Cruella

***Cruella*** is a 2021 American crime comedy film based on the character Cruella de Vil from Dodie Smith's 1956 novel, The Hundred and One Dalmatians, and serves as a non-canon prequel to the original 101 Dalmatians movie from 1961. The film is directed by Craig Gillespie with a screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, from a story by Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel, and Steve Zissis.

## Premise

Estella is a young and clever grifter who's determined to make a name for herself in the fashion world. She soon meets a pair of thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they build a life for themselves on the streets of London. However, when Estella befriends fashion legend Baroness von Hellman, she embraces her wicked side to become the raucous and revenge-bent Cruella.

## Why It's A Great Outfit To Make

1. We finally get to know more about Cruella de Vil's life and how she grew up to become a Dalmatian fur obsessed fashion maker. We also find out that her real name is Estella.
2. Great acting, like from Emma Stone, Mark Strong, and Emma Thompson.
3. Pretty good jokes.
4. Cruella's still a good character as she is in the animated movies.
5. It brings back the charm of live action Disney movies as it isn't a remake of the original animated movie. (That was already done in 1996.).
6. Roger, from the original 2 movies, returns after an absence in 101 Dalmatian Street and we get to know what he used to do before being a songwriter. (Video game developer in the live action remakes.) He was a lawyer working for the Baroness.
7. The Baroness can be seen as somewhat likable.
8. The soundtrack has really catchy songs.
9. Other characters, old or new, can also be seen as likable.
10. The fact that De Vil was born with black and white hair is pretty impressive.
11. The scene where Estella's mother got pushed off a cliff by the dalmatians is emotional and unexpected, even if it was pretty laughable.
12. Unlike *Maleficent*, the film ends with Estella **unredeeemed**. This shows that Disney was willing to take a risk with this movie, because if the protagonist is an anti-hero in their movies, they often redeem themselves by the end.
13. Despite the film not doing great in the box office overall, it got a very impressive amount of money at the box office considering it was released during the COVID-19 pandemic.
14. Overall, this is a massive improvement over the two live action remakes that came before it.

## Bad Qualities

1. Some would say that the sequel was in development way too early as it was announced only 7 days after the movie released. The reason this would have happened was because this movie never went into how Cruella got hold of the 84 Dalmatians, probably in an attempt to purposely sequel-bait.
2. This movie itself can also take far too long, especially since the fashion stuff takes up half the movie.
3. Sometimes, it may take liberties from 101 Dalmatians for the worse.
4. Like with *Maleficent*, Cruella may be considered too tame here, compared to her 101 Dalmatians (1961) counterpart
5. The events would rather be historically inaccurate because according to the Disney wiki, the 1961 101 Dalmations movie took place in the 1950's (in the year, 1958), which feels out of place for this movie to take place in the 1970's.
6. The movie race-swapped Anita and Jasper, both of whom were white in the original movie. This move was likely done to please political.
7. Due to most of the movie being about fashion, it feels like another version of "Devil Wears Prada".
8. Some jokes about the movie (that people learned) are dumb, such as Emma Stone being called "I am a stone".

## Reception

### PVOD viewership

According to Samba TV, the film was watched by about 686,000 American households in its debut weekend (39% behind Mulan's 1.12 million), resulting in around $20.57 million in revenue for Disney. The company also reported 83,000 UK households watched the film (resulting in $2.35 million), 15,000 in Germany, and 9,000 in Australia.

### Box office

As of July 21, 2021, Cruella has grossed $84.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $140.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $224.6 million.

### Critical Reception

The film received positive reviews with praise from critics for the performances (particularly Stone, Thompson, and Hauser), Gillespie's direction, visual style, costume design, production values, and soundtrack, but criticism for its screenplay. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74% based on 373 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Cruella can't quite answer the question of why its title character needed an origin story, but this dazzling visual feast is awfully fun to watch whenever its leading ladies lock horns." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 56 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 84% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.

### Awards and nominations

At the 94th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, winning the former. Emma Stone was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.

## Sequel

In May 2021, both Stone and Thompson stated that they would like to do a second Cruella film in the style of The Godfather Part II, serving as both a sequel and prequel. On June 4, 2021, Disney announced that a sequel is officially in the early stages of development, with Gillespie and McNamara expected to return as director and writer, respectively. In August 2021, Stone closed a deal to reprise her role in the sequel.

## Videos

### Trailers

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### Reviews

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## Trivia

* The placement of the suit of armor in Hell Hall replicates that of the original One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) animated film.
* Costume designer Jenny Beavan, whom Gillespie hired after seeing her work on "Mad Max: Fury Road," created 277 costumes for the principal cast, including 47 for Cruella.
* Horace compares dog owners looking like their dogs in the same way that Pongo does in 101 Dalmatians (1961).
* Glenn Close, who played the first live-action Cruella DeVil in 101 Dalmatians (1996) and 102 Dalmatians (2000), serves as executive producer for this movie.

## External Links

* Template:IMDb
* Template:Rotten Tomatoes