"I'm not."
"You will."
Disney pretty much nailed its sweet live-action 101 Dalmatians films, and whilst this lavish and extravagant (almost to the point of indulgence) prequel is extremely well-made in every respect, it is rather long and perhaps a little unnecessary. In a riff on The Devil Wears Prada, orphaned and abandoned Estella (excellent work from Emma Stone) falls in with a Disneyesque gang of petty London villains and pursues her dream career in fashion design, falling under the wing of a monstrous but celebrated designer (played with precise relish by Emma Thompson). The trainee usurps the mistress, family secrets unravel and many twisty plot turns make story dense and engaging, and although this need to explain the character's development and motivations is exhaustive in detail the simplistic time-worn nature vs. nurture debate is never far away, and the criticisms of the portrayal of mental health issues in the film are partly valid if a little overstated. Cruella is well-written, effectively delivered on all fronts and great to look at, but its existence does not necessarily convince as an artistic extension of the property rather than a cash-grab.
1 comment:
I agree,it's very much style over substance and while the style is really, well, stylish the constant need to make Cruella a likeable protagonist is a detriment to the plot and the film seems to be in two minds as to what it wants to be. But overall I enjoyed it a lot more than most of the other obligatory Disney live-action remakes/prequels.
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