Cruella
I was not exactly excited to see this movie as the last major film released by Disney (Mulan) ended in tears. Nevertheless, I went ahead to see it and I was not disappointed.
Set in the 70s, Cruella is a girl whose dreams of being a fashion designer come true after she redesigned a dress for the Baroness, one of the big names in the fashion industry at the time. She ends up working for her until she finds out that she’s a narcissistic bitch who would do anything to remain in power. Kind of like the Nigerian government. This movie gave me The Devil wears Prada vibes, but less enjoyable.
Cruella is based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith in which she steals Dalmatian dogs in order to make fur coats with their skin. I think this is supposed to be a prequel of sorts as it tells of the origins of Cruella. The idea of trying to create a backstory as to why a villain turned out the way they did is honestly getting tiring. I’d be much happier knowing that she’s a bad bitch just because she’s a bad bitch, not because of some traumatic childhood.
Emma Stone plays Estella/Cruella. Her performance did not cut it for me. For someone who had been one person her whole life, her transition into Cruella was not believable and it felt forced at some point that I thought she was faking it. Of all her movies that I’ve seen, this was the worst performance for me.
Emma Thompson plays the Baroness and was quite the villain. I would say she pulled a Meryl Streep from The Devil wears Prada, but way more evil. I wasn’t really into her character though, maybe because it felt familiar or it just wasn’t memorable.
I’m actually surprised this movie has so many good reviews. It was long and boring and had no character development in any way. This movie fell short in that it was supposed to show us the gradual ascent/descent of Estella to Cruella(depending on how you look at it), but it kept circling on one spot. Emma Stone was literally the same from start to finish.
The only thing that stood out for me was the soundtrack. I found myself listening to Blondie and Queen all over again and it was obvious that the 70s was a very rock-star decade. The costumes which most people loved was really just average for me but hey, I’m no fashionista.
I’ll rate this movie 6 out of 10.
