I know, I know, just stay with me here for a moment. Now that the movie is free on Disney+ my wife and I decided to put it on as background noise but were instead sucked in to a funny, charming, and bizarre experience. From the director of I, Tanya and the writers of The Favorite and Devil Wears Prada - Cruella follows Estella, an orphaned thief, and her found-family creating her alter-ego "Cruella," an avant-garde fashion designer, social provocateur, and criminal leader, to take revenge on the woman that killed her mother. Along the way she discovers the ultimate lesson: committing 100% to your Aesthetic (and also family is important or something). This movie is dumb and campy but also well-written and fun. Don't expect high art, but it's certainly a good time.Some of your likely concerns:But what about the dogs? In this version Cruella is a dog lover, whose canine friends are featured prominently in the plot. I know. Really, I understand. Just go with it. In fact, spoilers for dog loversBut Disney live action? This is my favorite Disney live action film in a long while. While that's not a high bar, I did like this even more than Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book. Jungle Book is a better and tighter movie, no question, but I enjoyed Cruella more.But the memes and trailers? My only exposure to this movie after release were memes about how dumb certain things were. And the memes were absolutely right because those things were incredibly dumb but in context they are more forgivable. One thing that helps is that the script has a certain awareness that it's dumb, but is not so in on the joke that it becomes tiresome. It hits a sweet spot of camp-ness that make its genuinely stupid parts not stand out as much. The trailers, on the other hand, were just awful and misleading. They don't do the movie justice at all, especially the tone. Emma Stone's Estella/Cruella is a weird and feral woman, not some perfect faux-feminist model. Also, the Cruella character in the trailers comes off as annoying and trying too hard. She is, at that point in the movie. Even other characters comment about how Estella is trying way too hard with her Cruella character. But for some reason they decided to take most of the scenes for the trailers from that point in the movie.But 101 Dalmatians? Why does Cruella need redemption? This movie is at its absolute stupidest when it's trying to tie in to or explain the other movies. The best way to enjoy this is to push out of your mind the fact that the other movies exist and that Cruella is an existing character. If you are a big fan of 101 Dalmatians or the Glenn Close movie, I don't think you should watch this. Genuinely, I think this movie would have been better if Disney had removed the Dalmatians and references to Cruella and just been a completely stand alone story. Even a plot twist at the end that this was all a Cruella backstory would have been fun. The Cruella of this movie has only a superficial similarity to her character in the other movies and I'd be hard pressed to explain why this Cruella would do what she did in the other movies. I could still see her being a villain in a follow-up, but more for the shear drama of it (a la Megamind) than a desire to skin puppies.Conclusion This movie ends up being a campy Devil Wears Prada mixed with Logan Lucky and if that sounds at all like something you would enjoy you should give it a watch. It's funny and clever and sweet and I greatly enjoyed watching Emma Stone chew up scenery as a bizarre and feral Cruella. via /r/movies https://ift.tt/3nA7gFr
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