K.T Simpson
Let’s face it, we love to hate an evil villain, so for those looking to throw a bit of support behind the ‘little guy’, “Cruella” is the film for you. A family-friendly affair, with puppies to amuse even the littlest of viewers, “Cruella” is the origin story of the infamous villainess from Disney’s “101 Dalmatians”.
Young Estella Miller (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) is a sweet, creative girl with a somewhat cruel streak, gaining the nickname of Cruella from her mother. After an accident leaves Cruella without her mother, she grows up mostly homeless with her new friends Jasper and Horace.
10 years pass and aspiring designer Estella (Emma Stone) is still living with Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser), making ends meet by thieving. Estella soon scores a job with fashion icon Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson), but soon starts to dream bigger and wants to take the Baroness down a few pegs. Her ‘alter-ego’ Cruella comes out to play, and ultimately becomes the Baroness’ enemy.
The big question here is – who is the villain? Throughout the film, a few things get revealed and you’ll end up cheering on one side, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide who’s side you’re on.
“Cruella” is a little clunky in its story, navigating a few sub-plots at once, but ultimately succeeds in creating a family-friendly film with some pretty cool fashion, some cute dogs and one bad-ass gal with duotone hair. Whether you’re Team Baronoess or Team De Vil, you’ll have a blast with “Cruella”.
