Cruella

Movie Name: Cruella
Year of Release: 2021
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Mark Strong, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, John McCrea, Emily Beecham, Kayvan Novak, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Jamie Demetriou
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
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Synopsis and Review:

The Disney studios continue to go through their classic properties, uncovering tales to be told, focused on well known antagonists of classic animated stories, something they did with "Maleficent" which originated from "Sleeping Beauty", and now with "Cruella" from "101 Dalmatians". This tale is a prequel and focuses on the story of a young girl by the name of Estella, who is born with quite a unique streak of hair, and a clearly defined sense of style to match it. Estella reveals a flair for fashion from an early age, and following a disastrous experience in a local school, her mother decides it is time to move to London, where Estella will have a much more fertile ground to grow. Sadly as they decide to get some help with the move, Estella's mother dies in a vicious situation. Forced to escape on her own to London, Estella quickly teams up with two other young street kids, and they all manage to grow up in each other's company by grifting and pickpocketing (in London of the 1960s). Estella eventually manages to get a job with The Baroness, the most well known and posh Fashion Designer in London, and through sheer talent, impresses the impossibly rigid designer. As Estella discovers The Baroness was involved in the death of her mother, she decides to wreak havoc on the Designer's life and collection, bringing to life an alter ego of hers, which she always had as a child: Cruella, the over the top persona, who only follows her instincts and never apologizes. As Cruella and her team start taking over the fashion and cultural world in London, The Baroness is fuming, deciding to stop at nothing to destroy this emerging new voice.

Craig Gillespie is an interesting director who continues to surprise. Following his wonderful "I, Tonya", "Cruella" is somewhat of a safer and sanitized view of what unbridled passion and lust for power will do to anyone. However, even if this tale is somewhat of a safe view of these topics, it's also an interesting exploration of an iconic character, and just as importantly, a somewhat superficial view of the point of view of women in the fashion industry in the 60s, and also women as leaders of business at a time where they didn't have that much of a voice. There's definitely a bit of a struggle to this film, trying to balance the fact that it has a message to say, with being light entertainment and ultimately a Disney film. For all the darkness that it tackles, namely those young orphans growing up on the streets and resorting to crime to survive, it's a film that tries to bring levity to its narrative, by inserting a series of animals throughout the narrative, and some slapstick to the supporting entourage of Cruella. Production wise the film is flawless, with impeccable cinematography from Nikolas Karakatsanis, production design from Fiona Crombie and beautiful costume design from Jenny Beavan (and Tom Davies). The cast is also phenomenal, with Emma Thompson and Paul Walter Hauser in particular bringing their characters to life in indelible ways. While not exactly memorable, it's nonetheless a watchable film, which could have benefited from a far better screenplay.