Have you been sitting around, scratching your head recently wondering where the movie character Cruella de Vil came from? Or how about Willy Wonka? Maybe not, but Hollywood is intent on providing us with these answers. Origin stories about well-known characters are nothing new. Disney’s “Cruella” is the newest such film and just hit theaters a week ago while Warner Brothers has “Wonka,” with recently announced lead Timothée Chalamet, in the works.
There seems to be a fascination with the roots of cinema’s most beloved (or reviled) characters, especially in the last few decades. From “Batman Begins” (2005) to “Ratched” (2020), the studios that own these properties keep looking for new ways to get familiar characters on screen. Sometimes it’s successful, like 2019’s Joaquin Phoenix-led “Joker.” And other times, the movies are pretty much panned, à la “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009).
With Disney’s newest offering to this genre, “Cruella,” we wonder who exactly asked for this film. Do we need to know how a malicious woman whose goal it is to skin puppies and make them into a coat got her start? Maybe not, but still we have it. Considering the wide release of the movie, opening even in small towns like Clarion and Grundy Center, and some positive buzz behind it, Bridget and Rob decided to get back to new movie reviews and check it out. They also spend some time musing on yet-to-be-realized origin stories they would like to see.
(Cruella is out in most movie theaters and is also available for about $30 on Disney Plus.)
Bridget: Most of us are probably familiar with Cruella De Vil from the 1961 Disney classic, “101 Dalmatians.” In that movie, she establishes herself as one of Disney’s most notorious villains who, as noted earlier, aspires to make an actual dalmatian puppy coat. Pretty sinister stuff. Years later, Glenn Close competently took on the mantle of the black and white baddie for a live -action turn as Cruella in 1996 and 2000 films that basically stuck to the original story. Now, in the new origin tale “Cruella,” we dive into the checkered past of the character. Rob, give us a little overview of the film.
Rob: If Charles Dickens had lived another 150 years and tried his hand as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he may have penned something resembling “Cruella,” the tale of an orphan left for dead on the mean streets of London who claws and cons her way to the top of the fashion world. Emma Stone portrays the titular character, first known as Estella, and Paul Walter Hauser and Joel Fry are her henchmen, Horace and Jasper. Through a chance encounter at a bottom of the barrel job scrubbing toilets at a high-end department store, she comes into the orbit of the Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson), who just happened to kill her mother by pushing her off a cliff near her mansion years before, and plots revenge against her. Bridget, where does it go from there?
Bridget: We soon meet Cruella! And though she is almost exclusively styled in black and white, she sure is seeing red. She embarks on an intricate plot to best the Baroness in the fashion world. Cruella recruits a team of designers and seamstresses, along with her old friends Jasper and Horace, to help her. Soon, Cruella is upstaging the Baroness at every event as Estella works behind the scenes. Things begin to unravel as Cruella starts to consume Estella, much to the dismay of her friends. Another few twists and turns finally lead to a Mission Impossible-like final showdown between Cruella and the Baroness. Rob, what were your feelings on this movie overall?
Rob: All in all, it works more than it doesn’t, which is more than I can say for the first two films we reviewed. Especially in its first half, “Cruella” is undeniably fun with a breakneck pace, a slew of heist and con-artist hijinks and a song-a-minute ‘70s jukebox soundtrack that rivals “Dazed and Confused.” Stone, Thompson, Fry and Hauser are world class actors who elevate a generally unremarkable screenplay, and there’s some fascinating camera work for a Disney movie, including a hallway tracking shot that reminded me of the famous Copacabana scene in “Goodfellas.”
The biggest problem I had is a plot twist that I won’t spoil for anyone who hasn’t seen “Cruella.” It changes the tone dramatically and tries to wring a serious drama out of what should’ve remained a campy period piece. I also have a small qualm with its billing as a glimpse into the London punk rock underworld, when Iggy Pop’s “I Wanna Be Your Dog” is the only actual punk song in the soundtrack. But again, if you don’t think too much about it, it’s a good time at the movies. “Cruella” was my first experience back in a theater, so I’m naturally going to give it the benefit of the doubt. What’s your take, Bridget?
Bridget: Out of the movies we’ve reviewed for this column so far, “Cruella” has been my favorite. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit! I’d say it’s the most fun I have had in a movie theater since the pandemic struck. Emma Stone was great in the main role. Thompson’s Baroness character earned a spot among the pantheon of foul Disney villains. I loved the extra life breathed into the Horace and Jasper characters. Beyond that, the movie was a visual feast! The costumes were mesmerizing, the hair and make-up were award-worthy, and the production design was meticulous and intoxicating at the right moments, especially when Cruella executes her biggest subterfuge at a fashion show late in the movie.
As far as my quibbles go, the soundtrack got a little aggressive for me at times, but I was generally tapping my foot along with the familiar tunes. I also thought the movie was about twenty to thirty minutes too long. That’s probably because I agree with you that the big twist towards the end was gratuitous. We just didn’t need it, and the movie would have succeeded without it. Rob, I’ve seen some movie-goers and critics complain that this film makes us sympathize with a truly evil person (the Cruella character as seen in “101 Dalmations”) and thus changes the story. Did that bother you?
Rob: Well, that seems to be the formula for most of the recent origin stories, so I’m not surprised that it’s the route the writers and director went. “Joker,” despite all of the controversy it generated, made over a billion dollars at the box office, and “Ratched” garnered a huge following on Netflix even among viewers who had probably never read Ken Kesey’s novel or seen the Best Picture winning adaptation from 1975. People are complicated, and the idea of pure, all-encompassing evil isn’t as interesting as it used to be in the age of the TV/cinematic antihero. In many ways, I feel that Tony Soprano and Walter White paved the way for the modern phenomenon of a bad guy you can’t help rooting for. Bridget, what do you think?
Bridget: It really did not bother me too much. As a family without cable, we binge watched Disney movies on VHS a lot as kids, including “101 Dalmatians” so I'm very familiar with that version of Cruella. But even in the original 1961 movie, she was still a lot of fun to watch. Her complete turn to madness at the end of the animated movie, chain smoking, red-eyed, and driving like a maniac, were delightful to watch and probably my favorite part of the film. So, I’m not overly bothered to see a sympathetic side of the character in “Cruella” because it was still a fun ride, which I think is more important than slavish adherence to the original. Enjoy this new movie for what it is! Rob, as we’re thinking about origin stories, though we did admit that they can be money-grabs and at times superfluous, well-done ones can also be thoroughly enjoyable! What is an origin story that we haven’t seen on the big screen yet that you could see working?
Rob: My wife, Kellie, mentioned that she’d like to see some sort of a “Fight Club” prequel featuring a younger version of Edward Norton’s character in the lead-up to the events of the classic 1999 film. I’m intrigued by that idea, but I doubt David Fincher and/or Chuck Palahniuk would have anything to do with it. That’s always a primary concern with these projects. Otherwise, if the right people were involved, I’d love to see a “Chinatown” origin story featuring young Jake Gittes as an LA cop before he left the force under mysterious circumstances (last year’s HBO reboot of “Perry Mason” tread some similar ground) or, as sacrilegious as it may sound, a “Big Lebowski” prequel showcasing The Dude as a young radical during the Vietnam era. Maybe it could explain how he, Walter and Donnie ever became friends in the first place, but judging by the icy reception “The Jesus Rolls” received, a Lebowski Cinematic Universe may not be in the cards. What are your picks, Bridget?
Bridget: I was prepared to say that I absolutely need to have an origin story about the characters of “Mad Max: Fury Road.” But then Rob tipped me off to recent Hollywood buzz that the project is already in the works with a story about Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron in the 2015 movie) with George Miller directing again. Yay! I would STILL advocate for an origin story about the movie’s diabolical dictator Immortan Joe, however. Beyond that movie though, I know many view this as a classic not to be touched, but I could see a fun movie about the three outlaws from “The Princess Bride.” How did Vizzini, Fezzik and Inigo meet? What adventures and mishaps did they encounter before meeting Westley and Buttercup? It could be fun with the right story!
Rob: If any Hollywood producers are reading this column, we’ve got some ideas you can take straight to the bank. Well, anyways, “Cruella” gets a recommendation from both of us, even if we have our nitpicks with the plot twist and the length (since we hadn’t specified before, it’s two hours and 15 minutes long). If you’re excited to get back to the movies– and we know you are– and you’re not expecting a masterpiece, Disney’s latest live action IP origin story will hit the spot. So get out and see it!
Stay tuned for another review next week, and as always, send your feedback to news@wrightcountymonitor.com or publisher@grundyregister.com. Thanks for reading!
