Disney+ Cruella (2021)

[dpippel]

Title: Cruella

Genre: Comedy

Director: Craig Gillespie

Cast: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Paul Walter Hauser, Joel Fry

Release: 2021-05-28

Plot: The evil exploits of Cruella de Vil, the villain from 101 Dalmatians.

 

[dpippel]

Disney has released the first image of Emma Stone in-character:

 

[Jake Lipson]

I don't know about this.

Emma Stone is great but that picture just looks weird.

If Horace, Jasper and dalmatians are in this, then what makes it a new Cruella story instead of just another remake of 101 Dalmatians? They already did that in live-action twice, before it was a trend.

 

[Mark-P]

Not that I have a lick of interest in this, but will this be a theatrical release or straight to Disney+?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Disney has released the first image of Emma Stone in-character:

Emma gives off a very "Helena Bonham Carter in a Tim Burton" movie vibe there!

 

[benbess]

Yikes. I'm not sure I want to see this one.

 

[Jake Lipson]

will this be a theatrical release or straight to Disney+?

It is on the theatrical slate with a current release date of May 28, 2021.

 

[StrongRex]

I bet I can guess the plot:

The story centers around the wonderful DeVille family: a veterinarian father, an animal rights activist mother, three daughters and one son. The entire family loves animals but none more so than middle daughter, Cruella. Cruella was born with a terrible birth defect that leaves part of her hair white and part of her hair black. At school, Cruella is the victim of bullying and has few friends. Her biggest bully: the beautiful and popular Anita. To escape her torment, Cruella turns to animals.

When Cruella is 18, her entire family is killed by a rabid Dalmatian her father attempts to help. Cruella, away at college, is the sole survivor. She drops out of school, moves into the family mansion and her heart hardens toward animals.

As her heart hardens, Cruella looks for ways to exact revenge on the breed of dog that so wronged her. She decides to make a winter coat out of Dalmatian puppy fur. She proceeds to get as many Dalmatian puppies as possible.

When she is only 15 puppies short of her goal, Cruella runs into her old school chum, Anita. She learns that Anita is now living the high life. She's married to a Justin Bieber-esq singer named Roger Radcliffe. They live in a huge mansion, overspending their income and entertaining high society.

On a visit to Anita's house, she notices two dogs named Pongo and Perdita. She learns that Perdita is pregnant. In a flash, Cruella decides to use her former tormentor's puppies to make her fur coat. She returns to The Radcliff mansion the night the puppies are born. However, Anita and Roger refuse to sell. They have decided to create a puppy mill using the offspring of Pongo and Perdita's puppies.

Fearing for the life the puppies will live, Cruella's heart begins to melt. After trying unsuccessfully to get Roger and Anita to sell, Cruella leaves, promising to return. That night, Cruella hires Horace and Jasper, two down-on-their-luck electricians, to steal the puppies and bring them to safety.

Horace and Jasper succeed and take the puppies to DeVille Manor to join the puppies Cruella purchased from pet stores. Cruella arrives and is upset that Pongo and Perdita were left behind. She wants to start a Dalmatian Planation - a huge rescue for unwanted dogs, especially Dalmatians.

When Cruella hears that Pongo and Perdita have run away from home in search of their puppies, Cruella sets out (along with Horace and Jasper) to help find the two lost dogs and reunite them with their puppies. Along the way, she finds help from Colonel, Captain and Sargent Tibbs.

Cruella eventually finds Pongo and Perdita but Anita and Roger have caught up. In order to make their escape, Cruella has Pongo and Perdita roll in soot to disguise them as Labrador Retrievers. Roger and Anita sense something is up but when Perdita falls in the snow, they know what's going on. They chase after Cruella. However, Cruella gets away with the dogs.

The movie ends with Cruella saving Pongo and Perdita, reuniting them with their puppies, and turning DeVille Manor into the first Humane Society. To get revenge, Roger releases a song mocking Cruella but everyone in the community is so impressed with her loving care for animals that the song flops. Broke and in debt, Roger and Anita declare bankruptcy and are evicted from their mansion.

The death of Cruella's family at the hands of a rabid Dalmatian will be a metaphor for rape. It will never be discussed why such a loving family named their daughter Cruella DeVille (Cruel Devil). The movie will end with a narrator saying that the only person who could save the day is one who is both hero and villain (even though she never really does anything villainous): Cruella DeVille.

God I can't wait for this movie!

 

[Thomas Newton]

It will never be discussed why such a loving family named their daughter Cruella DeVille (Cruel Devil).

Or why they named her sisters Coupe and Cadillac.

Dr. Deville's veterinary practice will offer a payment plan for those who cannot pay vet fees in full up front. All customers will need to do is to sign over their Soul (or other car) to the Devil(le).

 

[MartinP.]

This film is a prequel to the 1996 movie and taking place in the 1970's, I read.

I was hoping they were going back to the source material of the original book and not the 90's version. In the original book Cruella was married and there's a nice chapter of her and her husband inviting Anita and Roger to a dinner party. Cruella has been thought of and turned into a caricature too much instead of a flawed character. That photo above is just repellant to me and I feel a great opportunity has been missed to do something worthwhile.

 

[Jake Lipson]

This film is a prequel to the 1996 movie and taking place in the 1970's, I read.

I read that it's going to take place in the '70s, but I've not heard that it will be connected to the 1996 version. I don't think that will be the case. They're not going to ask Emma Stone to play a young version of Glenn Close. I think it will just be a Cruella de Vil movie that is set in the '70s and doesn't share the continuity of the previous versions.

 

[MartinP.]

I read that it's going to take place in the '70s, but I've not heard that it will be connected to the 1996 version. I don't think that will be the case. They're not going to ask Emma Stone to play a young version of Glenn Close. I think it will just be a Cruella de Vil movie that is set in the '70s and doesn't share the continuity of the previous versions.

Well, it takes place in the 70's, which would line up with the 1996 film, and in this Cruella movie she is a fashion designer, which was her occupation in the Close version and Glenn Close is an executive producer on this film. It sure sounds like it to me. It also sounds completely dreadful already...eighteen months out.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Trailer:



Disney must be feeling awfully confident in the release date to put it specifically at the end of the trailer rather than just saying "Coming Soon."

 

[Malcolm R]

It doesn't say where it will be released (unless there was a voice-over; I had the sound off).

 

[Jake Lipson]

It doesn't say where it will be released (unless there was a voice-over; I had the sound off).

That's a good point. 5/28/21 was the expected theatrical release date for this prior to the pandemic and it has not been moved since. Deadline reported a while back that Disney might move it, as well as the upcoming Pinocchio and Peter Pan remakes, to Disney+. However, during the investor day, they only mentioned Pinocchio and Peter Pan for Disney+, not Cruella. So as of December, I think they were still intending for it to be released theatrically.

May 28 is 100 days from now. Unfortunately, I do not anticipate myself returning to theaters by then.

 

[JimmyO]

As someone who has virtually zero history with the 101 Dalmations story and by extension, Cruella - this looks amazing to me. I love the look/feel and the fact that she's quite unhinged.

Pretty sure I saw the animated 101 Dalmations as a kid, and I'm not young. So I'm pretty sure that when I see this I am going to see it with very little of what has come before influencing how I feel about it.

So for me, Disney can do whatever they want with this character and if it's entertaining, I will enjoy it, unencumbered.

Watching her drive the hotwired car had me laughing out loud.

 

[Malcolm R]

Looks like a Harley Quinn sequel. And wasn't the flaming dress thing lifted from the The Hunger Games?

 

[Jake Lipson]

I'll probably stream this once it is included with Disney+ out of curiosity. But I'm not excited or anything.

What would make me excited is if Disney uses this cross-promotional opportunity to release Blu-rays of the Glenn Close Dalmatians films. Both of them are on Disney+ but have never had a Blu-ray release. Her 101 hasn't even had an anamorphic DVD release, so it is badly in need of an upgrade. Knowing Disney's habits with regard to older live-action catalog films, I don't think this is very likely unfortunately. But I do think that if there's any chance of that happening, it would be now. If they decline to release them by the time the new Cruella arrives on disc, then I think that means they don't care at all and won't do that. But I would buy them if they did.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

So it looks like this is a unique back-origin story for Cruella rather than the live action version of 101 Dalmatians. That's good.

 

[Jake Lipson]

New TV spot: