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... (Full plot summary below)
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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.
Leave your thoughts about Cruella.
| The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldThe fashion alone, designed by the great Jenny Beavan (an Oscar winner for “A Room with a View” and “Mad Max: Fury Road”), is worth the ticket price; if that doesn’t do it for you, there’s also slyly brilliant work from the two Emmas — Stone and Thompson — working hard to upstage the gorgeous outfits in which they’re swathed. |
| USA TodayBrian TruittNone of this works without Stone, though. She’s got the comic timing for the lighter scenes as well as the acting chops to pull off the character’s psychological transformation and personal reckoning. |
| New York PostJohnny OleksinskiThis film is so sexy and cool and punk rock, you forget all about that Mickey logo and Cinderella’s cutesy castle. |
| Film ThreatAlan NgThis version stands on its own, problems and all, as an interesting tale of an anti-hero… or is it about a tragic villain? |
| Original-CinJim SlotekDespite its winks at its source material, Cruella is very much a fun, stand-alone movie that lets two formidable actresses fly while everyone else stands back. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDirector Craig Gillespie (“Lars and the Real Girl,” “I, Tonya”) has delivered a clever, devilishly offbeat story with appropriately over-the-top and wildly entertaining performances from Emma Stone as the titular character and Emma Thompson as her nemesis, who is so casually cruel (in a manner of speaking), so cold and cunning, she makes Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada” look like the Employer of the Year. |
| Austin ChronicleJenny NulfCruella is not as perfect as the seams Estella stitches, but there’s something ever so charming about its strut. |
| ObserverBrandon KatzThe movie is messy yet scrumptious, unwieldy yet vibrant. Its plot is all over the place but the sum of its excellently executed parts amounts to a whole that feels like a turning point for Disney. |
| The GuardianPeter BradshawThere’s an unexpectedly huge amount of old-fashioned fun to be had in Disney’s spectacular new origin-myth story. |
| TheWrapAlonso DuraldePurists may balk, but viewers who think of this less as a reboot of Dodie Harris’ memorable monster and more as a Disney spin on Derek Jarman’s “Jubilee” for gay 8-year-olds will find Cruella to be flashy fun, even at a slightly bloated two-hours-plus running time. |
