DVDizzy Forum

Posted: **Mon May 24, 2021 12:25 am**

More articles:

Cruella Chronicles: Hear from Emma Stone and Emma Thompson!
https://d23.com/cruella-chronicles-hear ... -thompson/

Emma Stone Says Cruella Is The Darkest Disney Film To Date
https://geekculture.co/emma-stone-says- ... m-to-date/

1970's London, Punk, Fashion, and Flowers: A Conversation with Fiona Crombie, Production Designer of Disney's 'Cruella'
https://blackgirlnerds.com/1970s-london ... s-cruella/

Cruella Star Confirms LGBTQ Character In Emma Stone’s Disney+ Movie
https://www.cinemablend.com/news/256784 ... crea-artie

Sotiris wrote:If there's going to be a sequel, it's going to be Cruella 2, not a 101 Dalmatians remake. A remake wouldn't make sense given Cruella's characterization in this film.

I agree a sequel is more likely. Cruella is set in the '70s, so there's plenty of room to set a film between it and the 1996 remake. They could set the sequel in the '80s, for example. However, I agree with estefan that they could make a remake too if they wanted. They would just have to do something similar to what they did in Maleficent, only not so exaggerated as in that film. What Paul Walter Hauser said in the interview doesn't sound that far-fetched to me; it could be the third film in a trilogy.

By the way, I liked that Roger and Anita won't meet in this movie. It's at least one less retcon to be worried about.

Sotiris wrote:Neither of them is getting an Oscar nomination. Their performances are too campy for that. However, I could see one or both of them get a Golden Globe nomination, if the awards take place this year.

Johnny Depp's performance in Pirates of the Caribbean was also quite extravagant and he got a nomination for that film, so in my opinion, it's unlikely but not impossible. Yes, they would have a better chance at the Golden Globes. It's a shame it seems there won't be a ceremony next year; especially for comedies and musicals and the actors in those movies, that usually don't get much recognition at other ceremonies.

Posted: **Mon May 24, 2021 1:34 pm**

POTC was seen as original content, unlike this which is more in line with a remake. The remakes have induced critics' rage the past few years. Even if that wasn't the case, this doesn't look anywhere in the same vicinity of POTC as far as quality goes. Even the '90s remake was nowhere near as good as POTC, and it had Glenn Close.

Posted: **Mon May 24, 2021 6:02 pm**

Well, the first Pirates film has only a 79% score at Rotten Tomatoes. Judging by the early reactions, I think Cruella could get a higher one. But reviews are not always important when it comes to the Oscars. Glenn Close, for example, was nominated this year for a film with really bad reviews. If the performance is good enough, actors can get nominated in spite of that. However, it's true that few actors from non-drama films are nominated. They really have to stand out in them to achieve that, and we still don't know how good Emma Stone and Emma Thompson really are in the film.

Posted: **Tue May 25, 2021 10:26 pm**

New poster from Spain:

Source: https://twitter.com/DisneySpain/status/ ... 1351875586

The review embargo lifts this Wednesday at 9am EST. That's just two days before the release. I hope it doesn't mean the reviews are not expected to be as good as it seemed by the early reactions.

Several critics said it was the best or one of the best Disney remakes so far, which made me think the actual reviews would match the reactions this time, but maybe I was wrong. Though, it's also possible they didn't lift the embargo earlier in order to get the positive headlines just before the release and create momentum for the film. We'll see.

Posted: **Wed May 26, 2021 8:20 am**

D82 wrote:By the way, I liked that Roger and Anita won't meet in this movie. It's at least one less retcon to be worried about.

They're probably saving that for the sequel. I'm sure they've already had discussions about it.

D82 wrote:Though, it's also possible they didn't lift the embargo earlier in order to get the positive headlines just before the release and create momentum for the film. We'll see.

This is most likely. There can't be such discrepancy between critics' reactions and their actual reviews.

Posted: **Wed May 26, 2021 10:18 am**

Here are a few reviews that were posted this morning:

https://film.avclub.com/cruella-is-styl ... 1846959646

https://www.theverge.com/22400212/cruel ... dalmatians

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/cruella-d ... ne-reviews

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/202 ... lms-centre

https://www.ign.com/articles/cruella-movie-review

https://io9.gizmodo.com/cruella-review- ... 1846949428

https://slate.com/culture/2021/05/cruel ... -plus.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingout ... story.html

https://www.cantonrep.com/story/enterta ... 204916001/

Posted: **Thu May 27, 2021 10:14 am**

It turns out you were right to be worried, D82. Cruella is getting mixed reviews. It opened on Rotten Tomatoes at 72% based on 206 reviews. I was surprised by that. Given the pedigree of the director and the glowing early reactions, I thought it would open higher. At least, it got an A CinemaScore.

Emma Stone’s ‘Cruella’ Divides Critics: ‘Stylish and Kinetic’ or ‘Exhausting’ and ‘Disorganized’
https://www.thewrap.com/emma-stones-cru ... organized/

Source: https://twitter.com/RottenTomatoes/stat ... 4008510464

Source: https://twitter.com/CinemaScore/status/ ... 1182405638

Posted: **Thu May 27, 2021 11:25 am**

Analysts are predicting a mere $20 million opening for Cruella in theaters. Disney released a TV spot advertising that the movie has a big twist. This is the first time they've done such a thing, right? They must be getting desperate.

“Cruella” is a different story, with analysts who spoke to TheWrap projecting a four-day opening in the $20 million range as it opens at 3,800+ locations. Under normal circumstances, such a result would be ruled a definite flop for Disney. But the film’s PVOD availability on Disney+ will make gauging the film’s actual profitability difficult. The film will be sold through the streaming service’s “Premier Access” program for $30 similar to “Raya and the Last Dragon,” which has grossed $111 million theatrically worldwide while also hitting PVOD in March.

Source: https://www.thewrap.com/box-office-prev ... -recovery/

All of this said, for the 4-day Memorial Day holiday stateside, we’re lowballing: $17M for Disney’s Cruella which is pitting theatrical in competition with its Disney+ subscribers who can see the movie for $29.99 at home.

Source: https://deadline.com/2021/05/summer-mov ... 234765638/

Posted: **Fri May 28, 2021 12:30 am**

‘Cruella’ Ditches Her Cigarettes in Disney’s Villain Origin Story
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/disn ... 234982347/

Emma Stone Says Disney’s Smoking Ban Made Becoming Cruella a Bit More ‘Difficult’
https://www.indiewire.com/2021/05/emma- ... 234640763/

Emma Stone & Emma Thompson Talk About Their New Disney Film, 'Cruella' | PEOPLE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIYBHH0aKy8

Sotiris wrote:It turns out you were right to be worried, D82. Cruella is getting mixed reviews. It opened on Rotten Tomatoes at 72% based on 206 reviews. I was surprised by that. Given the pedigree of the director and the glowing early reactions, I thought it would open higher.

Yeah, me too. Cruella seemed to get even better reactions than Raya and the Last Dragon, so I was almost sure the reviews would be really positive. I guess we can't trust early reactions. Anyway, 72% is not bad either and I don't always agree with critics, so I'm still really excited to see it. However, I'm not 100% sure I'll like it. I was also very excited for Mary Poppins Returns, for example, right before the release, and I ended up hating that movie, so we'll see.

Sotiris wrote:Disney released a TV spot advertising that the movie has a big twist. This is the first time they've done such a thing, right? They must be getting desperate.

I guess so, I don't remember them doing anything like that before.

Posted: **Fri May 28, 2021 9:11 am**

Yeah, among all the problems with how the character looks here, I never liked that Cruella was missing her cigarettes and furs… I figured it was because of PC reasons, which doesn’t make sense to me since Cruella is a *villain*. A child will not be taking notes on how to behave from a villain… Anyway, this movie’s not really Cruella at all to me. At least Angelina Jolie as Maleficent was a perfect match, whatever they decided to do with the character story-wise. I did see some article a couple of days ago trying to say this was going to be a new Devil Wears Prada and lol'd. They wish they could make a film that good that will get repeated endlessly on TV forever. This movie is more like a poor man’s version of that Harley Quinn film from a year or two ago than TDWP.

Posted: **Fri May 28, 2021 5:52 pm**

There is a clip making the rounds of Twitter, presumably ripped from Cruella, which shows a young Cruella being chased by a vicious trio of dalmatians which eventually push Cruella’s mother off a seaside cliff to her death.

Is this for real??? The clip looks ludicrous.

Posted: **Fri May 28, 2021 6:30 pm**

You're late to the party.

Yes, it's real. This was revealed in the tie-in novel and we discussed it here. You came up.

Posted: **Fri May 28, 2021 6:39 pm**

Sotiris wrote:You're late to the party. Yes, it's real. This was revealed in the tie-in novel and we discussed it here. You came up.

Oy vey. I’ve been avoiding the spoilers because I thought I might see it in theaters, but now I think I may just wait for the Blu-ray.

Posted: **Fri May 28, 2021 7:33 pm**

Posted: **Fri May 28, 2021 8:06 pm**

I watched this tonight and found it dreadfully boring. An uninspired story that honestly just felt like bad fanfiction, dodgy CGI, and a complete lack of fun. At least Glenn had some charming/mad hutzpah. This one was DOA. Glad I didn't spend my money on it.

Posted: **Fri May 28, 2021 9:43 pm**

Here are my thoughts on the film. I've put some things in spoilers, but I actually haven't included any major one. Only maybe the last one.

Personally, I really enjoyed Cruella. I think it's already one of my top favorite Disney remakes, though as you guys know, I'm not a big fan of them, so it didn't need to be too good to achieve that. However, I also understand some of the criticisms against the film. Since it's so long, it's true that there are some pacing issues and it's a bit short on humor. Personally, I wasn't bothered by that, but I can see why for others it could be a problem. Also, some things in the middle of the movie could've been planned a bit better. For example, the idea of Cruella's "double personality" doesn't completely work for me sometimes. There's a moment where she suddenly starts treating Jasper and Horace badly because supposedly her evil side has taken control of her. That felt weird to me, because up to that point it didn't really seem there were two sides to her personality; she was just a bit rebellious sometimes. I don't think it was a bad idea to show she was changing; they just could've been a bit more subtle with it. But apart from that, I think the film was really good. I found it very entertaining, the performances were great, as was the music, the production design, the costumes, etc. The film will surely get some Oscar nominations next year (and maybe even some win). Now that I've seen the performances of the two Emmas, though, I don't think either of them will be nominated for this. Both are really good in their roles, but I don't think their performances are that iconic either.

I think I also understand why the early reactions were so good compared to the full reviews now. Critics were probably so surprised by how different from what they're used to get from Disney this film is, that most likely that contributed to their initial excitement. To be honest, I'm actually surprised Disney greenlit a movie like this. It doesn't seem made with children in mind. It's quite serious and adult, the bad guy is the protagonist and it doesn't have a good message for children to learn. There's nothing wrong with all that, but I'm a bit worried about the box office. I don't see many families watching it. Although, the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is quite high (96%), so it seems people in general are liking it.

Despite being groundbreaking for a Disney film in those aspects, it isn't really that different from Maleficent. They also make Cruella sympathetic here (especially, at the beginning) and she doesn't really do anything too evil in the movie. Her evil actions are more like pranks and the real villain here is the Baroness. Anyway, it's still innovative that the protagonist isn't 100% good and that she gets her happy ending by doing questionable things.

Regarding the connections to the previous 101 Dalmatians films, like Angelina Jolie's Maleficent, to me this doesn't seem the same Cruella from those movies, but that's OK. The same can be said about Jasper and Horace. Despite stealing, they're actually quite kind-hearted and both more intelligent than their animated counterparts. They also love dogs. I don't see them obeying Cruella and trying to kill Dalmatians in the future, like they do in the other versions. Their dynamic is different too. Jasper isn't bossy and doesn't treat Horace badly. Roger and Anita are not that different from previous versions of the characters as far as personality goes, but their roles are quite small, so we don't really get to know them too much. Speaking of them, the end credits scene seems to set up a new remake of 101 Dalmatians more than a sequel, doesn't it?

By the way, one thing I've seen has been repeated in the reviews is that a Cruella origin story wasn't necessary. I don't think it really was, but why don't they say that about the other remakes? Unlike most of the others, this one at least is mostly an original story.

Disney's Divinity wrote:Yeah, among all the problems with how the character looks here, I never liked that Cruella was missing her cigarettes and furs… I figured it was because of PC reasons, which doesn’t make sense to me since Cruella is a *villain*. A child will not be taking notes on how to behave from a villain…

Well, the problem is that they make you sympathize with Cruella here. But they show her drinking alcohol and getting drunk, which is equally bad in my opinion, so it doesn't make much sense she can't smoke or wear fur as well.

Posted: **Sat May 29, 2021 3:52 am**

As weird as it may seem smoking has become a taboo in US media, and it's not just with Disney. I listened to Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke podcast about The OC, and they talked about how the network didn't like the scene of Ryan smoking, but they kept it because the scene didn't work without it. That's the only time someone was smoking in that show and there were many scenes of underage drinking and drugs. There are also health organizations that call for making films with smoking to be R rated.

And I'm guessing the reason smoking is treated that way is because it is more "glamorized" than drinking and drugs (like you sometimes have movies about alcoholism or dealing with drug abuse where there's rarely any talk about the ramifications of smoking when it can even be more severe than alcohol).

Anyway I never had an issue with depicting smoking in movies and I think most people know and realize that there are people who smoke. I'm sure even kids know this. It may seem weird to some people here but back when I was in high school students were allowed to smoke and some of the teachers even smoked with them, But like I said I'm not from the US and this might be a US "thing".

Posted: **Sat May 29, 2021 7:20 am**

This remake/spin-off/prequel I liked!! It was consistent enough and actually rather good and entertaining! Which is MORE than I can say with most of these last remakes. It is really relieving for once to witness Disney at least trying with one of their live-action productions, even taking a few risks here and there, something that hasn’t happened since 2015 I’d say. Disney should be encouraged to do more projects in the same vein as ‘Cruella’ than any of what they came with in 2019 imo.

NB: It seems to me that the ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ franchise is actually one of the Disney franchises that has been the best treated through the decades (remakeS, TV serieS, restoration of the original feature and special editions, DisneyToon sequel.) Compared to the others, it’s above average.

Posted: **Sat May 29, 2021 7:49 am**

I think the reason may be because second hand smoke is often more dangerous than the effects on the person smoking themselves. Drugs and alcohol can be dangerous to others, too--the former can cause someone to be violent, the latter can do the same as well as cause someone to be killed from DUI, both can cause (or be used to cause) date rape--but it's more random when or if that happens than with cigarettes, which will always negatively affect the people around, I guess. I grew up in a smoker family... Both my paternal grandparents smoked, my maternal grandmother smoked (she quit about two decades ago, I think), my parents smoked (my father quit after the divorce), and my sister now smokes. I don't smoke, thankfully. Partly because I know how bad it is, but it's also a poor thing--I'd much rather waste my money on merchandise!

I believe my aunt's passing in October of 2016 had to do with her smoking--the ulterior cause anyway, although most of her close family members (children, grandchildren, etc.) wondered if she'd have lived longer if not for having a procedure done; she had evidence of cancer on her lungs, and the doctor removed part of them, and then she got to where she couldn't survive on her lung capacity. It was such a horrible and prolonged death for her.

Thankfully no others in my family have dealt with cancer or anything smoke-related, knock on wood.

Still, smoking is just so much more common to me than getting drunk or doing hard drugs, that it's weird how absent it is from film compared to those... It's not right at all, but at the same time I don't think depicting crazy Cruella with cigarettes would glamorize it? I don't know, maybe it would since she is a glamorous character to me in most villains merchandise, I'll admit.

Posted: **Sat May 29, 2021 8:15 am**

I feel the opposite really about 2019. The remakes peaked with Aladdin that year*, which still imitated the original to a degree that it felt like Aladdin while adding enough differences to feel fresh. It's been all downhill since then. TLK 2019 was better than I was expecting considering the enormous outcry on this forum, although it did imitate *too much*. Mulan 2020 wasn't /quite/ as bad as I'd have expected either despite deviating too much (although it was still pretty bad). This film looks a mess. TLM, who knows how that one's going to turn out since I wasn't a fan of the musical and it looks more in line with that gaudy trashshow than the original film that people actually love. We already know Hercules will be a waste. Pinocchio and Hunchback, however, both sound like they could be decent?

* I think 2019 being the peak will likely remain true as far as financial intakes go, too... Mulan bombed, TLM probably won't do that much better than Maleficent (successful, but not a massive success like B&tB, TLK, and Aladdin), and Hercules will probably flop even worse than Mulan but with maybe less controversy without the China factor (although the removal of the music is even more inexcusable with that film than with Mulan). Hercules is actually the film in a state most like Cruella; Hercules will fail trying to re-create Thor the way this tried to be Birds of Prey / Joker. I don't expect Pinocchio or Hunchback to do huge numbers even if they do turn out to be decent films. The only things up ahead that could are possibly the sequels to TJB, TLK, and Aladdin.

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