If she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will. To see her is to take a sudden chill…

That’s enough talking about Rebel Wilson. On with the film review.

The villain origin film idea has always been interesting. However, in the past few years it had become somewhat common. It’s a really tough thing to make a character you can empathise with, while they remain bad and in keeping with a character you’ll dislike in the future. It can be somewhat sadistic with little let up. You’re free to make a story, but the ending is defined meaning that as a creator you’re constrained. I really felt this when I saw Joker last year (you can read my review of that here). With Joker in my mind, I went into Cruella with low expectations, however the film certainly did things in a different way truly came to be my biggest surprise of the year.

Based on the villain from 101 Dalmatians, the film starts with Estella as a child who is rather rambunctious, her mother is regularly reminding her to be Estella and not Cruella. About 10 minutes in, she and her mother go to a mysterious mansion where Estella’s mother is killed by the… you’ll never guess, a group of Dalmatians. She runs away and meets two other orphans, Horace and Jasper. Flash forward to when she is an adult and a petty thief along with her sidekicks. One day she gets a job with the Baroness, played by Emma Thompson. However, when some rather predictable secrets are revealed, Estella decides to take down the Baroness as new fashion diva Cruella. This part of the film runs in a very similar way to Now You See Me.

The film sounds ridiculous and it is. It’s far from perfect and there is so much that you could change, but the important thing is that it’s so much fun. Emma Stone is brilliantly cast as Cruella and Emma Thompson brings out a true evil as the Baroness. In the narrative, Cruella is unquestionably the hero. She’s straight talking and mean, however she is justified in the actions as Thompson’s character is so much more evil. You root for her and don’t question it. Her goal is to bring down the fashion icon, not murder people and that’s fine. It’s also worth nothing that she doesn’t want to kill puppies in this movie and that’s where it really went for an interesting choice.

This Cruella isn’t the same one from the animated movie. She’s much more empathetic. She’s not a good person, but the place the film ends is the polar opposite to where you’d expect it to. She isn’t as rude as her animated counterpart, but that works. You know she’s bad, but she is redeemable. This Cruella is a fun person. She’ll never be in a live action 101 Dalmations and that’s fine.

The middle of the film becomes repetitive and the whole thing is predictable. The use of sound isn’t ideal and you can tell the dogs are CGI. However, there is much more right with this film than wrong. The soundtrack is as entertaining as any around with a mix of twentieth century rock brining a lot of energy, even if it was overpowering at times. Both Emmas are supported fantastically by Horace and Jasper. Paul Walter Hauser brings along one of the screen’s worst cockney accents, but it really doesn’t matter. The film revolves around showmanship and uses it as its greatest strength.

Summary

While some may see this as a family friendly Joker movie, Cruella smartly deviates from that. Fantastic lead performances from Emma Stone and Emma Thompson make this very loose character adaptation much more fun than I ever predicted it would be. [Grade: B]