MANILA, PHILIPPINES — When Cruella de Vil was introduced in Disney’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians in 1961, she was a villain unlike any other. Her trademark black and white hair, wild makeup, and extravagant fashion sense proved to be the bane of the titular dalmatians and it was still the case when Glenn Close portrayed her in the live-action adaptation of 101 Dalmatians in 1996. But did Cruella and her over-the-top villainy merit her own origin story? Fifty years since she was introduced onscreen, the world finally learns what made the woman in Cruella.
A creative child with a rebellious streak, Estella Miller (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) has a talent for fashion but her mother Catherine (Emily Beecham) would prefer that Estella just fit in. When her wild side would manifest itself, Catherine would call her daughter “Cruella” and she would get into trouble in school especially when standing up to bullies. Catherine eventually takes Estella out of school but when she goes to the Baroness von Hellman’s home to ask for financial aid, the Baroness (Emma Thompson) sends her Dalmatians after Catherine, pushing her over a cliff.
A decade passes and in 1974, Estella (Emma Stone) has been living as a thief in London with Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) Badun as well as their trained dogs. Still dreaming of a life in fashion while donning red hair to disguise her natural hair color, Horace and Jasper get Estella a job as a cleaner at the Liberty department store owned by the Baroness. Ignored by her bosses and perennially taking out the trash, Estella drunkenly reorders one of the window displays at the store right before the Baroness visits. The Baroness notices some talent in Estella and hires her as an assistant.
Noticing the Baroness’ necklace as once belonging to Catherine, Estella is determined to take it back with the help of Jasper and Horace. Reverting to her natural black and white hair and calling herself “Cruella,” Estella fails to secure the necklace but begins to show up at several events where the Baroness is set to appear, effectively upstaging her. With the help of childhood friend and gossip columnist Anita Darling (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Cruella keeps making headlines while sales of the Baroness’ clothing line drop.
Even as she leads a double life as Cruella and as assistant to the Baroness, Estella still designs clothes which the Baroness then passes off as her own. Things escalate, however, when the Baroness recognizes Horace and takes the fight to Estella’s home. With malevolent intent, the Baroness pushes her assistant to the brink before a secret is revealed that threatens to expose them both.
When Angelina Jolie gave life to Sleeping Beauty villain Maleficent in the 2014 film and its subsequent sequel, I was wary about the concept. Disney had these great villains in their classic animated films since the 1930s and everyone was fine with them being one-dimensional while booing them. Yet those Jolie films proved to be successful so Disney, naturally, wanted to go back to the well.
As mentioned earlier, the great Glenn Close already brought Cruella de Vil to life 25 years ago and, although still largely one-dimensional, the actress drew praise for basically turning a cartoon into a real person. But to examine her origins, what made her tick, what made her hate Dalmatians, and even how she met Jasper, Horace, Anita, and Roger Dearly (Kayvan Novak) it would take a lot of effort to make Cruella a sympathetic figure.
Director Craig Gillespie manages to do just that thanks to a screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara from a story by Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel, and Steve Zissis that casts Cruella in a tragic light. By giving her the loss of the one person who loved her, placing her at the bottom of the department store’s employees, and the later revelation of who her real mother was, it becomes more believable when Estella gives in to Cruella and the audience even roots for the transformation.
With a fantastic soundtrack that is both period-accurate and just works with the anarchy that Cruella stands for, the contrast between what the Baroness stood for and what Cruella promises becomes even more clear. The film does take some liberties with regard to the previous appearances by Cruella & Co. in animated form and otherwise such as their race, their occupations, and even their personalities, but those don’t get in the way of telling just a great story.
