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Movie review, Cruella. Rock, mole, and separation

Cruella

By Sarfraz HussainPublished 2 years ago 7 min read
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Movie review, Cruella

Born to be bad

Like many viewers around the world, I was looking forward to the release of Cruella. And now, having looked, I remain under a pleasant impression after what I saw. The movie almost lived up to my expectations.

Cruella character

I first got to know the Cruella character when I saw Glenn Close in 101 Dalmatians. Then Cruella was already in adulthood: an eccentric woman, obsessed with furs and obsessed with stealing Dalmatian puppies.

Yes, Glenn Close set the bar incredibly high and it was interesting to see if Emma Stone could keep up that bar. And Emma did!

This spin-off introduces us in detail to the character of Cruella, starting from childhood.

The girl Estella was born with a difficult character: she was a kind child, but sometimes she showed cruelty. Therefore, her mother sometimes jokingly called her Cruella (from the English cruel - cruel).

Estella also had a gift for fashion. She wanted to create beauty, create unusual images in the fashion world. And so, soon from a small town, she and her mother go to London.

But it is not so easy to conquer London. There were many tragic events and sorrows on the way of Estella. As an adult, she has to change one terrible job after another, but she continues to live the dream of high fashion.

And fate gives her a chance. Estella's life turns out to be surprisingly connected with the influential Baroness von Hellman, played by Emma Thompson.

Next, we are waiting for the transformation of Estella into Cruella, the competition between her and the baroness, a lot of action, and a lot of fashion.

It is immediately worth noting the excellent work of the costume designers: all the outfits are bright and memorable.

Also, the selection of soundtracks for each scene is quite interesting, conveying the spirit of London in the 70s. The title soundtrack to the film "Call me Cruella" is a very accurate match for the character created by Emma Stone. A great song!

As for the plot, it is quite simple and predictable. But this is Disney, so I don't think it's a minus. On the contrary, it turned out to be a film for family viewing. At the same time, bold, and spectacular, with excellent acting.

Emma Stone and Emma Thompson have created a powerful tandem. Emma Stone played the role of the young Cruella so well that the image turned out to be bold and bold.

Emma Thompson once again appeared as a master of disguise. Facial expressions, facial expressions, movements - and exact hit in the image of an eccentric baroness. At the same time, Thompson also brought some comedic features to the image of the character.

The secondary characters are also memorable: Horace and Jasper are Estella's true friends, the character of Mark Strong and others.

The character of Estella (Tipper Cyfert-Cleveland)

Estella (Tipper Cyfert-Cleveland) was a sweet and kind girl - in any case, her mother tried very hard to make Estella grow up like that. Only when the mother suddenly dies, and the girl remains an orphan, she willy-nilly has to show her true character. When Estella turns 25, she meets the queen of London fashion, the Baroness (Emma Thompson), and takes a job at her fashion house. It would seem that a dream has come true, but then the girl learns something terrible about the Baroness. This is how Cruella (Emma Stone) is born, who has no other goal than to take absolutely everything from her rival. Even her favorite Dalmatians.

The translation of the Disney classics into the format of game feature films began with Maleficent - and if the story of an evil sorceress, a part-time woman with a broken heart, had not been so successful, then perhaps the idea would have been buried. However, what happened happened, and the pandemic year was the only one when there was no more old-new story. Artistic success, in contrast to commercial ones, was mixed: the films all the time lacked either a coherent script (Dumbo), charming characters (Cinderella), innovation (The Jungle Book), or, in general, at least something human. ("The Lion King"). Nothing foreshadowed that Cruella would somehow stand out from the general ranks - especially since the image of the villain from 101 Dalmatians in the trailer was painfully reminiscent of Harley Quinn.

It is all the more pleasant to state that Disney has finally made a good and even non-standard movie based on its own classics. It's just that the expectations from Craig Gillespie's picture (Tonya vs. The World) are not lined up correctly. “Cruella” is not a “Joker” for kids, and not even “Birds of Prey”, which is related to the theme of female separation. It's The Devil Wears Prada in a Runway show setting with a rock concert vibe and Game of Thrones vibe. Yes, the mixture is quite wild, but it is absolutely balanced.

The war of outfits between Cruella and the Baroness is part of their common confrontation, which, among other things, adorns the film without trying to trample on the train of the plot. Comic episodes are built into the plot and move it forward at least half a step.

The gloomy London of the 70s serves as an ideal backdrop for the same gloomy story and enchanting outfits of the heroines. And they themselves turn out to be the most interesting and lively of those that we were shown in the Disney feature films.

This movie almost certainly wouldn't have happened without the two Emmas, Stone and Thompson. The first has the ability to revive even a restaurant menu: during the scene in which Estella speaks to her dead mother, the crunch of popcorn subsides in the hall.

The second, in the apt expression of the film's producer Andrew Gunn, plays "restrained and cold-blooded evil in the flesh, as if Coco Chanel and Vladimir Putin were joined together." These are not positive women, but simply women who have their own stories.

True, the scriptwriters are silent about the fact that the Baroness probably had to beat out her fame from the men who ruled the fashion world in those days. Instead, they build conflict on the Baroness's unwillingness to be a mother, while at the same time assuring us that no animals were harmed in the film and Cruella never intended to make dog coats.

It's a completely Disney-esque move - but in the end, why not finally show the maternal figure as narcissistic and overwhelming? After all, this also happens, and a well-tailored and well-tailored movie about separation from other people's values ​​and images will definitely not hurt modern girls. Becoming a villain in children's films is a controversial topic: it is assumed that bad people cannot be role models.

In Maleficent, for the sake of edification, the plot was turned upside down: the king turned out to be the real villain, and the sorceress cast a curse, being unconscious from anger and grief.

The creators of Cruella are no longer trying to make a martyr out of their heroine. They remind us that in the case of a woman, “bad” very often means “uncomfortable.” The black and white hair that Estella is forced to hide from the whole world in order to be like everyone else is something like Elsa's gift in Frozen.

You can't hide forever. In this sense, feminist cinema is also queer: not only Cruella herself, but also her friends, and the fashion she creates, are contrary to the prim world of the Baroness. The perfect dress Cruella created for her moth cocoon rival is a great metaphor and the best joke that even the act with the dog pretending to be a rat can't beat.

Bottom line

The film is beautiful, driving, with bright characters. A sort of fairy tale in a modern way. It turned out stylish and bold.

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About the Creator

Sarfraz Hussain

I am a professional journalist and I work as a writer and reporter in a national newspaper. The purpose of my life is to help people. Useful Tips on Health Care to Improve the Lives of an Ordinary Man.

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