Film Review: Cruella

Photo Credit: Disney.

Undoubtedly for some, when they heard that there was to be another Cruella movie, eyes rolled, comments were made using the phrases “cash grab” and “bottom of the barrel”, and allegiances were sworn to Glenn Close. While I won’t say that this film undeniably assuages all those qualms, it is undoubtedly an entertaining film that is able to stand on its own and shed some light on how Disney’s most fabulous villain got her start. And thanks to the talents of the universally loved Emma Stone, Cruella is given a depth and humour never before seen from this character. Helmed by I, Tonya’s Craig Gillespie as director, who is no stranger to subverting an audience’s opinion on a vilified woman, Cruella follows suit in helping you love the vile villainess just that little bit more. From start to finish, the film screams ‘she’s back darlings’ and I can confirm that she’s just as wonderfully unhinged as ever. 

The film begins back when ‘Cruella’ was nothing more than an affectionate parental nickname, bestowed upon the precocious Estella to describe her dark and wild side. The young Estella is presented as a tenacious girl who is mainly good, but sometimes prone to straying from her mother’s wishes, and allowing her streak of wild abandon to guide her actions. As Cruella herself puts it however, it was never her mother she was attempting to challenge; “it was the world”.  Estella’s eyes were always set upon something bigger, and following the tragic death of her mother, bigger and better is exactly what she needs. Estella’s talents lie in fashion designing, but evidently orphans living on the streets of London rarely come across opportunities in the fashion world, so to get by Estella relies on grifting, which she does with the help of two partners in crime, the dry and sardonic Jasper, and the immediately iconic Horace. 

Now, much of the thrill and dazzle of this film comes from the fact that we are given not one but two bitingly sharp villains, both dressed at all times, in killer couture. Estella’s foe is The Baroness, a fashion mogul that upon a chance encounter hires Estella to come work for her. Deliciously played by Emma Thompson, The Baroness is the human manifestation of a whip, with a lethal combination of acerbic wit and bloodthirst, two necessities if one is to succeed in the fashion world, and the two necessities that The Baroness seems to think Estella, is missing. But luckily for us the true substance and pulse of the film comes through whenever Estella is underestimated, and the audience is never more exhilarated than when The Baroness and Estella, now fully turned Cruella, are serving monumental fashion looks, constantly trying to one up and outshine the other. 

Whether it was Disney’s intention or not, they have successfully put forward an interesting, witty, and manic creative genius with Cruella that audiences are bound to love and aspire to far more than her doe eyed counterpart Estella. Cruella is presented as the unhinged, devilish side we all somewhat possess, and whilst the film does attempt to shoehorn in a redemption arc in which Estella partially ‘learns a lesson’ (this is a Disney movie after all), this was wildly unnecessary. By this point in the film, the audience is already hooked on Cruella. And how could Disney blame us? With the film set in 1970’s London, amidst the burgeoning punk scene and having Cruella dishing out epic one-liners constantly, who wouldn’t want to ditch their own inner Estella and trade her in for something a little more fantastically chaotic? Not to mention the killer soundtrack that is not only reflective of the time period, but tailor made to fit Cruella’s aesthetic. We’re presented with Nina Simone’s sultry ‘Feeling Good’, Nancy Sinatra’s instantly empowering ‘These Boots Were Made for Walkin’”, and perhaps most fittingly, The Rolling Stone’s ‘Sympathy for the Devil’, or ‘de Vil’ in our case. It will be utterly impossible for any audience member to leave the film having not been converted into a Cruella cheerleader. Black and white has never looked so vibrant.

Cruella is showing in cinemas across Australia and streaming via Disney Plus from Thursday 27th of May.