Cruella
Published May 29, 2021
Film info
- Title Cruella
- Director Craig Gillespie
- Year 2021
- Run time 2hrs 14m
- Genres Comedy, Crime
- Tagline Hello cruel world
Emma Stone stars in Disney's Cruella, which explores the rebellious early days of one of cinema's most notorious - and notoriously fashionable - villains, Cruella de Vil. Set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, the movie follows a young grifter named Estella and reveals the series of events that cause her to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous and revenge-bent Cruella.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 0:48 | The two tone hair is amazing on a tiny child. |
| 1:29 | “Your name’s Estella not Cruella.” IT IS?? |
| 4:44 | She’s going to start planning once she gets to London, that sounds sensible. |
| 8:58 | First sighting of a Dalmation. |
| 17:16 | Steal, design, repeat. |
| 19:08 | “This is the nicest birthday in a while.” “Not for Judy.” |
| 25:58 | This department store is very dingy. |
| 27:50 | “Why’d you go to sleep in a window?” |
| 30:06 | That boss is disgustingly sycophantic. |
| 30:48 | “She liked my window.” |
| 33:58 | Is this how it works that other people do all the actual designing? |
| 39:35 | “I think you’re… something.” |
| 41:01 | “Slight tone delivery problem” is genius. |
| 48:34 | The slowed down TOTP theme tune is so weird. |
| 58:53 | The sixth stage of grief - revenge. |
| 1:09:43 | It’s impossible she hasn’t recognised her. |
| 1:11:59 | How rubbish are the police that they can’t trace a stolen dustcart? |
| 1:22:31 | Moth dress is genius/hideous. |
| 1:37:27 | “Must dash. Much to avenge, revenge and destroy.” |
| 1:52:51 | Did they have tasers in the 70s? |
Thoughts
The reviews for this movie had suggested it wasn’t going to be any good, but I actually really enjoyed it. It’s very derivative with barely an original idea in there, but it told a good story and I liked following the twists and turns. I’ve seen 101 Dalmations before but remember very little about it because it wasn’t good. I don’t know a lot about Cruella, but I don’t understand how this slightly twisted but not horrific character turns into one that murders puppies - she had the chance here and opted not to… so goodness knows what happens later.
It took a little while to bed in with the posh voice and the odd setting - they somehow paid a lot of attention to period details but also left some glaringly obviously weird things in there too. Not perfect, but so much better than anticipated that it was a win, in my book.
Rating: 4 / 5