Cruella de Vil gets a fashionable transformation in Disney's latest
live-action reimagining of one of its most iconic villains.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and today I'm explaining the biggest changes Disney made in
Cruella and how the new film compares to both the animated and live-action 101 Dalmatians movies.
Some spoilers for the new film ahead, so take care.
"I'm just getting started, darling." Because this is an origin story, there's much
more to the character of Cruella here than we see in the 101 Dalmatians movies where she arrives as
an already fully-formed villain, owning every scene she's in
with extravagantly theatrical flair. In fact, as much as I love dogs, Glenn Close
hamming it up deliciously in the remake is the only thing that made it worth watching for me.
As Cruella gets the full spotlight this time around, rather than the Dalmatians,
her personality and background are suitably fleshed out,
with nice nods to the original films via backstories for her name,
style, crazy driving, henchmen, and more. In a 180-degree turn from her previous
incarnations though, this Cruella – who starts life known as Estella – even
likes canines, not as future fur coats but as actual much-loved animal companions.
Cruella is still all about the drama though, darling, and Emma Stone does a striking job
turning her dramatic AF dial up to 11. "Do you have a light?"
A brand new character we meet that's central to Estella's journey to becoming Cruella is
Baroness von Hellman who's head of her own highly successful fashion house.
The Baroness is essentially what you'd get if you took the OG Cruella de Vil
from 101 Dalmatians and Miranda Priestly from A Devil Wears Prada and rolled them into one;
and Emma Thompson plays her to quietly savage perfection.
"You're sweating and I can smell you." When she's not taking credit for everyone
else's work, "Here's to me"
the Baroness is busy showing her utter contempt for the rest of humanity. "That's marvellous."
But this narcissist who treats pretty much everyone like dogs,
"Estella, come." has got skeletons
as well as couture in her closet. And as characters that represent a clash
between the old-fashioned establishment and the cutting-edge future, Thompson and Stone play off
each other to truly wicked effect. "1965 collection."
"Oh! No wonder I love it, it's mine."
"I fixed it." The three Dalmatians owned by the Baroness
in this movie are a world away from the sweet and friendly ones in both the 1961 and 1996 films.
As the Baroness herself says, they're "gorgeous and vicious",
"It's my favourite combination." And, oh boy, she's not kidding!
It's hardly surprising these dogs act so vicious though, after all they do belong to the Baroness,
and she's viciousness personified. The Dalmatians appear in several crucial
scenes that point at why Cruella feels the way she does about the breed in the original films,
but unlike those movies, this isn't their story, so, expect to see less of them here.
However, Cruella and friends both have their own adorably scrappy pooches, Buddy and Wink,
that join them on their adventures, so there's still plenty of canine shenanigans
to enjoy throughout the story. In a change from the animation,
but just like the live-action remake, there's no talking animals here.
And the animals you do see on screen are a mix of real-life pups and CGI, which is similar to the
90s film, though that movie also used puppets. In contrast to the 60s animation and 90s flick
which were both set around the time they were made,
Cruella's new origin story eschews a contemporary setting, opting instead for the 1970s,
which is the perfect backdrop for her anarchic attitude.
The culture clash of that particular period plays out beautifully in the
contrasting styles of the Baroness and Cruella. The Baroness has shades of establishment fashion
houses like Dior about her versus Cruella's more punk sensibilities of Vivienne Westwood.
But this isn't the first time Cruella's worked in the realm of high-fashion, as she ran her
own company, House of De Vil, in the 90s. Her OTT personal style, which was mostly
two-toned, with some flamboyant splashes of colour thrown in, certainly stood out in that
movie and fit her big personality, building as it did on her iconic look in the animation.
However, this latest film's fashion-led storyline takes things to a whole new level,
giving us an outrageously tailored world where Emma Stone has 47 wildly inventive
costume changes, Emma Thompson an elegantly luxurious 33, with Joel Fry and Paul Walter
Hauser getting 30 changes each too. It certainly looks like costume designer
Jenny Beavan will be back at the Oscars accepting another little gold statue as she
did most recently for Mad Max: Fury Road because this stunning display of costume
design from her and her team is going to take some topping!
By the way, curiously, the new film's timeline where Cruella is in her 20s in the 1970s seems
to fit with the timeline of the first live-action film where Glenn Close was in her 40s.
On top of giving us Cruella's backstory, the new movie also provides an origin
for her henchmen, Jasper and Horace. In this version, they first meet as kids on the
streets of London and grow up grifting together, so they're basically Cruella's family and look out
for one another, rather than just being the hired heavies we know in the other films.
In fact, for director Craig Gillespie, Jasper is "the heart of the film",
"the touchstone for Cruella", as he tries to stop her going too far down the wrong path.
But as Cruella indulges her wicked side more and more, her relationship with her
chosen family becomes strained: "Is it so hard to back me up?"
"Not Estella, that's easy, but to help Cruella, it's a nightmare."
Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser work well together in the roles, and while Fry's Jasper
is the one with insight here. "She has no family."
That's a change from the animation where Horace was the one who
generally understood what was going on. "What if they went down the froze-up creek,
so's not to leave their tracks?" "Horace, you idiot!
Dogs ain't that smart." Interestingly, Hauser, who plays Horace,
has compared the characters to Bert and Ernie; and told Comicbook.com that he pinched "Bob
Hoskins' voice from the movie Hook" for the part. "How can you not love this face?"
As for the 90s take on Jasper and Horace, well, that really lays the slapstick on thick,
turning the pair into knock-offs of the Home Alone baddies,
which makes sense when you realise it was written by John Hughes who also wrote Home Alone.
While the latest movie does follow the original book and animation by making
Anita and Cruella former school friends, it breaks away from the 1996 film where
Anita worked as a designer for Cruella, and instead makes her a photo-journalist.
Given how good actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste has been in other shows, she never gets
much to do here, which is a real shame. Looking back, there was little of interest in
the character of Anita in either of the earlier films, but that was more understandable in the
animation given its short run-time and the fact the Dalmatians, not the humans, were the stars.
When it came to the first live-action though, they somehow managed to make Anita even more
bland than the animation, giving her a stereotypical 50s housewife vibe despite
the film being set in the mid-90s. This time around, Roger, who's played
by Kayvan Novak, only has a small role as well: he's the Baroness's lawyer and also
plays piano 'in a dingy little bar', in a nod to the animation where he's a
songwriter and, with his wife Anita, owner of the titular Dalmatians.
As for the 90s film, where he was a video game designer, Roger was pretty dull
and actor Jeff Daniels and on-screen wife Joely Richardson had almost no chemistry.
In the new story, Roger and Anita never meet, but stick around for the mid-credits scene
as it features some easter eggs and hints at their future together.
A couple of other new characters added to the mix are Mark Strong's John the Valet
and Artie played by John McCrea. As a close confidant to the Baroness,
John knows many of her secrets and, as such, plays a small but significant role in the story.
As for Artie, he's the LGBTQ+ owner of a vintage clothes boutique and helps Cruella in her insane
fashion stunts to steal the Baroness's thunder. "I want to make art Artie.
And I want to make trouble. You in?
I do love trouble." And according to the
channel Mama's Geeky, director Craig Gillespie loved McCrea's witty performance so much they
ended up adding an extra scene for him! So, what do you think of Disney's new Cruella?
Do you like the changes to her and the other characters?
Let me know your thoughts and theories in the comments below.
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