Mr. Movie: ‘Cruella’ is devilishly good take on Disney’s legend

Cruella Wears Prada. It’s a better title for “Cruella” than Cruella. More on that later.

“Cruella” is the backstory for how Cruella Deville became Cruella de Vil, how she connects with Horace and Jasper, and why she ends up hating Dalmatians. While Cruella is a creation of Disney past, this is the new Disney so De Vil — obviously pointing to her being the devil — becomes de Ville as in Cadillac de Ville.

Sanitization? And in a movie that — for Disney — is pretty rough?

Back to Prada as in “The Devil Wears Prada.” Emma Stone is Estella who eventually becomes Cruella. She has weird hair and an attitude. Estella is also super talented at designing clothing. A designing goal gets her connected with The Baroness.

Now you’re starting to get the Prada part of things.

The Baroness is done by Emma Thompson who channels her inner Miranda Priestly. Miranda is “The Devil Wears Prada’s” villain and done perfectly by Meryl Streep. Thompson’s villainy is wonderfully done, sometimes over-the-top and also sanitized.

Too bad.

Like Prada’s Miranda, the self-absorbed, credit-taking woman runs poor Estella and the rest of her staff ragged with outrageous demands for perfection. One day Estella learns something awful and personal about The Baroness and she becomes Cruella and seeks revenge.

“Cruella” is directed by “I, Tonya’s,” Craig Gillespie. If the movie has a real star, it’s him. He pushes the PG-13 edge with this one and packs it with pieces of great rock tunes that fit perfectly into the plot.

Gillespie also infuses the film with excellent special effects, lavish costumes and Disney-like fairytale sets. While long — two and a quarter hours — by Disney-standards, he keeps his movie moving.

You won’t be bored but won’t stop thinking about Prada.

That leads us back to Prada — again. One of the creators of the story is Aline Brosh McKenna who wrote the screenplay for “The Devil Wears Prada.”

The other two are Fifty Shades of Grey screenwriter, Kelly Marcel and a bit player actor, Steve Zissis.

Fortunately, beatings and bondage were left out of the screenplay that was ultimately written by Dana Fox who put pen to projects like, “Isn’t It Romantic,” “Couples Retreat,” and “How to Be Single.” The other screenwriter is Tony McNamara who wrote 2018’s very good, “The Favourite.”

Unlike Glenn Close — who was the perfect Cruella in Disney’s live action, “101 Dalmatians” and “102 Dalmatians” — Stone gives Cruella a little bit of a heart. Her girl next door looks make that easy. What isn’t easy for Stone is the edgy work needed to be — for lack of a better adjective — Cruella.

As always, Stone is very good, and in spite of “Cruella” looking more Prada-ish than something out of “101 Dalmatians,” so is the movie. But are they as perfect as Close?

Not even close.

▪ Rated PG-13 for mature themes and some violence. It’s playing on Disney+ and the Fairchild Cinemas Queensgate 12, Southgate 10 and Pasco and at the AMC Classic Kennewick 12.

▪ Rating: 4 out of 5

This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 2:10 AM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘Cruella’ is devilishly good take on Disney’s legend."