Cruella? Really?

[Joelist]

What a waste of Emma Stone's talents. I can't stand a lot of the actresses we have today between their lack of charisma and acting skill and how offscreen they tend to be woke Karens (like Brie Larson). Emma Stone is none of these - she has actual charisma, real acting ability and apparently offscreen is fairly easygoing. And to her credit she did not mail it in here but gave a really good, earnest performance. Emma Thompson also had fun in her role and the rivalry had some fun elements.

However, the "Dalmatian" in the room is unavoidable and renders the entire film cringey. This is an origin story trying to paint CRUELLA DE VIL as a sympathetic antihero. You know, the same Cruella De Vil whose ambition is to kill puppies and use their skins for designer coats. The effect is to give the movie a very real issue of a moral center that is repulsive.

What I cannot understand is they could have made almost the exact same movie and just removed the links to 101 Dalmatians and had Emma Stone be anyone but Cruella De Vil and the result would have been a slick, stylish character piece. Instead it is revolting.

In a way, this resembles a bit the problem with the new Tomb Raider movie - if it had not been a new origin story for Lara Croft and Alicia Vikkander been playing a character with the same arc just a different name, the movie would have been better.

 

[Overmind One]

OMG, I watched this movie yesterday. So, they have created a completely contradictory backstory for Cruella to make her into a victim. They gutted The Devil Wears Prada and ripped off things scene for scene in some places in the first hour of the film. It starts to be a fun watch, even though it has nothing to do with the Cruella we know. But then they do a reveal at around 1:15 and the story takes yet another turn. The fun turns into eye-rolls, and the end is uneventful and (to me) sealed. They have set it up for a sequel...kinda.

BTW, this movie performed even lower than the dismal Mulan movie. Still, it's worth a single watch if you have Disney+ or a way to watch it. Parts are fun.

 

[Joelist]

You have to admit, the notion of Cruella De Vil as sympathetic is pretty weird eh?

 

[Overmind One]

You have to admit, the notion of Cruella De Vil as sympathetic is pretty weird eh?

Yeah. Very. I actually "acquired" the film and I have been running it through to catch stuff.

Spoiler: Possible spoilers!

The backstory falls apart quickly. How do you birth a baby with black and white hair and then hide her in a private school with that same black and white hair? Not only that, but the adoptive mother was still working for Baroness at the time? Why would the Baroness not immediately identify her? Why would there never have been an investigation by the Baron or the British police? Why were those three Dalmations still alive when Estella was a kid to when she was an adult, and why was the Baroness's dog whistle any different than any standard dog whistle?

So many things. DOZENS of flaws in a rewatch.

I did have fun watching it through the middle of the film. The fashion photobombs, the campy dialogue from the Baroness and Artie and the clever stunts Cruella pulled on her. But then they killed it.

 

[Joelist]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erznXozQy-Q&t=611s

 

[Overmind One]

One thing I really could not get my head around was the random music selections. At one point we were getting Ohio Players - Fire, and another minute we were getting the Car Wash theme. The movie plays out like a teen girl's dream about fashion design and wealth and power. Very much a feminist movie.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Cruella is a very misunderstood person.


Lol.

 

[Quetesh]

It is totally typical of the world we live in today. Everyone can have a reason for doing whatever they want and play the blame game for why they did it and become redeemable.
More spin, justification and total lack of ownership for your own bad deeds and the repercussions that you should be due to pay for those bad deeds.

It is a very dangerous way to look at the world and raise your children because ultimately there are people out there they will take advantage of this overly optimistic way of looking at life.
Cruella is a perfect example of this, what is next? A movie about how hard life was for Adolf when he was a boy?

 

[Overmind One]

It is totally typical of the world we live in today. Everyone can have a reason for doing whatever they want and play the blame game for why they did it and become redeemable.
More spin, justification and total lack of ownership for your own bad deeds and the repercussions that you should be due to pay for those bad deeds.

It is a very dangerous way to look at the world and raise your children because ultimately there are people out there they will take advantage of this overly optimistic way of looking at life.
Cruella is a perfect example of this, what is next? A movie about how hard life was for Adolf when he was a boy?

LOL! I could see them trying that if there was any reason they would see for trying to redeem him. But, he is a white male which they seem to be hating on right now. But I could see them trying to redeem the Wicked Witch of the West in a new woke Oz movie.

Cruella has a story. She is the antagonist in a story which is supposed to be more about the family of Dalmations. Cruella is just the villain. But they have decided to redeem her and turn her into a tragic victim who spits in the face of the source material with such force that she actually has three dalmations as pets and two other dogs too? She DIDN'T skin the dogs? It seemed that they have set it up for a sequel. AS IF! Having dragged it like that, there were a few fun scenes I liked.

The 1961 Theatrical Trailer:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdV2tPJOPRY

 

[Joelist]

As I said earlier. Take the same movie with the same plot and characters. Remove all mentions to 101 Dalmatians and give her character a different name. Now it works better because there is no knowledge that your sympathetic character is going to become possibly the worst villain in classic Disney history. They really need to stop with repurposing characters.

 

[YJ02]

What a waste of Emma Stone's talents. I can't stand a lot of the actresses we have today between their lack of charisma and acting skill and how offscreen they tend to be woke Karens (like Brie Larson). Emma Stone is none of these - she has actual charisma, real acting ability and apparently offscreen is fairly easygoing. And to her credit she did not mail it in here but gave a really good, earnest performance. Emma Thompson also had fun in her role and the rivalry had some fun elements.

However, the "Dalmatian" in the room is unavoidable and renders the entire film cringey. This is an origin story trying to paint CRUELLA DE VIL as a sympathetic antihero. You know, the same Cruella De Vil whose ambition is to kill puppies and use their skins for designer coats. The effect is to give the movie a very real issue of a moral center that is repulsive.

What I cannot understand is they could have made almost the exact same movie and just removed the links to 101 Dalmatians and had Emma Stone be anyone but Cruella De Vil and the result would have been a slick, stylish character piece. Instead it is revolting.

In a way, this resembles a bit the problem with the new Tomb Raider movie - if it had not been a new origin story for Lara Croft and Alicia Vikkander been playing a character with the same arc just a different name, the movie would have been better.

OMG, I watched this movie yesterday. So, they have created a completely contradictory backstory for Cruella to make her into a victim. They gutted The Devil Wears Prada and ripped off things scene for scene in some places in the first hour of the film. It starts to be a fun watch, even though it has nothing to do with the Cruella we know. But then they do a reveal at around 1:15 and the story takes yet another turn. The fun turns into eye-rolls, and the end is uneventful and (to me) sealed. They have set it up for a sequel...kinda.

BTW, this movie performed even lower than the dismal Mulan movie. Still, it's worth a single watch if you have Disney+ or a way to watch it. Parts are fun.

the original cartoon movie is older then i am

why would anyone think that Disney or that anyone who was going to watch this would care one bit about "original story" or "changing" who Cruella is? deviating or retconning as an argument for this being "bad" is a moot point as Disney is obviously retelling this and other stories for modern audiences as they see fit

there was no "wokeness" or any blatant SJW "payoffs".. Cruella here is no more empowered then say the original Cinderella or Pocahontas was. she is not going up against "stupid men" but an older woman, her mother.

the original Cruella and so many other Disney characters, have no backstory, no reason for being who they are. The original just has some green tones skin woman showing up...who the hell is that? where did she come from? why does her skin look like it does?

Also, there is nothing in this new film that indicates this Cruella will also not become "wicked"-- in this film nothing she did actually benefitted any other characters other then by their continued association with her as her "henchmen"-- Cruella is still a a obnoxious and greedy individual

 

[Joelist]

Hi YJ!

The problem is the film DOES try to paint Cruella in a somewhat sympathetic light. I never said she was an OP Mary Sue or other such and Emma Stone did her usual excellent job in the part. Trying to paint someone like Cruella somewhat sympathetically does create a discordance because everyone knows Cruella is probably the ultimate classic Disney evil villain. Had they just not had any links to 101 Dalmatians and had her not be Cruella De Vil this would have been a slick film.

 

[Overmind One]

the original cartoon movie is older then i am

why would anyone think that Disney or that anyone who was going to watch this would care one bit about "original story" or "changing" who Cruella is? deviating or retconning as an argument for this being "bad" is a moot point as Disney is obviously retelling this and other stories for modern audiences as they see fit

there was no "wokeness" or any blatant SJW "payoffs".. Cruella here is no more empowered then say the original Cinderella or Pocahontas was. she is not going up against "stupid men" but an older woman, her mother.

the original Cruella and so many other Disney characters, have no backstory, no reason for being who they are. The original just has some green tones skin woman showing up...who the hell is that? where did she come from? why does her skin look like it does?

Also, there is nothing in this new film that indicates this Cruella will also not become "wicked"-- in this film nothing she did actually benefitted any other characters other then by their continued association with her as her "henchmen"-- Cruella is still a a obnoxious and greedy individual

Wait, what? The original movie is older than me too, but I know the backstory of the 101 Dalmations story from that movie, the characters, and how Cruella De Vil fits into it. There most certainly WAS wokeness in Cruella 2021 and lots and lots of it at that. I am afraid your entire take on this movie is off by a lot! If you missed the redemption arc, the retconning of Cruella's origins and her relationship with dogs, then you don't remember the original or have not seen it or the 1997 live-action film (Glenn Close) which they actually DID get right. This Cruella not only does not hate dalmations, but she actually has them as pets.

Her "henchmen" have become her "family" now. She owns not one, not three, but FIVE dogs now if you count Wink. All the men in the movie are stupid except John the valet. The others are inept, bumbling fools, or they are emasculated by the Baroness multiple times throughout the movie.

The original 101 Dalmations was about Roger, Anita (married) and the dalmations, and Cruella De Vil was just the movie's villain. This one makes Anita a black female reporter and makes Roger a lawyer and they don't even know each other.

 

[Overmind One]

Hi YJ!

The problem is the film DOES try to paint Cruella in a somewhat sympathetic light. I never said she was an OP Mary Sue or other such and Emma Stone did her usual excellent job in the part. Trying to paint someone like Cruella somewhat sympathetically does create a discordance because everyone knows Cruella is probably the ultimate classic Disney evil villain. Had they just not had any links to 101 Dalmatians and had her not be Cruella De Vil this would have been a slick film.

OMG, the sequel to this movie has already been greenlit by Disney, starring Emma Stone. If so, that means that Anita and Roger will be meeting and getting married (IR marriage = woke points). It will also mean that they are going to have to make Cruella wicked and also her two friends.

 

[YJ02]

Hi YJ!

The problem is the film DOES try to paint Cruella in a somewhat sympathetic light. I never said she was an OP Mary Sue or other such and Emma Stone did her usual excellent job in the part. Trying to paint someone like Cruella somewhat sympathetically does create a discordance because everyone knows Cruella is probably the ultimate classic Disney evil villain. Had they just not had any links to 101 Dalmatians and had her not be Cruella De Vil this would have been a slick film.

the point is you are all trying to rate a film based on a film from 1961. a film that many in Disney's new target audience has likely never watched

they are remaking/ re booting many of these old stories in a new way tha tthey see fit to do with their property. they are making them for young people, not us over 40 somethings

 

[Joelist]

I see early development but no greenlit stories. Considering that at its present rate Disney is going to take a fiscal bath on it they really need to be cautious about sequels.

 

[Overmind One]

the point is you are all trying to rate a film based on a film from 1961. a film that many in Disney's new target audience has likely never watched

they are remaking/ re booting many of these old stories in a new way tha tthey see fit to do with their property. they are making them for young people, not us over 40 somethings

This movie bombed. Both in the theaters and on the streaming service. When you look into the reasons, and look for feedback and watch reviews (pick your own), you will hear the same things: the story of Cruella's morphing into a victim instead of a monster is the worse offense, with the retconning and overt changes to the backdrop. The 1961 movie gave us the 1997 live-action remake which is what audiences would be most familiar with. But this is a whole franchise. Cruella De Vil is an established character, possibly the darkest most monstrous character ever created by Disney.

 

[Overmind One]

I see early development but no greenlit stories. Considering that at its present rate Disney is going to take a fiscal bath on it they really need to be cautious about sequels.

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I would imagine they offered Emma Stone a two-movie deal, and we already know the first movie set up a sequel. If they want to fix the trajectory, then they need to marry Anita the reporter, and Roger who was fired by the baroness. The baroness has to be a non-factor in the second movie, not appearing at all. Then, we need to dirty up Cruella, Jasper, and Horace and make them into compliant henchmen. I just don't see them doing that. And there are the dalmatians. Are they now going to center this on Cruella and not the dalmatians? Anything is possible! But it will remain woke.

Like I said earlier, the movie had its fun moments. I have rewatched those parts just to enjoy them. But taken as Cruella, it doesn't really work.

 

[Quetesh]

I think you are really underestimating the love of Disney for kids and the way parents still keep the stories alive. The 101 Dalmatians story is known by most Americans and their kids. Parents still do read to their kids and these book are still out there.

the point is you are all trying to rate a film based on a film from 1961. a film that many in Disney's new target audience has likely never watched

they are remaking/ re booting many of these old stories in a new way tha tthey see fit to do with their property. they are making them for young people, not us over 40 somethingsI

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Maybe the second movie is when Cruella will truly become Cruella?