Cruella, Emma Stone just as dastardly in this origin story
Iconic Disney villain gets PG-13 backstory, explanation behind dalmatian disdain
Walt Disney Studios
By: Mark Greczmiel
and last updated 2021-05-27 23:52:17-04
Back in 1996, Disney successfully released a live-action reboot of its 1961 animated classic, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, followed in 2002 by 102 Dalmatians, both starring the wonderful Glenn Close as the deliciously evil, puppy-hating Cruella de Vil. The studio is now going back further in time to tell the origin story of one of Disney s most memorable villains with Cruella. It s a movie that finally explains her deep-seated issues with dalmatians (And boy, do they run deep).
The new 101 Dalmatians prequel, now available to watch in theaters and on Disney Plus, casts Emma Stone as a young Cruella de Vil. But how do turn the Disney villain who turned puppies into a coat into a likable character? Director Craig Gillespie and The Great writer Tony McNamara came up with a shocking death.
There’s a fun, stitched-together, Frankenstein-ish quality to
Cruella, a live-action prequel that fleshes out the origins of Disney’s most flamboyantly evil villainess:
101 Dalmatian’s screaming, scheming, dog-hoarding narcissist, Cruella de Vil.
There are, of course, echoes of Disney films past throughout
Cruella, most notably the requisite motherless female protagonist who burns with ambition for something better in her humble life…and who literally goes from scrubwoman to belle of the ball.
But
Cruella also wanders off the Disney fairytale compound to crib from more far-flung sources: There’s no escaping the fact that the main character’s descent-into-madness trajectory is informed by 2019’s