Disney’s ‘Cruella’ Not Quite Campy Enough to Be Fun
If you’re like me, when you saw the trailer for Cruella, you probably wondered how they would take a character most known for an unshakeable desire to murder a bunch of puppies and turn her into a not-like-the-other-girls-rebel-girl-boss heroine of her own story. The answer is: through a muddled mixture of The Devil Wears Prada, a little bit of PG-13 Joker stuff, and more needle drops than Guardians of the Galaxy.
Like Maleficent before it, this live-action retcon/reimagining of classic 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella deVil seeks to explore a time before the titular character became the baddie. Emma Stone starts out as Estella, a cheerful, skunk-haired child in the care of her single mother in 1960s England. She has a puppy companion—see, guys! She actually loves dogs—and she spends most of her youth harmlessly rebelling against authority. But, of course, these stories have to involve a traumatic event, a turning point that launches the character on the path to becoming a classic Disney villain. For Maleficent, it was an oddly heavy trauma that shattered her trust in humanity. For Cruella, it’s an oddly heavy trauma involving becoming an orphan and trying to claw her way to the top of the fashion industry. You see, a traumatic past is why she eventually wants to…skin a bunch of puppies?
What starts out as a reimagining of a classic villain quickly becomes a reimagining of The Devil Wears Prada when Estella miraculously lands a job with The Baroness (Emma Thompson) the most elite and important fashion designer in this world. Thompson is taking it to 11 with over-the-top arrogance and hair so tall it would make Marge Simpson jealous. Estella dutifully fulfills the Baroness’s every request until deciding that enough is enough and raging against the machine once again, this time with her childhood pals Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser). In the brewing punk rock world of the 1970s, Cruella becomes a counter-culture fashion celebrity here to shake up The Baroness’s establishment. And I will admit, the costumes are gorgeous and Stone looks amazing in all of them. My favorite look sees her rocking an enormous train of garbage bags while hanging off the back of a garbage truck—I’m guessing every RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant is going to recreate that look on Instagram.
The story is filled with voice-over exposition, predictable twists, and about 400 recognizable songs peppering every scene. I love a good classic song in a movie, but it got to the point where one literally faded into the other and it started to become distracting. At some point, it was clear that director Craig Gillespie and writers Dana Fox and Tony McNamara needed the soundtrack and the fashion to wow the audience because the story wasn’t really cutting it. I remember loving Across the Universe, which was literally just cool visuals and Beatles songs spread over cliches, so I don’t really have a problem with that, but at 134 minutes, the fun distraction of cool fashion and good music can only carry you so far.
I think my biggest problem with the film was that it was kind of hard to figure out who it’s for. It’s over two hours and kids don’t typically like sitting for long runtimes like that, plus its PG-13 rating means it’s not solely for children. It dabbles in 1970s punk culture and high fashion, but it’s not quite campy enough to really nail a fun tone within that world. It’s got a heartwarming story about friendship and some CGI dogs that hit in the family-friendly category, but we all know our heroine ends up wanting to skin a bunch of puppies, so… there’s that. It’s trying to present us with a rebellious woman who stands up to oppression, but again, puppy murder, so who is this story empowering? How is there a feminist message in the yaaas-queen-girl-boss heroine eventually aspiring to make a coat out of people’s pets? Even with all the beautiful fashion and the expensive soundtrack, the story just feels too empty to deliver the kind of campy fun it seems to strive for.
