“That necklace is the reason I’m dead.” –Cruella

An American crime comedy film directed by Craig Gillespie is based on the character Cruella de Vil from Dodie Smith’s 1956 novel: The Hundred and One Dalmatians. The film is set in London during the punk rock movement of the 1970s, where the main character Estella, dealing with the guilt of killing her own mother and losing her family heirloom, she tries to achieve her dreams in the world of fashion. At the start, now an orphan, she meets her soon-to-be best friends and partners in crime. After one thing leading to another, Estella lands a job as an assistant for the most fashionable person ever – the Baroness. Later on, Estella realizes the real truth behind her family heirloom and the fact that the Baroness is responsible for many bad things regarding it. After many unexpected events and plot twists, Estella becomes the full embodiment of Cruella and decides to take revenge.

Characters and actors:

• Cruella de Vil – Emma Stone, also known for her role as Mia in ”La La Land.”
• The Baroness – Emma Thompson, also known for her role as teacher Sybill Trelawney in the ”Harry Potter” film series.
• Jasper – Joel Fry
• Horace – Paul Walter Hauser
• Catherine – Emily Beecham
• Anita Darling – Kirby Howell-Baptiste
• John – Mark Strong
• Artie – John McCrea

Plot:

The script was written with the idea that the film could be understood by people of different ages. Despite its lack of plot originality, the movie was still very much enjoyable. The character dialogue does include a lot of iconic character lines, which adds on to the atmosphere of the film. The writing and movie itself were theoretically inspired from Dodie Smith’s novel, but without the many production design elements, this film could serve as yet another movie with a common and at some point, predictable storyline.  The rating of the plot – 7,9/10.

Acting:

In our opinion, the acting was incredible – the actors really understood the assignment. They are really talented and had a very unique way of showing their character’s emotions. On a scale of ten we rate it a solid 9.

Pacing:

There were different opinions regarding the pacing of this film. Movie’s pacing was quite well done for the most part, but near the ending it did start to feel drawn out. Of course, after all of the main plot twists, Cruella still had to fulfill her goal of revenge so her story line for this movie would be complete. At some point it even felt that the movie is never going to end. The flow of events could have been better. We would rate it around 7,3/10.

Cinematography:

The film’s cinematography was fascinating. Every film scene felt real. The choice of techniques and lighting of the set really matches the mood of the movie. Cameras angles and movements were really elegant and traditional. Special effects were never too much or not enough. Overall, we rate it a 9.8/10.

This is a perfect contrast of love, hate and thrill. And we can’t forget the amazingly done costumes as well. But there is a lot going on, especially with the attempt of giving Cruella a colorful backstory. Trying to humanise the character of Cruella and showing the audience why she decided to switch to a more evil life approach was interesting, to say the least. The film is truly a fun and entertaining watch, but if we look at it from another perspective, it could just be yet another try at a cash grab from Disney.

In conclusion, “Cruella” really was one of the movies that brought nostalgia and energy in cinema this year. On average, we rate this film an 8,3/10.