Film Name: 黑白魔女库伊拉 / Cruella
Although Disney+ went live with Cruella back at the end of May, I held out until it was released in domestic theaters, and it’s a film that, well, doesn’t hurt to see on the big screen.
Know One Hundred and One Dalmatians” animation audience is afraid to have been a little older, and if the IP has some understanding of the words, you will understand that to give the work of the villain Kujira DeVille ‘biography’ is not easy, not to mention, this year, this indie film or Not to mention that this year’s standalone movie is the first in Disney’s “Villain Universe” series.
With minefields and pitfalls as far as the eye can see, Cruella handles all aspects of the story well: the adaptation is decent and not out of control, the story is not too difficult to follow, the audiovisuals are top-notch and the design is excellent, and the overall standard is really good.
What’s interesting is that when you measure Cruella against Disney’s standards, she’s a princess, right? Only this princess is a bad girl with a lot of bad behavior and a punkish attitude.
[Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers below].
I went into Cruella with a strong sense of “doubt” because the original fashion mogul, Cruella, was a rather faceless villain, and it wouldn’t be Disney if it really followed the template of the villain, but if it was all bleached out, it would be too fake and empty! ……
How to make the villain “black and white”? In my opinion, as long as the scale of the adaptation is properly controlled and can be accepted by the majority of the audience, the movie is considered a success.
To this end, the movie has made efforts in many aspects, big and small, and the smartest point, I think, is that it has chosen a good location in a good time: London, England in the 1970s.
It was a time when liberalism was on the rise, when punk bands were popping up in large numbers, attracting countless disillusioned laborers and restless young people – and while we can’t easily draw conclusions about the era, rebellion itself was one of the hippest things to be right about at the time.
In such an intangible context, the thievery and deviance of the heroine, Deyra/Kuyra, naturally took on a pleasing veneer, while at the same time being more in line with modern aesthetics.
And I must say, the costumes, make-up, props and other supporting hardware of “Cruella” are really top-notch, a veritable Oscar level of technical awards, even non-professionals can feast their eyes on the “value is justice” is a truth that will never go out of fashion.
In addition, the film’s soundtrack and song selection is also very good, not to mention several customized original songs, “Five to One”, “Feeling Good”, “Stone Cold Crazy”, “Fire”, “Love Is Like A Violin”, “Come Together” and other classic songs are directly to the film’s style to the fullest! –It’s not as strong as it could have been in other movies.
Any other movie might not have felt this strong, but considering Disney’s traditionally narrative-heavy, pop-oriented song selection, Cruella’s “anti-conformist” song list helped to elevate the movie to a new level of critical acclaim.
The story of the movie further dilutes the “villainy” of Cruella.
The story of Cruella is so classical that it’s not too much of a stretch to call it a Hamlet-style “Revenge of the Princess”: Abandoned by her cruel mother, saved by her loyal butler, raised by her kind stepmother, orphaned and a thief, she never forgets her dream of designing, and undergoes twists and turns to defeat her rivals! “The Queen Returns”.
Let’s count, Disney fairy tale-style flashy dream, “The Devil Wears Prada”-style promotion, also good and evil reincarnation of heaven, should have all.
In order for the audience to better accept the heroine and have an extra buffer zone in their hearts, the movie also intentionally designed a dual personality for her that is easy to cut: the hard-living Deyra and the extreme maniac Kuyra.
That’s still not enough; Cruella also has to have a villain even more evil than Kuyla, namely her biological mother, mother-killer (step)enemy, and greatest career rival, Baroness von Herrmann.
In contrast, Herman the villain appears to be much more pure, crazy, cold, mean, inhuman, many in the Kuyra body is not convenient to show the negative state, can be in her body to give full play, and at the end of the “genetic” reason to use a limited to the Kuyra body conduction, can be said to be very good use.
By the way, the stone sister in the film is responsible for “show”, Thompson is responsible for “stability”, a movement and a static, complement each other, director Craig quite good use of the two Emma movie queen.
Speaking of which, Kujira is almost a positive character, which is like a villain, which is contrary to the original purpose of the movie, and therefore need another side to neutralize.
Namely, Kuyla’s calling out of her two sidekicks when her personality takes over.
In the movie’s setting, Jasper and Horace are companions who grew up with Deyra, and they are a trio of thieves who work together seamlessly, with no master-servant hierarchy, and can be said to be the closest of family members.
But after being dominated by the rage of vengeance, the temperament changed (or return to nature) of the Kuyra began a variety of domination, command Jasper and Horace, fast and PUA-style mind control is almost the same, until the two of them on her affection and sympathy consumed, can be said to be a hard save a wave of “bad guy value”.
Of course, Disney clearly didn’t intend to make Cruella a villain in any way in this movie, so Cruella made up with her two friends as “family”.
All in all, Cruella has been working on the “hateful people will have pitiful things,” and it’s working well enough that most viewers will be able to accept and empathize with the heroine.
When Kuyla learns the truth about her life, she returns to the fountain where she made a promise to her adoptive mother, leaving behind the words, “I can’t be what you want me to be…but I’ll always love you.”
This scene basically defines Kuyla’s personality and the entire Cruella: she’s not destined to be good, and there’s still more unthinkable things that will happen in the future, but nothing will affect the gentle warmth that will remain in her heart.
So, for me, “How will Cruella finally accomplish her revenge? Will she kill someone or not?” was already an easy question.
Even so, the movie gave me a little surprise, as Kuyla did “kill, but not kill” –
She chooses to induce her mother to kill “Deira” one more time, and then, as Cruella, she can rightfully reclaim her property.
All this talk about Cruella isn’t to say that it’s a great movie, but rather that the movie does everything it can to be as good as it can be without revealing any glaring shortcomings, which is not easy to do.
At the same time, I’m starting to get interested in Disney’s “villain universe” – after all, the Mickey Mouse family has been in the “family” business for so long that it’s become a bit stuck in the same genre and really needs to do something new.
Although Cruella still doesn’t quite escape the “least bad option” box, it’s an impressive attempt at something new, and it deserves some credit.
And with this series building on old Disney IPs, it looks like it’s all going to be written with original scripts, which is another reason I’m looking forward to the next installment.
And finally, at the end of the day, I’ll admit it, I just love badass women.
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