The ‘Cruella’ trailer is here, for the Cruella de Vil origin story we never knew we wanted

Lori Laughlin drops her car off at valet as she goes shopping

I genuinely don’t pay attention to the Disney live-action remakes. I don’t care because I don’t think they’re for me, and that’s fine. I consume other things. I’ve also been really wrong about the hunger for these live-action remakes – I thought Beauty and the Beast (starring Emma Watson) looked terrible and would bomb. It was a huge success. I thought Mulan looked really good but people HATED it. So here we are. Disney did a live-action “origin story” for Cruella de Vil, the villain of 101 Dalmatians. This is supposed to be in the vein of Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of Maleficent, or at least that’s what I thought. What I didn’t expect was to see Disney thoroughly Joker-ify the Cruella character. I was half-expecting to see Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker appear at some point, and it’s that kind of heavy, nihilistic edge which makes the first Cruella trailer kind of… off-putting?

Doesn’t this have the feel of a spoof in some moments? Like, I think Emma is doing her best, and sure, I’m not completely opposed to an entire film about Cruella. But… this is a lot. And it’s very weird! Emma Thompson though… whew.

Much like the Maleficent movies, I do halfway appreciate the fact that Disney is actively seeking to include proto-goth girls and avante-garde fashion geeks into their audiences. Not every girl wants to be Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella! Some girls want to be dark, cruel fashionistas with maniacal laughs.

Lori Laughlin drops her car off at valet as she goes shopping

Photo and poster courtesy of Disney.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

50 Responses to “The ‘Cruella’ trailer is here, for the Cruella de Vil origin story we never knew we wanted”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Anita says:

    Sorry Emma but Glenn Close is iconic in this role.

  2. Kitty says:

    Am I the only one that thinks her accent is terrible? I’m from the UK and just no. And whose asking for this movie?
    I really hope they don’t try and justify her killing innocent puppies

    • Maida says:

      The whole “killing puppies to make myself a coat” aspect of this character makes the whole film a hard NO for me. There is just no way to retcon that, IMO.

    • Fuzzy Crocodile says:

      I am not from the UK and didn’t think it sounded great, but I was just thinking I didn’t know any better.

      And agreed. Plenty of other characters to choose from beyond one that wants to murder hundreds of animals for fashion. I don’t know how you could spin. And should you try?

    • Lucy says:

      …I’m pretty sure that’s always been the whole point of Cruella. She wants to kill puppies and use their fur for her fancy outfits, and obviously that makes her an unhinged villain whom we all love to hate. I seriously doubt they’ll try to make her a sympathetic character, let alone justify her actions.

    • Mac says:

      Why does she need a British accent? Does that somehow make her “classier”?

    • Mumzy says:

      You are not alone—the horror of her accent was worse than the horror of killing puppies. Almost.

    • shabs says:

      Her accent is horrendous! I don’t mind Emma Watson but she doesn’t have enough of an edge for this role

    • Tiffany :) says:

      This isn’t a historical drama, it’s a campy Disney movie about a villain. Does it really matter if her accent is accurate? It’s a stylized film.

    • John R. says:

      Why not just get Brit Emily Blunt for the role?

  3. Lucy says:

    I hope this is VERY campy and over-the-top. The costumes were designed by Jenny Beavan, aka the woman who wore a kickass leather jacket to the Oscars and won for Mad Max!

    • Chocolate Princess says:

      I will be waiting to see more of Jenny Beavan at the Oscars soon enough. I thought her leather jacket outfit was the BEST DRESSED OF THE NIGHT at the Academy Awards.

  4. Nicegirl says:

    Ok, I did not know it was an origin story, that is cool

  5. cheryl says:

    I can’t with this. Maybe I’m taking this too seriously, but we’re talking about a woman who wants to wear the skins of dogs. Can’t make that “cool” for the proto-Goths.

  6. Bettyrose says:

    No idea what to make of this but I’m gonna watch the heck out of it. She’s the coolest Emma for sure.

  7. Nicegirl says:

    My parents bought out the entire theatre in our tiny town to celebrate my 4th birthday with my preschool class. We saw 101 Dalmatians, and my parents’ favorite part is that when Cruella crashes into the ditch, I stood up on my chair and cheered ‘YEAH!!’ I’ll have to make sure the folks see this one. Thank you for this post

  8. Kate says:

    This felt similar to the Harley Quinn Birds of Prey movie, but less fun.

  9. MF1 says:

    This trailer is not very good and I have no desire to see Cruella as anything other than an out-and-out villain, not a tragic anti-hero. That said, I’m *very* excited for the fashion in this movie.

  10. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    I like what you said at the end there. I’ve never connected with the princesses lol. And as a young girl, that was kind of alarming to people which meant there was something wrong with me. 😐 In the 80s, I was goth before I knew that was what it was called. No body piercings but my chain earrings hung low as an elbow and a hip lmao.

    Anywho, I’m always for fantasy live action because… fantasy. And I loved Jolie’s Maleficent. I would’ve wanted to be Maleficent. I’ll watch it.

  11. Lily P says:

    I don’t know what it is but that trailer is very lacklustre. Maybe the accent, maybe the fact the character likes harming animals, maybe the lame CGI hunger games-esque dress.

    Or perhaps I’m just peeved Emma has an Oscar for blooming La La Land and Glenn has none.

  12. Becks1 says:

    So for the live actions – out of the ones I’ve seen, Mulan and Aladdin were the best. Beauty and the Beast was just…..flat. Like we watched it again last week and it was so boring. It didnt really add anything to the original. The characters arent as funny, Emma Watson is so dull as Belle, etc. l like the Lion King live action remake but dont love it. But we liked Mulan a lot (I think it would have been great on the big screen) and we were really surprised at how much we loved Aladdin.

    I tend not to love origin stories, they very rarely appeal to me (I think part of the appeal of villains sometimes, especially in Disney movies, is just that they’re the villain, and thats enough for me, maybe i’m simple-minded, lol.) and I’m not the biggest Emma Stone fan.

    That said, my kids are really into 101 dalmations right now for some reason so we’ll probably end up watching this. (if I hear them sing “cruella devil….” one more time….)

    • Kate says:

      I totally agree, I loved Mulan and I liked Aladdin, did not care for Beauty and the Beast.

    • Case says:

      Beauty and the Beast was actually my favorite of the live action — that’s my favorite Disney story to begin with, and I loved how the extra elements they added to the live action really fleshed out the characters better. I loved learning about Belle’s mom, Beast’s childhood, etc. I actually love it more than the animated version now!

      But I agree that Aladdin and Mulan were really good, too. I love how they really put Jasmine front and center in the Aladdin live action. Mulan sorta lacked the heart of the animated version, but I definitely appreciated it as an action film. I think they’ve had more successes than failures with these live action attempts, even if I don’t find some of them particularly rewatchable.

    • Ann says:

      I thought the trailer for Beauty and the Beast looked bad. I never saw the whole thing but did see a few scenes and, meh. There was a lot of fun stuff happening but Emma was so flat as Belle. She couldn’t even sing when she got the part, apparently, but had to take lessons. That really annoyed me. So many talented young actresses out there who CAN sing, why not cast one of them? It’s a Disney movie, you don’t need a star to draw in the kids.

      I generally haven’t liked any of the live action Disney movies. Not sure why. I think it’s just the style of them? It doesn’t matter which one it is, princess or villainess. I really really disliked “Cinderella,” because the protagonist was such a sappy victim and the movie validated it. Kate Blanchett was great, otherwise, meh. And the colors and costumes were so garish.

      I like Emma Stone and this is a fun concept, but I won’t be watching.

  13. LightPurple says:

    Mark Strong.

    I see Mark Strong.

    I’m here for Mark Strong.

  14. Rachael Prest says:

    I’ve heard her do better English accents, honestly, and I think she’s definitely channelling Eva Green, but I’m here for this!

  15. Case says:

    Love Emma and I’m really excited for this. I think it’s supposed to seem spoof-y in moments — it’s a crime comedy. I’m thrilled that Disney is going for a full on villain backstory and not trying to make her sympathetic a la Maleficent — she murders puppies, we don’t want to sympathize, so this seems like the perfect route to me. And yes, as goth who never really grew out of her middle school “phase,” I’m here for the villain movies.

    • Lucy says:

      Yes! There’s already plenty of people who either don’t know anything about the original character or do know but don’t understand it. This is obviously a more ridiculous, campy, dark-humoured take. Disney can be (and is) many things, but they’d never try to publicly say “killing puppies is cool!”, I don’t think.

  16. Sasha says:

    I think Emma will do a fantastic job with this. I can totally see her do justice to a campy, evil character. Totally watching!

  17. BeanieBean says:

    They kept the two bumbling doofuses in the van, so I’m in. That’s Disney’s attention to detail & I like it. Who was that dressed a la Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s? I think I’ll watch this one.
    ETA: that was Emma Thompson as Audrey. This also seems a little Devil Wears Prada, with a twist. Yeah, I’m watching.

  18. Lux says:

    I think this looks fun. It’s always so interesting to me how we humans are. We just can’t deal with a character who wears puppy skins for a coat but there’s no outrage with wearing leather. It’s all so goddamn awful.

  19. Al says:

    This is Tim Burton and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman right down to the “I am woman hear me roar”. I think it looks great

  20. emu says:

    UM that looks awesome. I can’t wait to watch it

  21. Lory says:

    There are SO many origin movies of random male superheroes and villains. I’m here for any movie that makes a movie about a strong complicated woman. Is she a villain? Sure. Could it be better in the hands of a female director and an actress who can do a better accent. Yup. But I’m waiting for the moment that there are so many movies with complicated and strong female leads that it ceases to be a discussion. No Hollywood producer ever said , wait ANOTHER Marvel origin movie (except for Black Widow) ? ANOTHER Adam Sandler movie? Men keep getting the chance to make shitty movie after shitty movie, whether it makes money or not. So fair game to this movie.

  22. Mee yo says:

    She doesn’t have the range. It’ll be basic. Go find a musical theater actress who can really bring it

  23. Natasha says:

    I was excited for this movie until halfway thru the trailer. Too much like Heath Ledger’s Joker and Harleyquinn mixed together. And saying she was a “genius” (crazy and evil) from the beginning- that turned me off. Like, ok, no characterization going to happen here. Disney is just exploiting this poor woman’s mental illness.

  24. Elizabeth says:

    I’m not gonna hate on it. Glen Close is Cruella and always will be. HOWEVER I think Emma’s version is exactly what I’d think Cruella would really be like. It won’t match what Disney was able to do w/ Maleficent, but this could be interesting to see Disney go so dark. We’ll see….

  25. malina says:

    I like the joker feel of it. It does feel like a spoof though, and that’s off-putting to me.

  26. Mei says:

    I’m here for it! I think it looks fun, I’m all for Emma Stone in a role like this. I’m from the UK and I don’t think her accent was bad, she just sounds like she’s modelled it on Emma Thompson and Benedict Cumberbatch with a extra dash of posh. I’ve heard people talk like that here (and it’s their actual accent!). As I’m sat here saying the word ‘Cruella’ to myself it is isn’t easy to say poshly without it sounding weird and contrived haha.
    I never bothered to watch Birds of Prey cos Harley Quinn seemed to have no depth in Suicide Squad so I was a bit meh, but this is right up my street. On a superficial note I really like ott stylised types of films and the costumes look great too. Plus I’m just happy they didn’t show the entire film plot in the trailer – I cannottttt with that trend -_-