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Cruella Review: Emma Stone's whimsically chaotic act helps harbour an overachieving script
Cruella is quite spectacularly "The Emmas Show" as Stone and Thompson deliver ravishing performances pitting two fiery women against each other. Read Pinkvilla's full review below.
Cruella
Cruella Cast: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Paul Walter Hauser
Cruella Director: Craig Gillespie
Streaming Platform: Disney+Hotstar Premium
Cruella Stars: 3.5/5
Put a woman in the right dress (es!) and watch her roar... and when it's acting powerhouses like Emma Stone and Emma Watson who're doing the walking and talking, you best believe you're in for fireworks. Albeit, with a perfect 'pen to paper' ensemble, Cruella diminishes its raucous spark by being overzealous and not in the right kinds of excessive you'd expect from iconic Disney villain, Cruella de Vil's tragic backstory.
No matter how affable the 101 dalmatians were, even as kids, you were intrigued with Cruella and her vicious lust for skinning dogs. For every mega villain, she or he deserves a worthy backstory and with Cruella, we get a slight tease to the madness behind the monochrome fashionista. Taking us all the way back to her childhood, the onset implies that Estella Miller (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) is a different kid with a temperament of a football coach. While constantly getting into fights at her school, her loving mother Catherine (Emily Beecham) nicknames her Cruella, foreshadowing her daughter's destined fate. After being expelled, Catherine decides to relocate the mother-daughter duo to London with a pit stop to Hellman Hall.
The ever-inquisitive Estella rebels against her mom's demands to not wander around and is left mesmerised by the glitz and glamour of an impeccable party thrown by a mystery woman, who we later come to know becomes Estella's fashion icon muse, The Baroness (Thompson). After attracting the attention of three dalmatians, Estella ultimately (though accidentally!) leads the ravenous pets to her vulnerable mother. As expected of Disney classics, Estella has been left an orphan as she reaches London and encounters two scrappy young thieves Jasper (Ziggy Gardner) and Horace (Joseph MacDonald). We then see a 10-year time jump as Estella finds her family in the two men (now played by Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser) and eventually gets to live her dream, work with The Baroness. While Estella tries her best to live by her mother's wish of leading a normal life, a big reveal swiftly leads to the beginnings of Cruella.
When it comes to Cruella's storyline, think The Devil Wears Prada on crack meets Joker! The former heavily influences a major chunk of the 134 minutes long film and it's a given, because Aline Brosh McKenna, who wrote the Meryl Streep-Anne Hathaway classic, is a co-writer of Cruella as well, alongside Kelly Marcel and Steve Zissis. However, the storyline's attempt to be as overzealous as its titular character demands tend to spoil the mostly well-cooked broth a stinge. Inspite of the throwaway references to Cruella's dalmatians' obsession, the overachieving plot focuses more on the chaos created than the character development of Cruella. Her sudden switch from an aspiring fashion designer to a clear-cut maniac may be questionable to many. P.S. The mid-credits scene is still the perfect homage to the originals while also screaming for a sequel.
Nevertheless, it's the extraordinarily talented ensemble that steals the show anyway. Cruella is amongst the 'once in a lifetime' type of roles that has the recollecting value for decades and decades and Emma delivers in crisp polka dots. Stone is a wicked revelation on-screen, whose performance is as snazzy and twisted as the custom Cruella gowns. The constant zig-zag transformation between a downtrodden Estella, trying to make some semblance of her life, to a punk rock queen Cruella, who isn't afraid to be a rebel without a cause, Emma plays the two contrasting personalities with vivacious empathy. A personal favourite scene of Emma entails a battle between the two alter-egos at a fountain, which equips deep, profound symbolism in Estella and Cruella's life, as one eventually trumps over the other! On the other hand, Thompson's The Baroness is an extravagant antagonist who demands your attention in every frame she's in. Together, the two Emmas are the perfect Yin and Yang, who play off of each other's genius. It's refreshingly addictive to watch two fiery women just want to raise some stylish hell while being exceptionally remarkable at what they do!
However, the one who truly steals the show in Cruella is Paul as the adult Horace, whose wry humour and unmistakable charm is endearing to watch. Joel, as adult Jasper and Mark Strong as Jon, The Baroness' right-hand mand are equally delightful while Emily and Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Catherine and Anita fill in the missing pieces without overstaying their welcome. While it's "The Emmas Show", the supporting cast are people you care about. Atleast for two hours and so-so minutes!
You can't talk about Cruella without the fashion, which is a pivotal storyline driving the women into further insanity. To fit Cruella's mind-bending standards, costume designer Jenny Beavan goes all out, even making basic trash and newspapers look runway chic. The two Emmas look ravishing with every intricately aesthetic design worn and you're left curious as to how they'd top one stellar piece after another. Equally invigorating is the production design by Alice Felton and cinematography by Nicolas Karakatsanis as they bring 1970s London to life. Tatiana S. Riegel's complex editing is borderline headache-inducing but Nicholas Britell's throwback score with classic hits further livens up the spunkiest of sequences.
At the end of the day, just like its main muse whose brimming with cruel intentions, Cruella is luxuriously wild and smartly unapologetic about it. Furs and all included!
