Movie Review: 'Cruella'

The original mistress of evil has returned.

Enter.

Cruella de Vil.

Welcome movie fans!

Disney + has invited you to experience Cruella like never before. In this movie, you will learn about Cruella's upbringing and how she rose to become the world's greatest fashion genius.

This film was directed by Craig Gillespie. The stars are Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, John McCrea, & Emily Beecham.

Storyline

Before she becomes Cruella de Vil, teenage Estella has a dream. She wishes to become a fashion designer, having been gifted with talent, innovation, and ambition all in equal measures. But life seems intent on making sure her dreams never come true. Having wound up penniless and orphaned in London at 12, 10 years later Estella runs wild through the city streets with her best friends and partners-in-(petty)-crime, Horace and Jasper, two amateur thieves. When a chance encounter vaults Estella into the world of the young rich and famous, however, she begins to question the existence she's built for herself in London and wonders whether she might, indeed, be destined for more after all. When an up-and-coming rock star commissions Estella to design him a signature piece, she begins to feel as though she has truly arrived. But what is the cost of keeping up with the fast crowd- and is it a price Estella is willing to pay? - IMDb

In this movie, a young girl named Estella, who will be soon be known as Cruella de Vil, was adopted and raised by one of the sweetest Baroness' maids, Catherine Cruella. As Estella grew up, she was taking to school and would get picked on by boys. Along the way, she was able to find a puppy in a dumpster who would soon be her longtime companion.

When Estella returned to school, more trouble came her way. As a result, Estella would be sent to the Principal's office religiously, and be expelled for her bad behavior. Nevertheless, Estella's adopted mother decided that school would not be in the cards for her and left there for good.

One eventful night, Catherine drove to the Baroness' compound to start her maid shift. Upon arrival, Estella was told not to come out of the vehicle. In Estella's fashion, she did not listen.

Instead, Estella had a plan in mind to enter the Baroness' palace to see what was inside. As both Estella and her puppy made their way inside, there was a crowd full of guests and a fashion was taken place. This wonderful sight caught Estella's attention, not knowing that her puppy would escape into the crowds.

While Estella was chasing her puppy, one of the security guards caught sight of her, she was escorted outside. Shortly thereafter, Estella looked up and saw her adopted mother at the edge of the balcony amongst the head of the Baroness', whose name is Baroness, and she has three 101 Dalmatian dogs.

In an instant, Baroness unleashed her dogs at Catherine by sending her off the balcony never to be seen again. Simply put it, the Baroness queen murdered Estella's adopted mother. After what transpired, Estella was shocked and couldn't believe that her adopted mother died in front of her.

Ever since then, Estella was alone with her puppy and became a foster. Since there was nowhere else to sleep, she stopped by the well and sleep on top of it.

The next day would change Estella's life forever.

As Estella opened her eyes, she looked up and saw two boys (Jasper & Horace) playing around. Little did she know that those two boys would end up becoming her only family. By this time, the two boys invited Estella to their home. 10 years later, Estella became a grown woman and had dreams of becoming a fashion designer.

I don't think it was just talent.

Estella was born to be a fashion designer.

Thanks to Jasper, Estella worked at a clothing store only to become a janitor, not a fashion designer.

During her job, Estella had to do tons of cleaning for her boss and would sneak to watch fashion designers during her break. Each day, Estella worked and toiled until she decided to create her own design on a clothing room. Once she woke up, her boss was furious.

Guess who showed up...

The Baroness herself.

As Baroness walked inside the store, she made sure to survey her surroundings and looked upon the creativity of Estella's work on the wall. As a result, she gave Estella her Baroness' card as an invitation to her compound and work as a fashion designer.

After talking amongst her family (Jasper & Horace), Estella decided to join the Baroness' facility and her dreams came true. Along the way, Estella will soon learned that the woman who hired her would be her real mother all along.

Once Estella was told by her personal bodyguard about the revelation, she decided to exact her revenge against Baroness and attend the compound with various fashion designs she created. To help Estella with the stylish clothing, rising rock n' roll fashion designer, Artie, had his own fashion store and became an ally to her moving forward.

As the events unfolded, Estella finally found her identity and called herself "Cruella de Vil", slowly becoming the world's fashion icon. At the end of this film, both Cruella and her mother Baroness, came face-to-face by the balcony at the Baroness' facility.

After the conversation unfolded, Baroness pushed her own daughter off the balcony and left the viewers shocked. Little do Baroness know that Cruella survived the fall by using a parashoot, which was quite clever.

As soon as the crowd learned what Baroness did to Cruella, Baroness was arrested and Cruella took full control of the Baroness' compound, fixing the sign to "Hell Hall." Shortly thereafter, Cruella, Jasper and Horace, along with the 101 Dalmatian dogs and the other two dogs, attend Estella's funeral.

From then on, Cruella decided to take full control of her own destiny and is now residing in the Baroness' kingdom.

Movie Rating

My honest rating for this movie is a 10/10.

Here is the reason why.

This film had great storytelling, lots of laughter, crying moment, opportunities, dreams becoming reality, and finding identities. I am surprised that Cruella never had her own origin story before this film was released. Overall, I enjoyed every bit of this film and would watch it again.

All thanks to Disney + for releasing this film and the stars who portrayed their characters perfectly that fit their style. Above all, thanks to the director for making sure that this movie fits this generation for kids and grownups to enjoy.

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