Why You Need To Watch The New Cruella

Villain origin stories have become quite popular in recent years, with ‘Joker’ dominating both the commercial and critical markets. It only makes sense that Hollywood wants to capitalise on this success with as for every hero, there is a villain which means there is a lot of origin stories out there. In 2021 Disney has teamed with writer/director Craig Gillespie to bring one of its most iconic villains to life with the prequel film ‘Cruella’. The film stars Emma Stone as the titular villain or in the case of this film, ‘anti-hero’ before she became ‘Cruella’, she is ‘Estella’ an aspiring fashion designer who buts heads with fashion extraordinaire Baroness Von Hellman played by Emma Thompson. This film has it all, but what I am here to discuss today is ‘Why you need to pick-up a copy of ‘Cruella’? Here are the reasons why I think Cruella is among the year’s best thus far.

The performances – The film benefits from its two leads. Emma Stone is magnetic as Cruella or Estella. She balances both personalities very well, channelling her inner wild-side, showing her diverse range and her abilities as an actress. Stone has great chemistry with her cast mates, but it is Emma Thompson as the Baroness that steals a lot of the film. Thompsons scene stealing performance, elevates what could be a generic bad guy, or even potentially called a Miranda rip-off (Miranda from Devil Wears Prada played by Meryl Streep), Thompson makes it her own. Whilst she definitely channels her inner Meryl, I think Thompson takes it a step further by literally murdering to get what she wants and turning the character into more of a sinister presence. I find this aspect of the film to be the most compelling and effective. Her relationship as well with Estella is great, I like the dynamic between the two which shifts once Estella finds out who she really is. Admiration turns to hatred quite quickly, but I found this transition to be effective and that is due to the wonderful leading ladies.

The soundtrack – No period piece film is complete without a killer soundtrack and boy oh boy, does ‘Cruella’ deliver. The film has an amazing soundtrack, populated with tunes from the 1960s and 1970s, with the music elevating the films scenes to new heights. The soundtrack includes tracks from ‘The Doors’, ‘The Bee Gees’, ‘The Clash’, ‘Queen’, ‘Electric Light Orchestra’, ‘Supertramp’, ‘Ike & Tina Turner’ , ‘Blondie’ and plenty more, not to mention ‘Florence & The Machines’ updated rendition on ‘Cruella’s’ theme ‘Call Me Cruella’ which is simply divine. Whilst sometimes over using music can be a hindrance on the product of the film, I believe this soundtrack elevates the film as it adds another dimension, evoking emotion and excitement, with each song used appropriately for its selected sequence. The music sets the tone, helps establish the films time period and has you singing along. It’s great! You can also pick up the soundtrack from Sanity today as well!

The villain origin story – The films origin story is also incredibly effective. We sympathise with Estella as a child as she just doesn’t fit in and I am sure that everyone reading this blog post can relate in some way or another. Sometimes it is hard being different and I believe the film does an incredible job at portraying that. Without giving anything plot wise away, I believe the characters set-up adds to the third act reveals of the film. It gives the film weight and evokes the right emotion from the audience. As Estella transitions to Cruella as well, we begin to understand her motives, why she is the way that she is and what makes her tick. We are along for the journey with the character rather than being left in the dark. Because the film establishes Cruella’s sympathetic side, we care when she does turn a little darker, because we have seen her journey up until this point and we kind of get it, if you are put into this sort of situation, you may do the same. The film doesn’t reach the diabolical acts of the character from the original animated films and the subsequent live-action films from the 1990s, but it does establish her distain for the animal, which teases the possibility of a sequel which has been confirmed by Disney! So we have that to look forward to as well.

Cruella is a fantastic film. It is well-crafted, well executed and filled with stylistic elements. Up until this point, whilst I have enjoyed the live-action Disney entries, I have found them (with a few exceptions) to be quite forgettable. That isn’t the case with ‘Cruella’, it has stuck with me since I first saw it and I think it is one of the studios best in quite some time. So turn to your devilish side for your next movie-night and watch ‘Cruella’. It is well worth your while and  worth owning on 4K UHD or Blu-Ray. 

Buy Disney's Cruella on DVD, Blu-ray & 4K UHD Here

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here