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Cruella, 2021
In this revamped take on the story and characters of 101 Dalmations, Cruella (Emma Stone) in an orphaned young woman whose brilliance and volatility both help and hinder her desire to be a fashion designer. Living and working scams with Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser), two men who took her in when they were all street urchins, Cruella eventually gets a job for the imposing fashion queen the Baroness (Emma Thompson). But Cruella is about to discover that the connection between the Baroness and her own past runs deeper than she every suspected.
I've been largely uninterested in the "rebooted/revamped/live action!" craze regarding old Disney movies. I do not need some uncanny valley Lion King, thank you very much. But this film, honestly, was pretty fun. Yes, it falls into a few traps of modern kids entertainment, but the performances and the sets/costumes lift it into enjoyable territory.
Both Emma Stone and Emma Thompson bring a delicious vivacity to their characters. They make for great opponents, and Stone in particular finds a way to embody Cruella that does feel lifted right out of the cartoon. In one sequence, her hunched, frantic posture as she drives a car gave me genuine nostalgia for the original cartoon.
Along with the lead performances, there are a host of fabulous supporting turns, including Mark Strong as the Baroness's lead security guard, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Anita Darling, and (prompting me to joyfully exclaim "Nandor!!!") Kayvan Novak as Roger. There are also some very adorable dogs rounding things out, and the film manages to resist too many goofy audio cues with them.
The set design and costuming is really top-notch, with over-the-top constructed outfits of outlandish scope and scale. The use of black-and-white and red is fantastic.
It's funny having watched The Devil Wears Prada just a short while ago, because the middle act of this film is basically that same movie.
The film does suffer from some bloat. There are a few times that we are given information, only to have a character explain what we just learned, sometimes even more than once. There are also a few montages that overstay their welcome just a bit. It feels as if a good 20-30 minutes could have been trimmed off and the film would have moved along at a much better clip.
Not a bad way to spend a rainy morning.
+
Cruella, 2021
In this revamped take on the story and characters of 101 Dalmations, Cruella (Emma Stone) in an orphaned young woman whose brilliance and volatility both help and hinder her desire to be a fashion designer. Living and working scams with Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser), two men who took her in when they were all street urchins, Cruella eventually gets a job for the imposing fashion queen the Baroness (Emma Thompson). But Cruella is about to discover that the connection between the Baroness and her own past runs deeper than she every suspected.
I've been largely uninterested in the "rebooted/revamped/live action!" craze regarding old Disney movies. I do not need some uncanny valley Lion King, thank you very much. But this film, honestly, was pretty fun. Yes, it falls into a few traps of modern kids entertainment, but the performances and the sets/costumes lift it into enjoyable territory.
Both Emma Stone and Emma Thompson bring a delicious vivacity to their characters. They make for great opponents, and Stone in particular finds a way to embody Cruella that does feel lifted right out of the cartoon. In one sequence, her hunched, frantic posture as she drives a car gave me genuine nostalgia for the original cartoon.
Along with the lead performances, there are a host of fabulous supporting turns, including Mark Strong as the Baroness's lead security guard, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Anita Darling, and (prompting me to joyfully exclaim "Nandor!!!") Kayvan Novak as Roger. There are also some very adorable dogs rounding things out, and the film manages to resist too many goofy audio cues with them.
The set design and costuming is really top-notch, with over-the-top constructed outfits of outlandish scope and scale. The use of black-and-white and red is fantastic.
It's funny having watched The Devil Wears Prada just a short while ago, because the middle act of this film is basically that same movie.
The film does suffer from some bloat. There are a few times that we are given information, only to have a character explain what we just learned, sometimes even more than once. There are also a few montages that overstay their welcome just a bit. It feels as if a good 20-30 minutes could have been trimmed off and the film would have moved along at a much better clip.
Not a bad way to spend a rainy morning.
+