Cruella Review

I was divided between excitement and terror for the whole run of Disney's #Cruella de Vil. Rarely has a film vivisected me as much as this one about a villain most known for wanting to skin puppies for a coat. Only Cruella isn't truly about that character. It has nothing to do with her battles with the fur business or PETA. It's not about a bunch of Dalmatian dogs trying to get away from her furrier urges. It's a colorful and pulpy story about a lady with severe narcissistic tendencies who seeks vengeance on a killer while also becoming a fashion sensation in London. I apologize if you ever thought, "I could never have anything except campy adoration for Disney's puppy murderer," but this lady is a pleasure.

This is more Wicked than Joker in the sense that it reimagines a well-known villain as a misguided hero who has been tarnished by the media. However, I'm not sure why it's called Cruella de Vil rather than an original film about a lady with severe narcissistic tendencies who seeks vengeance on a killer and becomes a London fashion superstar. Whereas Wicked (both the book and the musical) goes to great lengths to highlight how the media can smear a person's image, Cruella generally avoids jibes about populism or the media in favor of putting on a huge, gorgeous spectacle.

Cruella de Vil doesn't try to explain — or even imply — how she went from being a fashion star with a gold heart to a monster forcing her companions to abduct puppies from another buddy to construct a coat. Cruella, then known as Estella, goes to school, causes mischief, and is lavished with attention by her adoring mother. Cruella escapes the streets of London after being blamed for a murder and encounters two teenage criminals, Jasper and Horace. She dyes her hair and joins them in their theft, and the three of them form a family.

You typically know when you're supposed to laugh and when you're supposed to just enjoy yourself when watching a movie. It's like a fairy tale, and it's like a fantastic graphic novel, and it's nothing like the films to which it'll be compared.