"Cruella" Review
Not that anyone totally expected this, but Disney's Cruella doesn't have an original bone in it's body.
At what point does a movie no longer have a soundtrack and instead just become a visual album, because Cruella uses music more liberally than a film by Beyonce.
Craig Gillespie's film also has the problem in that every song incessantly needle dropped has been used to better effect by several films before, whether it be "Time of the Season" in All the Money in the World or "Livin' Thing" in Boogie Nights. It's never a good sign when your corporate product movie constantly makes me compare it to films filled with talent and authorial voices.
But what really irked me in Cruella was the writing, which takes all the groan-worthy tropes from other Disney properties and contains none of their charm. There's a specific twist in the third act that genuinely shocked me because it was so dumb and obvious that I didn't think they would actually do it. It goes to show that I haven't learned my lesson in how shallow Disney can go.
Also, can we stop writing "genius" characters the exact same way? Just because someone is smart, doesn't mean they have to talk really fast and constantly say witty remarks that go over other character's heads.
I blame Aaron Sorkin for inspiring others to think that they can emulate his style. Hell, Sorkin can't even do it some of the time. The Favourite is the only non-Sorkin movie that has successfully adopted the style, and that had Yorgos Lanthimos to steer the ship. For as much Gillespie has fun here, he isn't able to rights the wrongs of everyone else.
The two Emmas of Stone and Thompson sink their teeth into the material, and Paul Walter Hauser continues to be a comedic genius that does more than just the "fat idiot" routine.
Cruella is another Disney product that had no right to exist on paper, and fails to justify its existence on the screen. It's not a complete waste of time for the audience, but it is a waste of time for those involved, as I'm sure they would have been a part of something much better.
