Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials.It may seem counterintuitive, but the easiest way to enjoy “Cruella” — and it’s plenty enjoyable, even when it overstays its welcome — is to try and forget that it has much of anything to do with “One Hundred and One Dalmatians.” The filmmakers, of course, do not always make this easy.
By movie’s end, this Cruella seems as likely to skin a dog as she is to wear a T-shirt to the Met Gala.
Puppycidal maniacs don’t make sympathetic protagonists — and “Cruella,” above all, wants you to sympathize.Read Also f9 movie reviewcruella movie reviewa quiet place 2 movie reviewf9 all subtitllespeninsula en espanolun lugar silencio 2the wrath of man moviethe wrath of man full movieTo that end, our protagonist is introduced as a likably mischievous English tot named Estella (played by Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) who has keen fashion sense, a telltale black-and-white bob of hair and a loving mother (Emily Beecham) who tries to suppress her naturally rebellious streak.
When we catch up with her several years later, she’s a seasoned grifter (now played by Stone), her hair dyed a less obtrusive crimson and her table piled high with magnificent sartorial creations.
If the two-guys-and-a-girl antics pack some of the New Wave vitality of “Band of Outsiders,” the serpentine tracking shots and nonstop needle drops often seem to be channeling “Goodfellas.” (The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” is merely the most on-the-nose choice on a rebellion-themed soundtrack crammed with ’60s and ’70s hits like “Feeling Good,” “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and, fittingly for this leading lady, “Stone Cold Crazy.”)Emma Thompson glares through chic sunglasses in "Cruella.
"Emma Thompson as the Baroness in “Cruella.”(Disney)Gillespie makes a pretty snug fit for this material after his darkly comic Tonya Harding biopic, “I, Tonya”; you could think of this superior follow-up as “I, Cruella,” another cracked portrait of a downtrodden but determined young woman none-too-reliably narrating the story of her many rises and falls.
Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials.It may seem counterintuitive, but the easiest way to enjoy “Cruella” — and it’s plenty enjoyable, even when it overstays its welcome — is to try and forget that it has much of anything to do with “One Hundred and One Dalmatians.” The filmmakers, of course, do not always make this easy.
By movie’s end, this Cruella seems as likely to skin a dog as she is to wear a T-shirt to the Met Gala.
Puppycidal maniacs don’t make sympathetic protagonists — and “Cruella,” above all, wants you to sympathize.Read Also f9 movie reviewcruella movie reviewa quiet place 2 movie reviewf9 all subtitllespeninsula en espanolun lugar silencio 2the wrath of man moviethe wrath of man full movieTo that end, our protagonist is introduced as a likably mischievous English tot named Estella (played by Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) who has keen fashion sense, a telltale black-and-white bob of hair and a loving mother (Emily Beecham) who tries to suppress her naturally rebellious streak.
When we catch up with her several years later, she’s a seasoned grifter (now played by Stone), her hair dyed a less obtrusive crimson and her table piled high with magnificent sartorial creations.
If the two-guys-and-a-girl antics pack some of the New Wave vitality of “Band of Outsiders,” the serpentine tracking shots and nonstop needle drops often seem to be channeling “Goodfellas.” (The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” is merely the most on-the-nose choice on a rebellion-themed soundtrack crammed with ’60s and ’70s hits like “Feeling Good,” “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and, fittingly for this leading lady, “Stone Cold Crazy.”)Emma Thompson glares through chic sunglasses in "Cruella.
"Emma Thompson as the Baroness in “Cruella.”(Disney)Gillespie makes a pretty snug fit for this material after his darkly comic Tonya Harding biopic, “I, Tonya”; you could think of this superior follow-up as “I, Cruella,” another cracked portrait of a downtrodden but determined young woman none-too-reliably narrating the story of her many rises and falls.