Ask anybody who their favourite Disney villain is and odds are eventually you’ll get to that one wild card who thinks 101 Dalmatians Cruella De Vil reigns supreme above all the Ursulas and Scars. The puppy-killing monster certainly does make an impression within her own film but, as with almost all of Disney’s endless live-action films, the question remains: is this story necessary to tell? The answer is more mixed than you might expect. Cruella is easily the most original offering from the Mouse House in a long while; with a focus on a hyper-stylised world of fashion and a darker, revenge-driven plot. It often feels like director Craig Gillespie tries a bit of everything throughout the film – often all at once – leaving you overwhelmed and confused at times, but the performances from the whole cast, particularly Emma Stone and Emma Thompson, are top-notch and ultimately serve to carry you through this very bumpy ride.
Born Estella (Stone), the eventual villainess is turned onto a life of crime as a young girl when she witnesses her mother plummet to her death at the mansion of The Baroness (Thompson), a fashion tycoon with a penchant for narcissism who harbors more than a few dark secrets. Now an orphan, Estella escapes to London and takes up with local street thieves Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) and Jasper (Joel Fry), quickly becoming the leader of their gang as they scam and grift their way through life. When Jasper lands Estella a job at the Baroness’ fashion house years later, her chaotic alter-ego Cruella threatens to ruin the life she has created for herself, launching a vicious fashion war with the Baroness. As tensions heat up between the pair, long-buried secrets bubble to the surface, threatening to permanently warp Estella into the demented, dog-despising menace as we know her.
Cruella is a strange film to pin down tonally. The melodramatic, almost Dickensian opening gives way to what appears to be a heist film, as we follow Cruella and the gang pull off a series of low-level cons. In retrospect, this might be the most enjoyable part of Cruella, free from the complicated world-building that comes in the second half. Once Estella comes to work for Thompson’s Baroness the film essentially becomes Disney’s take on The Devil Wears Prada, with Estella idolising the Baroness and her place within the fashion world she has long wished to be a part of. Emma Thompson is pitch perfect casting here outside of Meryl Streep herself, with a gleefully vicious performance skewering everything and everyone around her. The definition of a true narcissist, she cares for no one but herself and Thompson rules the screen, with some terrific costuming adding to the intimidating air she carries herself with. Some dark late game revelations rob her character of some of the fun factor – going where very few Disney films dare – ultimately to the detriment of the story, prioritising wrapping things up in a hurry over solid character work.
While the tone may shift the one thing that manages to stay consistent is the incessant use of popular 1970’s punk and pop songs. It isn’t understating things to say that the opening 90 minutes don’t contain a single scene that isn’t soundtracked by a song you’ve heard, from The Clash all the way to The Rolling Stones. Whilst it does give the film a certain madcap energy, it becomes incredibly tiresome as you begin to feel as if scenes have been plotted out around the song rather than their place in the story. One such scene involves Cruella arriving at a fashion gala in a truly punk rock fashion, with her posse performing The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog” live as she steps out to the red carpet before… the scene ends. That’s it. In the context of the film Cruella’s arrival serves to upset the uptight Baroness but the scene also plays after a montage of her doing precisely that in a variety of other ways, so why did we need this scene? Thankfully things settle down in the second half of the film as Gillespie realises he can’t score every emotional scene with a loud rock song but it comes as too little too late after all the time wasted flashy music videos that could have been spent on meaningful character development.
Then there’s Cruella herself, who starts things off as something of an anti-hero; a Robin Hood swindling the rich to fund her poor self. In a bizarre but interesting take on the character, she actually becomes more unlikeable as the film progresses, hinting at her eventual turn into full-tilt, Dalmatian-skinning madness. That madness takes the form of a type of split-personality syndrome, with the normal, fundamentally good-hearted Estella constantly at war with the mean-spirited Cruella inside of her. As far as metaphors between good and evil go, it isn’t exactly subtle; especially when the film makes a point of highlighting the warring colours in her hair as some kind of high-concept exploration of that metaphor. Nevertheless Emma Stone commits entirely, giving a ridiculously over-the-top performance in the best way, right down to a somewhat ludicrous British accent that somehow just… works. The schtick may get tiring at times, Stone herself is never boring, constantly making strange choices that lend themselves to the unhinged nature of the character.
There is no doubt that Cruella is the strangest of the live-action Disney films to date; with a distinctive style all its own as Craig Gillespie and Emma Stone delve deep into the psyche of one of the most iconic Disney villains. The breakneck pace and quality performances all around help to keep the film together despite the myriad of forces trying to tear it apart; be it the barrage of music, jarring tonal shifts and a need to conform to the Disney formula in the moments where it should be embracing Cruella’s punk spirit and dissenting. Those who have grown tired of the same old retread of classic animated fare (and who hasn’t at this point?) will likely enjoy a somewhat refreshing take on a now ancient property which will, if nothing else, keep you entertained for its monstrous two hour runtime, even if it never quite answers the question: why do we need this?
Cruella stars Emma Stone, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, Mark Strong, John McCrea, Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Kayvan Novak & Emma Thompson – In cinemas and streaming on Disney+ with Premier Access now.