black and white, highly noticeable hair. She is pulled from school by her mother and the plan is to move to London. On the way, her mother stops at a wealthy woman's house to ask for some financial assistance but Estella's curiosity gets the better of her and she sneaks into the party. She is chased by a group of Dalmations until she makes it outside but the dogs overtake her and end up pushing her mother to her death over a cliff. She blames no one but herself. Estella is left alone, meeting some kids in London and moving in with them as a trio of orphans and their dog.
Some ten years later, the trio of Estella, Jasper and Horace are stealing to make ends meet but this isn't going to be Estella's final role as she is giving a job acceptance from the lads as a birthday treat. She is going to be working in the Liberty Department Store as a cleaner, getting her foot into the fashion door. To keep a low profile, she dyes her hair red. From this point on, we watch her desperation to get a promotion but is constantly knocked back. One night she gets very drunk and wrecks one of the store's display windows but before she is fired, a renowned designer called the Baroness gives her a job.
Once gaining her confidence and the confidence of the Baroness, she works closer to her until she releases that this woman is wearing the same necklace that her mother wore. She claims that an employee once stole it from her but now she finally has it back. This is the moment we are introduced to Cruella. To shake the fashion world. Cruella announces herself at another of the Baroness' parties, which is a black and white ball, with Cruella arriving wearing red. We've already seen the plans for a plot to steal the necklace which ends up having a few issues and Baroness uses a dog whistle to bring on the dalmations. It finally draws on Estella that this whistle was used to kill her mother and she wasn't at fault after all. Clearly, this is doing nothing to help with her mental health as Cruella start to take over. Every so often, Cruella would show up to ruin or upstage events, depending on which side of the coin you're on and take the headlines from the Baroness.
Anita is the journalist reporting the headlines, a friend of Estella's from school and after knowing this, Cruella pays her a visit to give some extra scoop. Just before the spring collection reveal, Estella is nowhere to be seen, the Baroness' collection is ruined by moths and a party just outside to reveal Cruella's collection is revealed. The Baroness now releases that Estella and Cruella are one of the same and has Jasper and Horace arrested, tracks down the hiding place, ties up Estella/Cruella and burns the place to the ground. Believing that she is dead and has won, she takes the higher ground and prepares a gala in Cruella's honour. Little does she know that her butler has actually saved Cruella and is about to drop a bombshell. The necklace she was after is actually a key to Estella's birth certificates and the truth. The truth is that the baroness is her biological mother. Mark Strong plays this gent and was ordered to kill the baby so that the Baroness could focus on her career and the wealth she was left after the death of her husband. John, the butler, instead gave the baby to a maid who raised Estella in secret. This angers Cruella at the deceit shown but comes to terms with that side of things. She is now focused on payback.
After breaking the lads out of jail, recruiting a few more, she's got big plans for the gala. She sends outfits and wigs to all gala attendees, so that they look like Cruella, much to the annoyance of the Baroness of course. This way it will be hard to track the real Cruella amongst the crowd. The baroness is led outside where Estella is standing on the edge of that infamous cliff. With her red hair shining, she explains to the baroness that she is her abandoned daughter and after pretending to show remorse and leaning in for a hug, the baroness pushes Estella off the cliff. Not knowing that the party have been led outside to act as witnesses, Baroness is arrested and Estella has survived due to a parachute in her dress as the action on that cliff had been anticipated. She changes back to Cruella just in time to witness the arrest and her triumph. After accepting the last name De Vil, taken from her car a Panther De Ville, she inherits the Hellman Hall as her biological heir and shortens it to Hell Hall. With the trio and their butler asking what's next, the screen fades to black. The movie actually gives us a mid-credits scene where Anita and Rodger, who was the Baroness' abused lawyer, receive a puppy each from Cruella. We all know what comes next. Roger is now working as a songwriter and the credits begin with the famous Cruella De Vil tune.
The movie will go down as one of the enjoyable ones. I'm not sure if it's because it felt fresh and original to an extent or just because of that soundtrack. When Disney announce any live-action remakes, my skin crawls to what they would be ruining next. This time though, there was originality to the story. Of course, it was characters we have met before but also an angle that we didn't really know that we needed. Containing twists and turns are a sure way of getting an audience to focus on the movie rather than their phones and I don't doubt this story did that. If Disney decides to go down the route of creating the origins of other Disney Villains, I can find myself getting on board with that journey very quickly.
Emma Stone felt as if she had been waiting for this character all of her career. I was very impressed with her villainous side as previously she had been Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spiderman and held comedic roles through some well-known movies and some lessers. Switching between Estella and Cruella wouldn't have been an easy feat and both characters held up and seemed fun to portray. Emma Thompson also stars as the Baroness, a character from the outset that is hard to like, all done with the work of Thompson making it so. I can't remember one cast member in the movie that I was disappointed with.
At times the movie was dark and gritty and at others, colourful and fun, only when the perfect times called for each. For me, the absolute star of the show was the soundtrack. Just like with Guardians of the Galaxy in the MCU, this movie was taken a step above due to the music added to the scenes. As the movie was based in the 1970's the punk rock movement was definitely apparent throughout and I ended up downloading the soundtrack onto my Spotify. Going into this movie not expecting the best really helped raise the enjoyment level and if I'm to sit and try to criticise something, I would be doing it for the sake of adding content. Of course, it won't be up there for Disney movies but it was much better than anticipated. The target audience would be a little higher than those watching 101 Dalmations and I'm ok with that. I know there's a sequel coming so I wonder where we will go with that. Will it lead to another 101 Dalmations?
