Cruella is a crime drama with some comedy that works very well as Cruella's origin story almost in the style of the Joker movie. Without a doubt, it is a wonderful and fantastic film that gloriously revives the 101 Dalmatians franchise after so many years in silence. My final rating for this movie is a 9/10.
An incredibly captivating origin(al) story about one of Disney's classic villains. Emma Stone delivers an award-worthy display, interpreting two personalities in impressive fashion, stealing the spotlight from the other outstanding interpretations. Ultimately, it's impossible to deny that Cruella is fun.
As of March 6, 2022, Cruella has grossed $86.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $147.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $233.5 million.
A huge theme to acknowledge in this film is the idea of nature vs. nurture. Estella was raised by a caring mother who always tried to “love her into shape” as Cruella herself states it.
Is **CRUELLA** Even Worth Watching?! (Movie Reaction)
What is Cruella's mental illness?
The first thing Disney did to make Cruella a redeemable character was to portray her as having dissociative identity disorder (sometimes called multiple personality disorder).
The entire aesthetic of Cruella's character in the original 101 Dalmatians relies on the character's love of fur. The main reason why she was such a detestable, seemingly irredeemable character for so many years is that she gleefully draped herself in the fur of her animal victims.
She was a deranged and unhinged character who (at least for me) sometimes made 101 Dalmatians too scary to watch as a kid. We're talking about the lady who wanted to kidnap, skin and possibly kill dogs to use their coats for high fashion. (Fashun?) That is some seriously dark stuff.
It's clear that Disney is exploring the metanarrative about Cruella, building on her love of furs and fashion as well as fans' interpretation of her as a fabulously camp performance artist. The film also draws on the current trend of reevaluating demonized women to give her a far more sympathetic persona.
Cruella begins with Estella as a child with black and white hair, something that she was born with due to a disease called poliosis. The condition is caused by a decrease or absence of melanin in the hair on the body, typically resulting in a white streak or splotches in someone's hair.
Disney's Cruella ends with the death of an alter-ego, justice being served, and the possibility of a new beginning. Directed by Craig Gillespie, Cruella stars Emma Stone in the titular role and delves deep into the traditionally flamboyant villain's origin story right from the moment she was born.
It is not until the end Cruella reveals her true personality, a violent, careless, murderous, destructive, and downright evil psychopath, after the dalmatians escape, she becomes nearly insane and preposterous, so she goes on a rampage trying to retrieve the dogs but accidentally crashes the car she was driving.
It is there the movie arbitrarily suggests Cruella de Vil's eventual obsession with Dalmatians is because that breed of dog was used as a literal murder weapon in the death of her mother.
The language is relatively mild. Minor swear words are used, such as "hell" and "damn". Some milder name-calling ("imbecile", "stupid", "fat", incompetent"); even this is sparsely used.
And yet for all the flair Gillespie and his cast bring to the project, they can't hide that Cruella is too long, too bloated, and is a trend-chaser rather than a trendsetter like its title character. There are times when the film still manages to be fun, but it's a de Vil's bargain.
Cruella's Story Becomes a Mission of Revenge Rather than Greed. With an evil desire to be clothed in the fur of baby dogs as her one character trait, the original Cruella was merely an entertaining, creepy villain. Stone's Cruella doesn't have any dark instinct to kill Dalmatians and wear them.
Her villainous plot in the show was to steal the Dearlys' farm from them, using the puppies as a ransom. Her mother Malevola de Vil demands she do this, and Cruella also was denied the farm by old Widow Smedly the first time she tried to buy it, incensing her and beginning her obsession.
Some theorize that her hatred for animals is a result of her traumatic childhood; her parents were allegedly distant and emotionally abusive, and her only solace was her pet black and white spotted puppy.
In 101 Dalmatians, Cruella wanted to purchase Perdita and Pongo's Dalmatian puppies because she was a selfish heiress who viewed the puppies as a fashionable commodity to be exploited rather than as innocent living beings.
The movie is super female empowering. I don't get why it's rated PG-13 because it's not scary or inappropriate at all and it has ZERO bad words. The worst they say is “Oh farts”. It might be scary for some sensitive kids though because it has a bit of a scary scene.
From the original Disney animation, we learn that behind her glamour, Cruella de Vil is a murderous, narcissistic psychopath; she is a woman who is perfectly willing to illegally abduct, murder and skin 99 puppies to create her own spotted fur coat.
The reason given for Cruella's distinctive hair is poliosis, a disease that causes a decrease or absence of melanin in head hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, or any other hairy area. More often than not, the hair is affected in splotches or directly over the forehead to create a streak of white, akin to Rogue in X-men.
She is frequently described as a narcissist by those around her due to her fixation with being the center of attention, favoring elaborate parties and galas at her mansion estate as a means of placing her superiority on full display.
