Cruella
“From the beginning, I’ve always done things differently,” says a female voice at the top of “Cruella.”
We will come to know that as a serious understatement from the young Estella, who aspired early on to be not just a dress designer, but the world’s most important dress designer. Give the girl credit for ambition, not to mention self-confidence.
But when Estella and her indulgent mum go to London to give the kid a chance to pursue her dream, Estella inadvertently becomes an orphan.
What’s a broke 12-year-old orphan to do alone in London? Why, throw in with a pair of low-grade thieves named Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) and Jasper (Joel Fry), of course. Horace puts it this way: “We’re like a family that’s good at stealing stuff.”
Estella may be lacking in the ethics department, but the kid’s got talent and eventually gets a job working for the reigning dress diva known as the Baroness, played with wondrous disdain by Emma Thompson. Estella is horrified to find that her job is not to showcase her talent but rather to clean floors and toilets and – worse – to be at the beck and call of more senior employees.
Director Craig Gillespie’s take on Dodie Smith’s well-known 1956 kids’ book “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” is loony, rollicking and oh, so deliciously mean as Estella plots to move in on the Baroness’ territory.
Goofy? You bet, and silly and tongue-in-cheek too.
After all we’ve experienced in the past year, it may seem at the very least odd to applaud meanness, but here it’s so goofy and extreme that it’s impossible not to at least giggle.
Kudos to Jenny Beavan, the real costume designer, and to Tom Davies, who designed some spiffy if extreme eyewear. Production designer Fiona Crombie deserves a hand as well, giving us extreme examples of the ‘70s punk-rock atmosphere in which the film is set.
If you’re in the mood for wild costumes and wilder behavior, give “Cruella” a whirl.
