Cruella: Emma Stone's characters will conquer you and the plot will disappoint

After the publication of the first shots and trailers, many started talking about How Cruella Director Felt About The Movie Being Compared To Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker / Cinema Blend about Australian Craig Gillespie's picture (“Tonya Against All”), as an analogue of the acclaimed “Joker” by Todd Phillips. The authors again turn the villain-psychopath into a dramatic character, and the animated grotesque gives way to a dark aesthetics.

In reality, the expectations of the audience will be met only partially. "Cruella" will delight you with magnificent costumes and excellent acting of the main actresses. But the film has serious problems with the logic and pace of the story.

Incredible chaotic plot

Estella (Emma Stone) has been different from her peers since childhood. A girl with black and white hair dressed brightly, behaved defiantly and always rebuffed impudent people. But then a tragedy struck in her life. Left an orphan, the young heroine joined a couple of London thieves.

Years later, Estella, showing an incredible talent for creating clothes, ends up in the design house of the Baroness (Emma Thompson). The girl learns that the boss is connected with her tragic past, and decides to take revenge. To do this, she lets out her hidden aggressive personality - Cruella.

The problems of the picture are already noticeable in the first third of the film. The authors decided to build the plot linearly, that is, first they talk about the childhood and the formation of the heroine, and then they turn her into a crazy Cruella. But such a structure makes the story drawn out and the atmosphere too uneven.

The half-hour introduction about youth and the first attempt to get into the world of fashion amazes with its ridiculous presentation. In it, the main villain is trying to portray a manager who does not want to listen to design advice from a cleaning lady. Then the picture turns into the film "The Devil Wears Prada": a young and timid heroine curses herself before an insensitive boss.

Emma Stone. A still from the movie "Cruella"

By the second half, the action is almost corrected: they give out an incredibly driving part, where Cruella mocks her rival in every possible way. But then everything rolls back into an incredible tragedy. At first, it seems that the reason the heroine does not like Dalmatians is the most contrived part of the film. But every next plot twist will look dumber than the last.

Such randomness is amazing. Oscar nominee Tony McNamara is one of the screenwriters for Cruella. He had already collaborated with Emma Stone on The Favorite, then worked on The Great. McNamara looks at traditional subjects from an unfamiliar angle. For example, in "Cruella" there is no love line at all, which is a rarity for Disney, and both heroines are, in fact, negative.

Emma Stone. Still from the movie "Cruella"

But one gets the feeling that the authors were too cramped in the studio picture: the story lacks courage and the necessary roughness. As if they tried to keep "Joker" in the style of the children's TV series "Batman" of the 1960s.

As if they had not decided what story they wanted to tell, the creators of "Cruella" threw into the film literally every story that came to mind. The result is a Frankenstein monster for more than two hours, where each next line differs from the previous one in both theme and presentation.

But great visual style and soundtrack

Surely many viewers from the middle of the film will forget about half of the shortcomings. Primarily because Cruella is a great visual attraction. A significant part of the picture is simply made up of separate clips, where the main character and her assistants are doing all sorts of disgraces.

The robbery scenes copy traditional spy and crime scenes. The adventures of each of the heroes are shown in parallel, then the lines are brought together, and the action accelerates faster and faster.

The war between Cruella and the Baroness turns the film into one of Disney's most stylish products. A mixture of the fashionable revolution of the 1970s with the style of "Studio 54" and real punk rock bursts into the tape. Here the authors do not even try to link what is happening in the general plot, but simply make the audience laugh and dance.

The soundtrack in "Cruella" is one of the main advantages of the picture. It may not be comparable to the work of Edgar Wright in the subtlety of the combination of music and visuals, but it will surely settle firmly in the playlists of music lovers. Classic rock, punk and jazz from the UK and the USA are constantly playing in the background: from Doors and Queen to the cover version of Come Together performed by Tina Turner.

Perhaps the tape will even be more pleasant to watch in the form of slicing separate scenes. You don't have to think about the awkward general plot, but only admire the picture and sound.

Flat and ill-conceived characters

Transforming a 100% classic film villain into a touching prequel character is no easy task. It took George Lucas an entire Star Wars trilogy to tell the story of Darth Vader's past (and even then there is a lot of debate about the results). The aforementioned "Joker" completely abandoned the entire legacy of the hero, leaving only a nickname and a couple of hints of a connection with comics.

Emma Stone, Paul Walter Hauser and Joel Fry. Still from the movie "Cruella"

The creators of Cruella tried to sit on two chairs. They seem to make Emma Stone's heroine a tragic figure, but they are trying to bring her to the insane image that was shown in "101 Dalmatians". For this, the character even comes up with two personalities. In fact, the reason for Estella's changed behavior does not seem very natural. The authors, it seems, themselves do not understand whether they want to talk about freedom of expression or about internal aggression that breaks out.

The images of Cruella's assistants have also changed. You can still believe in the backstory of Horace (Paul Walter Hauser): he is just as stupid as in "101 Dalmatians", except that he is much kinder. Perhaps the years to come under Cruella will make him very angry. But Jasper (Joel Fry) in the prequel looks very smart and caring. It's hard to see how he will turn into a dim-witted sucker.

Emma Thompson. Still from the movie "Cruella"

It's better to forget about working out the rest of the characters. They try to present the Baroness as cruel as possible: she scares her subordinates so much that they are afraid to cough in her presence. And after a couple of scenes, assistants rush into the villain's office without knocking right during her daytime sleep.

There is also a dark-skinned friend of the heroine, who is not too important for the narrative, reflecting her complex past. And Mark Strong's character appears only where plot holes need to be filled. Even in "Cruella" you will find a charismatic designer with one painted eye, who entertains with shocking, but does not in any way affect what is happening.

Mark Strong. Still from the movie "Cruella"

In fact, most of Cruella's characters are beautifully dressed extras with no personality whatsoever. Each character can change his character at any moment to suit the next scene. Therefore, it is unlikely that it will work to be imbued with their problems.

But the beautiful images of the main characters

The unfinished characters are trying to hide behind the bright image and charisma of Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. And the most amazing thing is that this trick succeeds.

The namesakes playing bitter enemies admitted to Emma Thompson and Emma Stone on their wickedly stylish Cruella rivalry / Entertainment Weekly that they had a lot of fun on set. And this is noticeable in every frame. From the moment they met their characters, the couple simply did not take their eyes off. Stone plays both images superbly: her Estella has very nervous small movements of her head and hands, but when she becomes Cruella, her behavior, facial expressions and even speech change. In the original soundtrack, you can hear that she copies the intonation of the Baroness.

Thompson with obvious pleasure plunges into the grotesque image of a rude aristocrat. She imposingly draws out her words, always dissatisfied with literally everything around. The actress partially copied the ‘Cruella’ Star Emma Stone’Wasn’t Surprised’ by Film’s Dark Storyline / Variety character from Alexis Colby (Joan Collins) in Dynasty, whose fans will definitely notice the parallels. The only thing that sometimes destroys the integrity of the image is the computer Dalmatians accompanying the villainess.

And in addition to excellent acting, the heroines appear in the craziest outfits. Two-time Oscar winner Jenny Bevan (Mad Max: Fury Road, Room with a View) worked on the costumes at Cruella. And here she was given incredible scope for creativity.

Emma Stone alone appears in the film Emma Stone Has More than 45 Costumes in Cruella / InStyle in 47 different looks! When developing them, Bevan turned to the style of Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano and other shocking fashion designers who brought punk elements to their designs.

Surely, Cruella's costumes, like those of Harley Quinn, will become a favorite theme of cosplayers at upcoming events or Halloween parties. And even those who are completely indifferent to shocking, will definitely remember the garbage dress or the inscription "future" on the heroine's face.

To summarize, then, unfortunately, from "Cruella" did not work out a holistic rethinking of the famous villainess. In the picture, the atmosphere changes too often, the plot twists look far-fetched, and the characters look implausible. In addition, there is still a huge gap between the image of the main character in the finale and her character in 101 Dalmatians.

And it is a pity for the missed potential. Cruella could have been a shorter and more dynamic film in a punk rock aesthetic, with heroine becoming inscribed in short flashbacks during the main action. Or, on the contrary, the plot could be turned into a kind of mini-series, and each episode would look like a separate stage in Cruella's life with its own atmosphere. Alas, these are only fantasies.

In reality, what remains is an awkward movie with a very stylish visuals, great soundtrack and cool outfits of Emma Stone. This is already enough to enjoy the viewing experience. But it could have been much brighter and more emotional.