{"id":22809,"date":"2021-05-27T12:54:06","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T19:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=22809"},"modified":"2021-05-27T12:54:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T19:54:06","slug":"cruella-isnt-deliciously-evil-but-does-look-striking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=22809","title":{"rendered":"CRUELLA Isn\u2019t Deliciously Evil, But Does Look Striking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This film from Disney will be released Friday, May 28th<\/sup>\nsimultaneously in theaters as well as on Disney+ with Premiere Access and a\nonetime additional fee.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disney can\u2019t seem to stop themselves from producing live-action remakes of their animated titles. Of course, they have been doing this for many years now (even the original 101 Dalmatians<\/em> got a live-action redressing in 2000). Their newest attempt is Cruella<\/em>, a prequel of sorts that focuses on the backstory of the famous antagonist. There are some pacing problems in this film and the story isn\u2019t without some issues. However, it should impress children and is a visual treat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Estella aka Cruella (Emma Stone) is a woman who has\nexperienced great tragedy since childhood. After being orphaned and forced to live\non the streets as a youth, she finds herself participating in petty crimes with\ncohorts Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser). Dreaming of working\nin the world of fashion, the adult Estella actually manages to impress world\nfamous designer The Baroness (Emma Thompson). She is hired to work for The Baroness\u2019\nclothing line, but after making inroads, the lead discovers shocking and\ndistressing secrets about her employer. Estella begins to let her criminal side\nbloom, developing an alter ego named Cruella de Vil to help her take revenge on\nThe Baroness.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The big highlight of this feature are its visuals. Much of\nit is set in the 1970s and every frame is filled with eye-popping production\ndesign and cinematography. As one might expect from a movie that deals with\nfashion, the elaborate costumes on display are consistently colorful and\neverything about the movie is as lavish as possible. The film also boasts a\nconstant barrage of music from the era, including some incredible tunes that\nmust have cost a fortune for the filmmakers to license. Taken simply as an\natmosphere piece, the feature is a pleasure to watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story presented is as something of an origin tale, which\nmeans that it takes quite a while for the main conflict to develop and for the\naction to hit its stride. While the visuals help make up for some deficiencies,\nthe actual pacing does feel slow in early sections. The central conflict is\nalso very personal, involving specific grudges between the central characters.\nIt\u2019s all entertaining, but the battle between leads never feels like it will have\nany major consequences on those around them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And as you might have guessed, the puppy-skinning antagonist\nfrom the original story has been softened significantly. In fact, she has been\ntransformed into a plucky, down-on-her-luck protagonist who has been mistreated\nby those around her. The film subtly attempts to suggest why Estella might have\na problem with the dalmatian breed in the future and there are certainly actions\nthat suggest a personality disorder. But beyond giving a couple of pointed looks\ninto the camera and dressing like a villainess, there is little about her that\nsuggests a true evil-doer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least Stone does her best to try and add some layers to\nrole as she begins struggling to control her darker instincts. And Emma\nThompson makes for an entertaining foe as a selfish, elitist fashionista only\nconcerned about her own public status. While there are a few fun tricks played\nbetween Cruella and The Baroness, one can\u2019t help but think the story might have\nbenefitted from making its lead a proper nemesis. It\u2019s would be fun to watch\ntwo nasty outlaws truly go toe-to-toe with no regard for the world around them.\nSadly, the film is far more concerned with making us feel sorry for and like\nCruella than it is with allowing her to be a charismatic wrongdoer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like other recent Disney flicks about similar personalities,\nCruella<\/em> doesn\u2019t make the most of portraying the life of a famous\nsupervillain. That is a shame, but the movie looks so slick and well-produced\nthat it should still entertain families and impress them with a few fun moments\nand plenty of striking images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This film from Disney will be released Friday, May 28th simultaneously in theaters as well as on Disney+ with Premiere Access and a onetime additional fee. Disney can\u2019t seem to stop themselves from producing live-action remakes of their animated titles. Of course, they have been doing this for many years now (even the original 101 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[38,206,4959,4960,4961,4962,4963,5922,5935,6014,6942,6944,7283,10796,15845,16336,16829,18856,23796],"class_list":["post-22809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-101-dalmatians","tag-206","tag-cruella","tag-cruella-de-vil","tag-cruella-film-review","tag-cruella-movie-review","tag-cruella-review","tag-disney","tag-disney-2","tag-dogs","tag-emma-stone","tag-emma-thompson","tag-family","tag-joel-fry","tag-paul-walter-hauser","tag-prequel","tag-reimagining","tag-spin-off","tag-villainess"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}