Cruella: before we get started here’s the trailers

Soooo where do I begin to start with this film well firstly idk why Disney decided to make a prequel based around Cruella in the first place…..I’m getting tired of Hollywood humanizing villains…..we’re not supposed to be sympathizing with villains so plz stop trying to make us sympathize with them, plz I’m begging u…Hollywood plz do something else…

Anyway let’s get the rating out of the way then I’ll give a brief summary with spoilers, then explain the pros and cons I had with this film…

So overall I found this movie to be a fun movie, it’s a nice fun wholesome family film….which is weird to say about a movie about Cruella, which leads me into the issue….this movie barley feels like ur watching an origin of Cruella De Vil, at no point does she become the psychotic animal murdering…fur wearing fashion wearing horrifying woman…

That we all loathe and love from 101 Dalmatians….this film feels like it takes place in a completely separately different timeline, which is fine I guess…but the issue is this film has its cake and eats it to…because they keep treating this film like it is a prequel but at the same time it sure as heck never feels like it reaches the levels of Cruella that were used to…I’ll explain in the spoilers…

So I’ll give this film a solid  7.8/10, I still recommend this film….it’s on Disney Plus, u will still get a good laugh from the film…and in my opinion, Emma Stone knocks it out of the park as Cruella….

So without further a due warning ⚠️ spoilers ahead y’all have been warned….

So we start off with showing a young kid Cruella who back then had half black and half white hair, Duelly noted that hair color isn’t a fashion decision where she painted her hair like that…no it’s more of a birth defect.

Anyway the plot kicks in when her mom wants to leave town with her to start a new life because Cruella has been kicked out of multiple schools for being a brat….but first, she needs to make a stop at a rich friend of hers who can give her money because they’re low on money….

So the mother tells Cruella to stay in the car while she goes to talk to her friend, but Cruella doesn’t stay in the car she goes into the house where there’s a party happening…inside she accidentally bumps into a guy named John The Valet (played by Mark Strong)…great actor if u ask me.

Anyway, she goes outside and witnesses her mom talking to this woman named the Baroness, and then the 2 dogs with the Baroness shove the mother off the cliff into the ocean to her death….I’m sorry what? Is this film making out the dogs as the baddies? Is this why Cruella ends up hating Dalmatians?

Anyways Cruella along with her dog ran away (yeah I forgot to mention she has a dog), anyways they find themselves at a fountain where they meet these 2 homeless kids kids named Jasper and Horace, and there 1 eye dog named Wink…..

Anyway, they take her in, and they move into an abandoned building apartment on the top floor, which they end up calling home…

Anyway time passes, and now they are all grown up. Cruella also who goes by the name Estella is now played by Emma Stone. Also she wears a dark red wig to cover her natural hair…One day she applies to get a job at this fancy cloth store that’s run by the Baroness…

She, unfortunately, unfortunately gets the job of cleaning the toilets, guess her work is unappreciated, also the boss of the store is a douchebag who barely gives her the time of day…even when she tries coming to him with ideas she has…..anyways one night when she’s drinking booze during her night shift that she steals from her bosses office, she ends up staying overnight, proceeds to deface a dress on display in front of the store….

She ends up falling asleep in the window display where everyone including Jasper and Horace can see her display, this makes her boss mad so he fires her…just then the Baroness comes in (who’s played by Emma Thompson) (only if this movie had the third Emma, Emma Watson. Then the Emma trio would be complete) (also this film has 2 such great actresses, Emma Stone, and Emma Thompson. Emma Thompson is such a talented actress).

Anyway, she asks about the display in the window, and the Voss tells her who did it and that he fired her but turns out the Baroness likes the design so she has her assistant give Estella a card so she can come to work for her…

So now she’s working for the Baroness, which is a dream come true for her….so now she helps design dresses for the Baroness. Along with other employees, btw they always have to perform their dress to the Baroness like it’s a contest because if she doesn’t like it then she’s gonna fire u….yeah what a great boss huh? Even though the dresses they make for her are gorgeous…

Nah she’s just stuck up and snobby, anyways one day Estella walks into a fashion store where she meets the owner of the store whose name is Artie….as he says Artie is short for art….

BTW need to bring this up but Disney said this character is the first openly gay character in a Disney film, except here’s the thing…they say that but he never says he’s gay or kisses a guy in the film…he’s just flamboyant…..so if Disney thinks this is an openly gay character then I don’t want to know what Disney thinks a none openly gay character is then..

So one day Cruella enters the Baroness’s office while she’s about to take her little nap break while wearing cucumbers over her eyes…..Estella notices a necklace around the Baroness’s neck…the necklace was Estella’s mother’s necklace….so then why does the Baroness have it then? Dunnn dunn dunn!

Also, she tells Estella a story about Estella’s mother (although she doesn’t name her, but Estella knows who she’s talking about) anyways the Baroness basically insults the woman by telling Estella she was a thief and failed at being a mother….wow the Baroness somehow seems to be more acting like Cruella from the original 101 Dalmatians then Cruella is in her own film…

Anyways this guy named Roger enters the room (y’all remember Roger? From the original 101 Dalmatians film? Well here he’s a pathetic man who’s working for the Baroness) well was working for her….but will get to that later.

So Estella comes up with a plan with her 2 brothers, she crashes the Baroness party that she’s having soon…while they both dress up as pest control….dress the dog up as a rat to make it look like the kitchen has a rat infestation so they can come in pretend they’re there to catch the rat…

Also, she takes her wig off exposing her natural black and white hair to her 2 brothers for the first time ever….so in the span of what 30ish years they’ve never seen her without her wig on? Yikes.

But in reality, they’re there to open a vault that will have Estella’s mother’s necklace inside….so the night comes of the party, everyone is there celebrating the Baroness party….so is Mark Strong’s character…..just then Estella, sorry I mean Cruella….she decides on this nickname so the Baroness won’t know it’s her Estella….she’s now no longer wearing her wig..

Also, this news reporter named Anita Darling was there taking pictures…btw I forgot to mention both Anita Darling and Roger are of different ethnicities in this film from their counterparts in the 101 Dalmatians film…idk which ethnicity Roger is but now Anita Darling is black and has an afro…she actually pulls off the afro look really well…btw Keep her in mind for later.

Also, she’s a former schoolmate of Estella….

So now she’s fully exposing the black and white hair, Cruella clearly has a taste for the spectacular because she enters wearing a dark red cloak…asks a waiter for a lighter, takes the lighter lights up her dress which goes in flames….now the dress she’s wearing is exposed to everyone….hahaha clever magic trick.

So she sits down with the Baroness because for some reason she takes a liking to this Cruella, she asks her name and all that….also while this is happening her 2 brothers sneak into the safe room.

So Horace cracks into the safe then opens it….inside the necklace is missing…turns out the Baroness is wearing it. Heck, Cruella notices it…uh oh the plan has failed.

So Horace and Jasper show up to the party on the second floor looking over the railings, they proceed to slide down a rope to get down…the Baroness notices, then proceeds to pull out a dog whistle that commands her 2 Dalmatians to attack them…

Wait dog whistle that commands her 2 Dalmatians….those 2 Dalmatians pushed her mom off the side of the cliff all those years ago? Yep, she puts 2 and 2 together that the Baroness used the dog whistle to command her 2 Dalmatians to push the mother off the cliff….dunn dunn dunnn.

BTW time to talk about the music choices in this film because the music picks are really bizarre….for instance in this scene as everyone is running in panic and Cruella and her brothers are escaping while the 2 dogs try chasing her 2 dogs….the song Living Thing starts playing…here I’ll put the song here.

Like I said weird. Anyway so during the chaos one of the 2 Dalmatians accidentally swallows the necklace after the gang grabs the necklace from the Baroness’s neck because they accidentally drop it… whoops, also the CGI on the Dalmatians in this scene seemed slightly off…yes they CGI the dog accidentally swallowed the necklace…ok then.

Anyway so now that Estella knows the Baroness killed her mother she now wants to get revenge…so she gets the help of her 2 brothers, Artie, and her wits….. she plans to always come to every of the Baroness’s live events and make everyone focus around her, taking focus and the fame away from the Baroness….oh how evil.

So she goes and recruits Anita Darling, she locates her at the newsroom….she tells her to come at every event she appears at…get the pictures of her, in doing so she herself can get more known in the newspaper business because at the moment she’s unappreciated….but if she keeps getting the money shots of Cruella doing Devious things…then she will gain the respect among her peers….how clever.

Now I won’t be mentioning all the events she crashes, but I’ll mention the first one because that one sticks out the most…..so at one of the Baroness events outside of a building surrounded by paparazzi…..Cruella comes up riding on a motorcycle…she gets off the motorcycle after doing some donuts with the motorcycle….

She comes walking out of the smoke, takes her helmet off and she gains the attention of the paparazzi….mainly because her outfit is great looking, but the reason I wanted to mention this part is because I kid u not she literally has the words “the future” spray-painted around her eyes like it’s a mask….

I’m sorry but I might not be a fashion expert but if spray painting the words the future on ur face is a fashion choice, then I don’t want it. She then has her 2 brothers turn on stage lights that are aimed at a building which exposes the UV spray-painted art she sprayed all over the building….yeah she’s a deviant.

Anyways Anita Darling including all the paparazzi gets the pictures of Cruella, stealing the prime light off of the Baroness which is making her mad.

Anyways eventually Cruella disguises herself back as Estella, comes up to the Baroness at a restaurant while she’s eating, and starts talking about that Cruella character…..Baroness expresses that she’s made it me or her and I choose me….

Anyway, I’m about to summarize the rest of the middle part of this film…

• Cruella starts becoming cruel to her 2 brothers, they aren’t fond of her being rude to them…they miss the old Estella. Which is understandable.

• Cruella has her brothers steal the Baroness 2 dogs so she can get the dogs to give back the necklace…the hard way, and if u know what I mean then u know what I mean…

• Cruella hires Artie to come make her a new outfit looking similar to the Dalmatians fur….he comes to their place to make the dress for her…all while Horace and Jasper are trying to wrangle the 2 dogs who are being aggressive…

•Cruella taunts the Baroness by going on stage at night during a performance, she comes on stage wearing a dress that looks like it’s made of the Baroness Dalmatians fur….it so happens this stage performance is happening right across from the Baroness’s house so she can see all this happen…

The Baroness makes a comment saying she stole my dogs and wore their fur as a dress….all going to plan….

• The cops come so everyone leaves, including Jasper and Horace who are now pissed at Cruella because she’s been treating them like shite…so they head out on their own…but on the way home they get caught by the cops, and get put in jail…womp womp.

• The Baroness fires Roger because she finds him completely useless…remember this for later, also the Baroness figures out who Cruella is and where she’s living… Dunn dunn dunn!

• Cruella makes her way back home alone where the Baroness and her goons are at…

They tie her up, and the Baroness takes her 2 dogs back…she reveals she knows who Cruella is, and she then sets fire to Cruella or Estella’s place if u will setting the whole place ablaze…… as Cruella is about to burn alive, and her 2 dogs trying to help her….just then a mysterious figure walks in to save her…

So she wakes up in an apartment where Mark Strong’s character offers her tea….yes he saved her from the fire, and he also got her necklace back…he said it was bleached….lolololo.

He reveals to her that the necklace has a secret key inside it, he also reveals to her it opens up a small box he gives her…he says it opens this up…so she opens it up, and here’s where the shocking moment happens…

She finds papers inside the box which basically confirm that Cruella or Estella is the Baroness’s daughter, dun dun Dunn!

Yeah, that explains a lot, he then tells her a story of how the Baron was kind-hearted and was excited for the baby while the Baroness was a full narcissist who well u know….so the night of her birth while her husband was away on a meeting the Baroness tells Mark Strong’s character to dispose of the baby…gasps what a monster.

But he can’t do it, that’s a heinous act….luckily for him he locates a maid downstairs and hands the baby to her….so that maid is the woman Estella thought was her mother btw….when the Baron returned him he was told the baby died, so eventually he died of a broken heart….

Ugh, that’s a devastating story, so she leaves on a moped, all angry…..she drives off to the fountain and speaks to her dead mother by saying I tried being a good girl u raised me to be but it didn’t work, I’m Cruella….

So then she goes and breaks out Horace and Jasper by sending in Wink with a lockpick so they can break out……anyways they break out they notice Estella disguised as a garbage truck person in a garbage truck…..she tries to get their attention, but they ignore her because they are still mad at her….

She then mentions to them that the Baroness is her mother, and they both turn to her in shock…..Horace says the plot thickens, and Jasper says that explains a lot.

So she takes them to the apartment, gives them tea then explains the Baroness is her mother…what happened and all that, also mentions the plan to take down the Baroness. Jasper says we’ll thanks for the bonkers story and the tea but we’re gonna go now….

Cruella says didn’t u hear that I wanna take down the Baroness? Which Jasper says yeah and she’s a mad woman, and unless u wanna die which I don’t….u should stop.

Estella then says plz I need ur guys to help, your the only family I have…which Horace says ohh she played the family card, and it worked….which Jasper says yes it did….so they sit down and start listening to the plan….

Just then Mark Strong’s character walks in and says oh I didn’t know u would have guests, Estella says they are my family they will be staying here for a while….which Horace says ur all out of Crumpets. Lolo good old Horace….

So the plan is in motion. Estella recruits Artie….he says what is there in it for me if I help…which she says a good night out, some nice food, and some death…which he says check, check, not too sure about the death….it won’t be u she says…which he says I’ll get the coat…

So if ur curious about what the plan is well it’s simple…Artie and Anita Darling both make replica clothing of Estella’s attire including white/black wigs….then send them off into boxes to the houses of everyone who’s attending the party so they come dressed as Estella for in her memory…

Without the Baroness knowing so this messes with her night, how Devious…..anyways oh right I need to bring up the infamous stupid moment, so in a scene where Estella and Jasper are sitting on the balcony talking to each other…they both see Horace down on the road yelling up at them…

He says hey look what I found, it’s a car…and look what it says on the back, it says Devil…which Jasper says it’s De Vil mate…De Vil, oh good grief I’m getting Solo a Star Wars vibes from this scene, in case u don’t know what I’m talking about…

Imperial officer: who are u? What are ur parents?

Han: I’m no one, I’m all alone

Imperial officer: hm, Han (Starts typing) Solo

Yes, it’s as stupid as it sounds. Disney, what are u even doing? We didn’t need an origin to Han’s last name in Star Wars, nor did we need that here in Cruella….no one asked for either of those, we didn’t enjoy it then and we sure as hell don’t enjoy it now…

Stop doing an origin on the character’s last names, everyone just thought it was their last names and no real reason…why does there have to be an origin to their last names? Anyway moving on…so the night of the party comes…

The Baroness is getting dressed up by Mark Strong’s character, he talks him down by saying I told u to do one thing and u couldn’t even do it…which he says in fairness I didn’t think u meant kill ur own daughter….ooofff u got her. Except u really didn’t.

Anyways so the Baroness goes out to greet her crowd, just to see everyone is wearing the attire of Cruella….the Baroness is left in an awkward position, instead of yelling out no she instead raises a cup up and says to Cruella….all while fighting back a frown.

Oh if ur wondering where our gang is, we’ll Cruella is in the crowd of people dressed as them so she can try to sneak up to the Baroness without her noticing, Artie is dressed as a waiter….Horace is disguised as a woman….Jasper is also disguised as a waiter.

Horace gets spotted by a guard, Wink attacks the waiter which then causes the waiter to toss the dog across the room…gasps, Horace is now upset by this so he’s about to attack the waiter…just then Artie slams the guard in the head knocking him out…which Horace says I had him….which Artie says did u though?

Yeah, good question indeed. Did he really?

Anyways Estella lores the Baroness outside to the cliff in the backyard…..Estella puts on her red wig and glasses, the Baroness finally puts 2 and 2 together that Cruella is Estella….she says it all makes sense now, no wonder why I liked u…

Yayayayayayay, sure Baroness, sure….anyways the gang tells everyone to come outside the Baroness wants them outside….they then notice the Baroness go up to Estella hug her, then push her off the cliff….gasps.

Everyone behind her is now in shock, the Baroness turns around and says no u saw her fall….she fell, yeah ok sure…. u’ve been caught.

So the cops come and then proceed to take her away. Before she gets put in the car…she sees Cruella step out of the car…while Horace says it’s pronounced Cruella, jeepers yes I get the joke already…

So wait how did Cruella survive the fall? Well, it’s simply turned out she had a wingsuit under her dress that she used to parachute down safely…..well that’s brilliant…

So now she owns the rights to the house and the company, so the film ends with the team including Artie moving into the mansion…with the 2 Dalmatians, well guess Cruella became a fan of those Dalmatians who murdered her mother?

The end, oh wait there’s an end credits scene where these 2 boxes show up at both Anita’s home and Roger’s home…both boxes have a puppy of a Dalmatian inside, oh I see what this is building up…oh and we see Roger singing a song on his Piano, Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil she’s nothing but evil..

Yeah idk why he’s singing this song here, it doesn’t fit in this film…she hasn’t done anything evil in this film period….

Anyways hope y’all enjoyed my reveiw, I really happy I got around to reviewing this film….btw here’s a teaser for my next reveiw I’m working on.