Cruella: an excellent Disney Movie

When hearing "Disney", do you think of arson, murder and crime? With Cruella, the House of Mouse is opening the doors to more mature movies that don't go overboard with gore and foul language.

We've all seen 101 Dalmatians and how Cruella De Vil deserves her name. But how did she become like that? This movie answers that question, from her days when she became an orphan at a young age to her quick moving through the fashion world, working for The Baroness, a cold and calculating woman who will move away anyone and anything in her way.

If the Disney studios (and not its children companies like LucasFilms or Marvel) is serious with the direction it's taking with Cruella, then I'm loving it. The story is slow to unravel but coherent, the euphemic curses (oh, farts) are laughable and there are many surprises - although the biggest one is a little exaggerated.

We could have learned a little more on how Estella/Cruella clashed internally and how they appeared, but her evolution is otherwise interesting. Her cronies too were good. They are humans and not merely sidekicks... although they usually don't play on that human side enough, being bossed around with little to no recognition.

The only thing I can say against that movie is the terrible CGI. The dalmatians look awful and unnatural and cliff falls look like they were made 30 years ago.

Nevertheless, Cruella is definitely worth your time (over 2h!). The storyline is coherent, all the characters evolve coherently and it feels complete. I just hope that any sequel will not try to circle back to the 1960 movie.

Final evaluation: 4.4/5